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Genocide and the ending of war: Meaning, remembrance and denial in Srebrenica, Bosnia

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Abstract

The occurrence of genocide during war is a serious security predicament facing humanity in modern times, producing civilian casualties measured in millions. The persistence of this heinous crime renders imperative understanding of the effects of genocide in the course of war and its aftermath, effects that this paper examines in the context of the Srebrenica genocide of July 1995—the darkest moment in European history since the Holocaust. In contributing to a deeper understanding of the relationship between genocide, war, and peace, the paper demonstrates how the Srebrenica genocide has been a factor both in the ending of the Bosnian War and the constitution of inter-ethnic relations in the ensuing peace. The analysis is grounded on a critical examination of the concept of genocide and its close connection with war. When embedded on asymmetrical relations of power, war can be conducive to genocide because it creates organizational, political, and psychological conditions that facilitate large scale killing of targeted people. Whilst in the course of war genocide benefits the perpetrators, in the aftermath of fighting genocide can lend credence to the victims’ community demands for recognition, accountability and redress. At the same time, the perpetrators and their community—frequently—deny genocide with the view to avoiding responsibility and reparations. The instrumental utility of genocide reflects rationales that go at the heart of enhancement of national identity and (contested) claims for political authority and legitimacy. More than twenty years after the Srebrenica genocide, these competitive and divisive claims do not bode well for Bosnia’s societal cohesion and transition to sustainable peace.

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Notes

  1. Useful introductory texts on genocide studies include Chalk, F., & Jonassohn, K. [1]. The history and sociology of genocide. New Haven and London, Yale University Press; and Meierhenrich, J. [2]. Genocide: A reader. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  2. Refer, for instance, to Bazyler, M. [3]. Holocaust, genocide, and the law. Oxford: Oxford University Press; and Straus, S. [4]. The order of genocide: Race, power, and war in Rwanda. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

  3. The 100,000 casualties figure in the course of the Bosnian War include both civilian and military deaths. The majority of casualties, however, were civilians. No less than 31,500 people went missing in the course of the Bosnian War—8000 of whom are still missing. Vulliamy, E. [5]. The appalling reality of Bosnia’s missing dead, BBC Future. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161212-the-appalling-reality-of-bosnias-missing-dead. BBC News. [6]. Huge Bosnia mass grave excavated at Tomasica. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24778713. Burg, S.L. & Shoup P.S. [7]. The War in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Ethnic conflict and international intervention. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe.

  4. Although ethnic cleansing is not necessarily genocide, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that there can be situations where ethnic cleansing may satisfy the constitutive elements of genocide: ‘This is not to say that acts described as “ethnic cleansing” may never constitute genocide, if they are such as to be characterized as, for example, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction “in whole or in part”, contrary to Article II, paragraph (c), of the Convention, provided such action is carried out with the necessary specific intent (dolus specialis), that is to say with a view to the destruction of the group, as distinct from its removal from the region . . . In other words, whether a particular operation described as “ethnic cleansing” amounts to genocide depends on the presence or absence of acts listed in Article II of the Genocide Convention, and of the intent to destroy the group as such’. ICJ (2007) [12] (p. 190). Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro. ICJ Reports 2007 (I), p. 190. http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/91/13685.pdf

  5. Refer, for instance to, ICTY (2004) [16] (paragraph 8). The Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstić. Appeals Chamber Judgement. Case No. IT-98-33-A. April 19. http://www.icty.org/x/cases/krstic/acjug/en/krs-aj040419e.pdf. ICTY (2015) [17] (paragraph 419). Prosecutor v. Vujadin Popović, Ljubiša Beara, Drago Nikolić, Radivoje Miletić, and Vinko Pandurević, Appeals Judgement, IT-05-08-A. January 30. http://www.icty.org/x/cases/popovic/acjug/en/150130_judgement.pdf. ICTR (1998) [13] (paragraphs 505, 506). Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu, Case No. ICTR-96-4-T.

  6. ‘[P]roof of specific intent, … may, in the absence of direct explicit evidence, be inferred from a number of facts and circumstances, such as the general context, the perpetration of other culpable acts systematically directed against the same group, the scale of atrocities committed, the systematic targeting of victims on account of their membership of a particular group, or the repetition of destructive and discriminatory acts’. ICTY. [18]. Prosecutor v. Goran Jelisić. Appeal Judgement. July 5. Case No. IT-95-10-A. Paragraph 47. http://www.refworld.org/docid/4147fcad4.html Cited also in ICTY. [17]. Prosecutor v. Vujadin Popović, et al., paragraph 468.

