Srebrenica massacre: Dutch government 'partially liable' for murder of 300 Muslim men, court finds

[Dandelion]

In the news now.

A court has ruled that the Dutch government is partially liable for the deaths of around 300 Muslim men killed in the Srebrenica massacre.

The Hague court of appeal’s findings largely upheld a civil court judgment from 2014, which found the state was liable for the murder of Bosniak Muslims who were turned to Bosnian Serb troops by Dutch UN peacekeepers.

Presiding judge Gepke Dulek-Schermers said that Dutch soldiers “knew or should have known that the men were not only being screened ... but were in real danger of being subjected to torture or execution”.

more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a7809806.html

Reading about this I notice a very heated debate about this. Many Dutch believe that they were betrayed by the UN for not offering them the requested air support and were left alone as infantry versus an overmight of Serbs with tanks armed with just machine guns.
Reason for the inertia of the UN was because Serbs were taking British, American and French soldiers captive. To me a prime example of why multinational forces are a bloody inefficient mess rife of unreliability and corruption.

I do agree that Karremans' friendly drink with Mladic was scandalous, though.

[Sekarotuinen]

Agreed, Dutch didnt do anything wrong here, they were not assisted at all by the UN. It is the worthless UN that should take the blame for this, the rulings of some leftist kangaroo court mean nothing to me.

[Sekarotuinen]

UN goes in? Nothing happens. NATO goes in? Serbs are btfo in short order despitr only partial commitment.

[Gold-Shekel]

Agreed, Dutch didnt do anything wrong here, they were not assisted at all by the UN. It is the worthless UN that should take the blame for this, the rulings of some leftist kangaroo court mean nothing to me.

The Dutchbat's command switched from UN to Dutch ministry of defense before the events took place -> The Netherlands have to answer for the Dutchbat's lack of action. (can't remember where I saw that though)


While I think that the UN should be blamed for this, I think the particular Dutch soldiers involved have their part of resposibility. Serbs ended up making them and the UN look weak (which was true) not only by killing the Bosniaks they were supposed to protect but by tieing them up, by taking their uniforms and vehicles to lure Bosniaks and so on.

[Dandelion]

The Dutchbat's command switched from UN to Dutch ministry of defense before the events took place -> The Netherlands have to answer for the Dutchbat's lack of action

Yeah, but air support wasn't under Dutch command and we're talking about that side of the inertion.

The Dutch infantry weren't even allowed to carry anti-tank weapons, because they were 'too heavy for soldiers under UN duty' or similar nonsense. Impossible to win versus tanks with rifles.

[Gold-Shekel]

Yeah, but air support wasn't under Dutch command and we're talking about that side of the inertion.

The Dutch infantry weren't even allowed to carry anti-tank weapons, because they were 'too heavy for soldiers under UN duty' or similar nonsense. Impossible to win versus tanks with rifles.

I added a bit on my comment with an edit.

However what you said is interesting and shows how UN soldiers are unprepared to any kind of serious event in general but they could have done something, like the Danish did with Operation Bøllebank.

It's true that the UN carries the real guilt here but the Dutch withdrew their heavy weapons from the zone.

[The Destroyer]

The only people here to blame are stupid Bosniaks who surrendered their weapons to UN and genuinely believed a 99% Christian Army would defend them against Serbs.

[Albobalboa]

The only people here to blame are stupid Bosniaks who surrendered their weapons to UN and genuinely believed a 99% Christian Army would defend them against Serbs.

They were honest people who believed in the good of their fellow men. Who wouldn't trust a UN camp for safety?

Really the more I think of the fact that they were gathered in the UN facilities, having to abandon anything that could be used for defense, only to be prepared like sheep for a slaughter by the Europeans, the more frustrated I get over this. This wasn't just cleansing, this was such a moral and humanitarian crime that I can't even fully process how disgusting it is.

[Arbërori]

Scandalous... Even the news itself is poorly directed. May they rest in peace.

[Bonpal]

cant expect a hand full of dutch to fight to the death for foreigners.