The Dutch government apologizes to the relatives of the genocide in Srebrenica. Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said this on Monday in a speech during the 27th anniversary of the systematic murder of more than 8,000 Bosnian men and boys.
Ollongren made the “deepest apologies” at the Potocari cemetery in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The minister said he could not take away the suffering of the relatives. “But what we can do is look the memory straight in the eye.”
“The horrific genocide is the fault of only one party: the Bosnian Serb army. Fortunately, important responsible persons have now been tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.” However, she thought an apology was appropriate, given the shared international responsibility of the Netherlands “for the situation in which this could happen”.
‘Srebrenica’ biggest war crime in Europe since WWII
The Srebrenica massacre is considered the worst war crime in Europe since World War II. The UN Security Council declared Srebrenica a demilitarized ‘safe zone’ to be protected by an international peacekeeping force. But Serbs kept out the UN convoys of emergency aid and waited for the famine to take effect. Fuel, food and ammunition became scarce.
Military support was not forthcoming after Serbian attack
After an attack by Bosnian Serb forces on 3 July 1995, the UN observatories fell like dominoes. The Dutch commander, Lieutenant Colonel Thom Karremans, asked several times for NATO air support, but those requests were rejected. Dutchbat withdrew to the base in Potocari, where thousands of refugees from Srebrenica also moved.
That is where the murders and rapes took place. Men and boys were never seen again, as were most of their fellow sufferers who tried to flee over the mountains. An estimated 8,500 Bosnian Muslims fell prey to the worst genocide in Europe since World War II. The Dutch Blue Helmets were unable to prevent the massacre by the Bosnian Serb troops.
The Netherlands instituted a compensation scheme
In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the State acted unlawfully with regard to a group of approximately 350 male refugees who were in the compound on 13 July 1995. The Netherlands subsequently decided to institute a compensation scheme.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologized to hundreds of Dutchbat veterans in June for the cabinet’s actions regarding the drama in Srebrenica. He considered the Dutch state responsible for the circumstances in which the veterans were sent out and “the lack of support when Dutchbat III was wrongfully placed in the dock”. Former Dutchbat commander Thom Karremans called those apologies “good”, but for himself “too late now”.
According to Ollongren, relatives of Srebrenica and the Dutchbat veterans are working “with one voice” on a national monument in The Hague for the genocide. In that city, Monday is also commemorating the mass murder. There, among other things, fifty names of victims are read, preceded by an eleven kilometer long peace march.
Peace organization: ‘Now start talking to relatives’
Peace organization PAX calls the apologies “a positive first step, but insufficient. Today the minister failed to mention specific Dutch errors. Such errors have been mentioned in countless witness statements from survivors and in many reports, and they have also been recorded in two judgments of the Supreme Court. Council.”
PAX therefore sees the minister’s statement “at most as a welcome first step”. The organization calls on the government and parliament to now start a series of talks with survivors and relatives.
The organization behind the Srebrenica commemoration in The Hague is happy with the apologies. “How fantastic that that recognition has finally come, I have goosebumps”, says Leila Prnjavorac on behalf of the National Remembrance Srebrenica Genocide. According to Prnjavorac, the relatives have waited a long time for this. “This is why we hold that commemoration every year, the endless waiting and patience are now being rewarded.”
Prnjavorac believes that it is now necessary to investigate what exactly happened in Srebrenica. “Let’s inspire the next generation not to look away, but to work together to rule out any form of terror or ethnic cleansing.”