  7. ICTY. [16]. The Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstić. Appeals Judgement. Paragraph 12. Cited also in ICTY. [17]. Prosecutor v. Vujadin Popović, et al. Paragraph 493.

  8. For an account of events in Srebrenica refer to United Nations (1999) [19]. The Fall of Srebrenica, Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to General Assembly resolution 53/35. November 15, 1999, United Nations doc. A/54/549. http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6afb34.html. For an analysis of the figures of casualties refer to Brunborg, H., Tabeau, E., & Hetland, A. [20]. Missing and dead from Srebrenica: The 2005 report and list. (Expert Report for the Case of Vujadin Popović et al. (IT-05-88). Reprinted in Tabeau, E. (Ed.). [21]. Conflict in numbers. Casualties of the 1990s wars in the former Yugoslavia. Testimonies. Vol. 33. Belgrade: Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, pp. 399–430. Available at http://www.helsinki.org.rs/doc/testimonies33.pdf. I am thankful to Dr. Helge Brunborg of the International Peace Research Institute (PRIO), Oslo, for alerting me to these sources. E-mail communication March 7, 2016.

  9. Wald, P. M. [24]. General Radislav Krstić: A war crimes case study, Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, 16, 445–72. Wald refers to the Commentary on the Secretariat Draft of the 1948 Genocide Convention, UN Doc. E/447.

  10. For a representative sample of the strict interpretation refer to Schabas, W. A. [26]. Was genocide committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina? First judgements of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Fordham International Law Journal, 25(1), 23–53. The expansive interpretation of targeted group/s is more a characteristic of sociological studies on genocide. See, for instance, Fein, H. [27]. Genocide: A Sociological Perspective. London: Sage.

  11. Refer, for instance, to Bartrop, P. (2002) [28]. The relationship between war and genocide in the Twentieth Century: A consideration. Journal of Genocide Research, 4(4), 519–532; and Shaw, M. [29]. War and genocide: Organized killing in modern society. Cambridge: Polity Press.

  12. Bartrop, [28] The relationship between war and genocide in the Twentieth Century, 519–532.

  13. Some authors have emphasized that consolidation of the nation state in the world political system has set the stage for the (re)occurrence of genocide in modern times. Refer, for instance, to Levene, M. [32]. Genocide in the age of the nation state. London: I.B. Tauris. Also, Bauman, Z. [33]. Modernity and the Holocaust. Cambridge: Polity Press.

  14. Day & Vandiver [30], Criminology and genocide studies, 44–5.

  15. It is not suggested here that genocide benefits perpetrators only in the course of war. Sadly, a successful genocide can benefit perpetrators also in times of peace when, for instance, forced homogenization of people can render control of territory more feasible and can justify perpetrators’ claims for acquisition and control of that territory, as is the case of the Serb entity—Republika Srpska—in Bosnia.

  16. For a seminal study refer to Campbell, D. [36]. National deconstruction: Violence, identity, and justice in Bosnia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

  17. I thank an anonymous reviewer for suggesting this point be made explicit.

  18. ICTY (2016) [37], Prosecutor vs. Radovan Karadžić, paragraphs 4969-4970.

  19. Ibid., paragraphs 4993, 4994, 5002.

  20. Ibid., paragraph 5680.

  21. Ibid., paragraphs 4969–4970.

  22. The Serbian plan to escalate the war was inscribed in a number of documents of the Republika Srpska (RS) government which have been examined by the ICTY in a number of Srebrenica trials related to the role of the RS military and political leaders. Refer, for instance, to International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) (2001) [40]. Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstić. Case No. IT-98-33-T. August 2. http://www.icty.org/x/cases/krstic/tjug/en/krs-tj010802e.pdf. ICTY (2010) [41]. Prosecutor v. Vujadin Popović et al. Case No IT-05-88-T. June 10. http://www.icty.org/x/cases/popovic/tjug/en/100610judgement.pdf. ICTY (2012) [42]. Prosecutor v. Zdravko Tolimir. Case No. IT-05-88/2-T. December 12. http://www.icty.org/x/cases/tolimir/tjug/en/121212.pdf.

  23. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. (2016) [37]. Prosecutor v. Radovan Karadžić. IT-95-5/18-T. March 24. Available at http://www.icty.org/x/cases/karadzic/tjug/en/160324_judgement.pdf

  24. For the Serbian rationale for the UN peacekeepers hostage taking refer to ICTY (2016) [37] Prosecutor v. Radovan Karadžić., paragraphs 5857–5863, 5999.

