Ahlulbayt News Agency: The United Nations Security Council had declared the Bosnian city of Srebrenica as a "Safe Zone" in the spring of 1993. Yet, the forces commanded by Ratko Mladic, who was later on convicted for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, trespassed the "safe zone" under the UN supervision and protection.
Nearly 15,000 of the inhabitants of Srebrenica escaped to mountains around the city, but the Serb forces chased them and massacred thousands of them. The corpses of the dead were then discovered in 570 points of the country.
The historical record of events related to the two World Wars and the clashes among the European countries are considered among the root causes of the 1990s war in the Balkans. The disintegration of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia and the persistence of the Cold War can be enumerated as other reasons for these regional and global developments which had the greatest impact on the life of the people in the Balkans, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.
The former Yugoslavian republics gained independence one after the other and finally it was the turn of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This republic faced a Gordian knot so that a bloody war broke out leading to the massacre and genocide of tens of thousands of Muslims in the region.
Now, three decades after those years, the traces of war can be seen here and there in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The effects of lethal weapons and ammunitions are visible on walls and a big number of cemeteries in different urban and rural regions are reminiscent of those bloody years. The monuments of the victims in the busy districts of the capital city of Sarajevo are also unforgettable scenes in the region.
The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina was a unique war as Sarajevo experienced the longest period of siege among the world capitals with 1425 days. Approximately 14,000 people were killed in the city during over 40 months of war.
The dimensions and consequences of the war are very broad, but among the notable and bloody events during the war was the massacre of the Muslim people of Srebrenica which has been considered as the greatest genocide in Europe after the WWII.
Speaking on the perpetrators and the legal and political aspects of this event, both internal causes and grounds and the shortcoming and connivance of the international organizations must be taken into account.
The most famous culprits of this gruesome crime were Radovan Karadzic, the former Serbian President of Bosnia and Ratko Mladic, the former commander of the Serbian army. Both of these criminals were arrested and imprisoned in 2008 and 2011 after years of secret life in the cities and villages of Serbia.
In 2016 in The Hague, Karadzic was sentenced to 40 years in prison and then for life in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity.
Mladic, known as the "Butcher of the Balkans", was sentenced to life in prison in 2017 for massacring 83,00 Bosnians on July, 11, 1995.
The verdicts and punishments of these criminals may be considered as results of their crimes which can, somehow, alleviate the pains and calamities of the survivors. But it should be said that no boundary can be imagined for punishing those persons who torture and kill defenseless and innocent people. Karadzic and Mladic are among the persons who have massacred thousands of people merely for racial, ethnic and ideological differences.
Moreover, the accusing finger is pointed to the Western communities, especially the international organizations like the UN, which have highly failed to fulfill their duties and abide by their commitments.
As a matter of fact, the United Nations was set up after the WWII by powerful countries, to replace the League of Nations, as the greatest and most powerful intergovernmental body in the world to prevent war, maintain security and provide global peace.
A brief look at the name and motto of the UN, "Peace, Dignity and Equality on Healthy Planet" can help us understand that one of the basic and vital subsidiary bodies of the UN is the Security Council which has the duty of safeguarding international peace and security. Yet, this body had failed to fulfill its duty in a meaningful way in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the city of Srebrenica. As it was said earlier, this city had been declared by the UN as a safe zone under the UN protection, and the Dutch armed forces had been assigned as the "Peace-keepers" of the region. These blue-capped forces showed no reaction to the aggressors of the city and, according to the eye-witnesses, even delivered many of the men and youths of the city to the Serb criminals. As a result, nearly 8,000 civilians were massacred in a very savage way.
Nevertheless, the shortcoming and failure of the Western communities and governments towards the issues of human rights are not limited to the Bosnian war. Their past record is very black and thick with the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 during which around 800,000 men, women and children were massacred and some 200,000- 500,000 women were raped.
The deceptive claim of the Western communities on human rights and their rabble-rousing humanitarian slogans are the issues that can easily been exposed with innumerable examples across the world.