  25. Ibid., paragraphs 5755, 5814, 5849, 5998.

  26. The figure cited here comes from Brunborg, H., Tabeau, E., & Hetland, A. [20]. Missing and dead from Srebrenica: The 2005 report and list.

  27. Nettelfield and Wagner (2014). [43] Srebrenica in the aftermath of genocide, p.14

  28. The UN failure at Srebrenica cannot be attributed to the Dutchbat only. The Sarajevo command and the headquarters in New York were implicated too. I owe this point to an anonymous reviewer.

  29. Burg & Shoup (1999). [7] The War in Bosnia-Herzegovina, p. 382

  30. ICTY. [16]. Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstić. Appeals Chamber Judgement. Case No. IT-98-33-A. Paragraphs 28–33. For in depth analysis of Krstić decision see Drumbl. [25]. Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstić; and Wald. [24]. General Radislav Krstić.

  31. As of May 2017 the indictees sentenced on genocide charges are: Radislav Krstić, Vujadin Popović, Ljubiša Beara, Zdravko Tolimir, and Radovan Karadžić. ICTY. [49]. ICTY Remembers: The Srebrenica Genocide 1995–2015. http://www.icty.org/specials/srebrenica20/?q=srebrenica20. In accordance with the Tribunal’s mandate, the judgements delivered by the ICTY pertaining to Srebrenica and the Bosnian War are centred on judging and punishing individuals responsible for violations of international criminal law in the course of fighting. In a number of its judgements, however, the Tribunal has grounded some of its reasoning on the concept of ‘joint criminal responsibility’ (JCE) that shows—unsurprisingly—that the Serbian leaders worked in groups when implementing their policies. See, for instance, ICTY. [37]. Prosecutor v. Radovan Karadžić, paragraphs 560–570, 3237, 3524, 5680, 5731, 5737, 5821, 5831, 5849, 5998. See, also, ICTY. [50]. Prosecutor v. Duško Tadić. Appeal Judgement. Case No. IT-94-1-A, paragraphs 195–226. http://www.icty.org/x/cases/tadic/acjug/en/tad-aj990715e.pdf. However, the ICTY is mandated to prosecute individuals only.

  32. Schabas. (2001) [26] Was genocide committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina', 47.

  33. Ibid.

  34. Refer to ICJ. (2007) [12]. Case concerning the application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Paragraphs 236–241. Paragraph 386 of this decision citing UN Security Council resolutions 752 (1992), 757 (1992), 762 (1992), 819 (1993), 838 (1993) that had demanded that Former Republic of Yugoslavia put an end to its support to Bosnian Serbs.

  35. ICJ. (2007) [12]. Case concerning the application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, paragraphs 425–438 and 439–450.

  36. Ibid., paragraphs 386–415, especially 413.

  37. An analysis of the ICJ 2007 Judgement can be found in Aquilina K., & Mulaj, K [51]. Limitations in attributing state responsibility under the Genocide Convention. Journal of Human Rights, 16.

  38. For the legacy of the ICTY refer to Kutnjak Ivković, S., & Hagan, J. [52]. Pursuit of justice and the victims of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina: An exploratory study. Crime, Law and Social Change, 65(1), pp. 1–27; Gow, J., Kerr, R., & Pajić, Z. (Eds.) [53]. Prosecuting war crimes: Lessons and legacies of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, London: Routledge.

  39. Refer to Nettelfield & Wagner. (2014) [43] Srebrenica. Chapter 7.

  40. Some critics contend, nevertheless, that Srebrenica cannot be decontextualized from the rest of the Bosnian War because it ‘was neither isolated nor aberrant’. Ibid., p. 8. Vulliamy, E.: ‘Srebrenica was not an isolated incident. ... It “ticks the box” of appearing to reckon with Bosnia, without doing so. Who ever hears these days about Vlasenica, Bjeljina, Doboj, Brcko, Prijedor, Foca, Visegrad, Caplinja, East Mostar... the list is endless, beyond those bereaved, shattered and scattered by the slaughter there?’. Vulliamy, E. (2014) [54]. Srebrenica: The World fails, but never one’s own government. Open Democracy, July 12. https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/ed-vulliamy/srebrenica-world-fails-but-never-one%E2%80%99s-own-government.

  41. See Finkielkraut (2000) [22], In the name of humanity; and Schabas (2001) [26], Was genocide committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina?.