Sources: Hashemi Saeed, Srebrenica Massacre and Western Human Rights, Iranian diplomacy. Srebrenica Genocide; Greatest Human Tragedy in Europe, Mizan news agency
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Nearly 15,000 of the inhabitants of Srebrenica escaped to mountains around the city, but the Serb forces chased them and massacred thousands of them. The corpses of the dead were then discovered in 570 points of the country.
The historical record of events related to the two World Wars and the clashes among the European countries are considered among the root causes of the 1990s war in the Balkans. The disintegration of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia and the persistence of the Cold War can be enumerated as other reasons for these regional and global developments which had the greatest impact on the life of the people in the Balkans, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.
The former Yugoslavian republics gained independence one after the other and finally it was the turn of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This republic faced a Gordian knot so that a bloody war broke out leading to the massacre and genocide of tens of thousands of Muslims in the region.
Now, three decades after those years, the traces of war can be seen here and there in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The effects of lethal weapons and ammunitions are visible on walls and a big number of cemeteries in different urban and rural regions are reminiscent of those bloody years. The monuments of the victims in the busy districts of the capital city of Sarajevo are also unforgettable scenes in the region.
The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina was a unique war as Sarajevo experienced the longest period of siege among the world capitals with 1425 days. Approximately 14,000 people were killed in the city during over 40 months of war.
The dimensions and consequences of the war are very broad, but among the notable and bloody events during the war was the massacre of the Muslim people of Srebrenica which has been considered as the greatest genocide in Europe after the WWII.
Speaking on the perpetrators and the legal and political aspects of this event, both internal causes and grounds and the shortcoming and connivance of the international organizations must be taken into account.
The most famous culprits of this gruesome crime were Radovan Karadzic, the former Serbian President of Bosnia and Ratko Mladic, the former commander of the Serbian army. Both of these criminals were arrested and imprisoned in 2008 and 2011 after years of secret life in the cities and villages of Serbia.
In 2016 in The Hague, Karadzic was sentenced to 40 years in prison and then for life in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity.
Mladic, known as the "Butcher of the Balkans", was sentenced to life in prison in 2017 for massacring 83,00 Bosnians on July, 11, 1995.
The verdicts and punishments of these criminals may be considered as results of their crimes which can, somehow, alleviate the pains and calamities of the survivors. But it should be said that no boundary can be imagined for punishing those persons who torture and kill defenseless and innocent people. Karadzic and Mladic are among the persons who have massacred thousands of people merely for racial, ethnic and ideological differences.
Moreover, the accusing finger is pointed to the Western communities, especially the international organizations like the UN, which have highly failed to fulfill their duties and abide by their commitments.
As a matter of fact, the United Nations was set up after the WWII by powerful countries, to replace the League of Nations, as the greatest and most powerful intergovernmental body in the world to prevent war, maintain security and provide global peace.
A brief look at the name and motto of the UN, "Peace, Dignity and Equality on Healthy Planet" can help us understand that one of the basic and vital subsidiary bodies of the UN is the Security Council which has the duty of safeguarding international peace and security. Yet, this body had failed to fulfill its duty in a meaningful way in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the city of Srebrenica. As it was said earlier, this city had been declared by the UN as a safe zone under the UN protection, and the Dutch armed forces had been assigned as the "Peace-keepers" of the region. These blue-capped forces showed no reaction to the aggressors of the city and, according to the eye-witnesses, even delivered many of the men and youths of the city to the Serb criminals. As a result, nearly 8,000 civilians were massacred in a very savage way.
Nevertheless, the shortcoming and failure of the Western communities and governments towards the issues of human rights are not limited to the Bosnian war. Their past record is very black and thick with the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 during which around 800,000 men, women and children were massacred and some 200,000- 500,000 women were raped.
The deceptive claim of the Western communities on human rights and their rabble-rousing humanitarian slogans are the issues that can easily been exposed with innumerable examples across the world.
Sources: Hashemi Saeed, Srebrenica Massacre and Western Human Rights, Iranian diplomacy. Srebrenica Genocide; Greatest Human Tragedy in Europe, Mizan news agency
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