  42. Article I of the Genocide Convention. Also Article V.

  43. As the international community is found wanting in the face of a vicious civil war in Syria whereby civilians are killed in large scale, it is clear that lessons of Srebrenica have gone amiss in the Syrian setting. Refer to Hague, W. (2013) [55]. The true legacy of Srebrenica should be that such violence is never perpetrated again’, Huffington Post, July 11. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/william-hague/bosnia-srebrenia-true-legacy_b_3576057.html

  44. The Potočari Memorial and Cemetery was opened on September 20, 2003 to honour victims of the Srebrenica genocide, support efforts to identify and return to this cemetery remains of the missing, and encourage internally displaced people to return to Srebrenica. The Peace March—Marš Mira—is a commemorative walk in respect of about fifteen thousand men who sought to escape the genocide by undertaking a hazardous 63 mile journey on foot through heavily mined woods from Srebrenica to Tuzla. The Peace March follows the same route taken by approximately one fifth of the initial groups of men who survived the genocide in 1995. Both the Potočari Memorial and Cemetery and the Peace March are important symbols of Bosnian identity and part of a movement committed to remember the Srebrenica genocide.

  45. Nettelfield & Wagner. (2014) [43] Srebrenica, (pp. 158–159).

  46. Delpla et al. [38]. The Judge, the Historian, the Legislator, (p. 15). The Western countries are the largest donors in post-genocide Srebrenica—and Bosnia, in general—a leverage that may be traced on their reluctant engagement throughout the war, and in particular failure to prevent the genocide.

  47. Wagner (2008) [61], To know where he lies, p. 66.

  48. Ibid.

  49. UNSC (2007) [60], ‘Press Release’. One expression of such manipulation—arguably—can be found in the Special Status Initiative (2007) whereby Bosnian politicians demanded that Srebrenica be taken out of Republika Srpska and be joined with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The international community rejected this initiative and upheld the Dayton Peace Agreement and its constitutional design for the country. A detailed account of this initiative can be found in Nettelfield & Wagner, (2014) [43] Srebrenica, (pp. 121–132).

  50. Zwierzchowski and Tabeau found that 7480 Serb civilians were killed in Bosnia in 1992–1995. Zwierzchowski, J., & Tabeau, E. (2010) [65]. The 1992–1995 War in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Census-based multiple system estimation of casualties undercount. Paper for the International Research Workshop on ‘The Global Costs of Conflict’. The German Institute for Economic Research, Berlin, February 1–2, 2010. Available at http://www.icty.org/x/file/About/OTP/War_Demographics/en/bih_casualty_undercount_conf_paper_100201.pdf. This figure is approximately the same as the number of persons killed in Srebrenica in the month of July 1995. Brunborg, Tabeau & Hetland (2005) [20]. I thank an anonymous reviewer for suggesting these figures and sources.

  51. These themes were particularly obvious in the Serbian parliamentary debate on Srebrenica in March 2010 initiated by then Serbian President Boris Tadić in response to the European Parliament’s resolution of January 2009 which declared July 11 a Europe-wide day of remembrance for the Srebrenica genocide. The Serbian Parliament’s declaration on Srebrenica omitted the term ‘genocide’. See Mehler, D. [66]. Understanding narrative gaps in transitional justice: The Serbian discourse on the Srebrenica Declaration of 2010. Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe, 11(4), particularly 142–147.

  52. Dodik explicitly denied that the Srebrenica massacre amounted to genocide on July 12, 2010, the 15th anniversary of the Genocide. ‘If a genocide happened’ he said ‘than it was committed against Serb people of this region where women, children and the elderly were killed en masse’. The Sidney Morning Herald. (2010, July 13). ‘Srebrenica Massacre not “genocide”’. http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/srebrenica-massacre-not-genocide-20100713-1083q.html. The leaders of the Republic of Serbia continue to deny the Srebrenica genocide too. The Serbian President Mr. Tomislav Nikolić praised the Russian veto of a United Nations Security Council Resolution that, 20 years after, would have condemned the Srebrenica massacre as genocide on July 8, 2015. Bilefsky, D., & Sengupta, S. [67]. Srebrenica massacre, After 20 years, Still casts a long shadow in Bosnia. New York Times. July 8. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/09/world/europe/srebrenica-genocide-massacre.html?_r=0

  53. Toal & Dahlman (2001) [44] Bosnia Remade, pp. 285–287.

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    Klejda Mulaj

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Mulaj, K. Genocide and the ending of war: Meaning, remembrance and denial in Srebrenica, Bosnia. Crime Law Soc Change 68, 123–143 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-017-9690-6

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