Human Rights Action in The Hague on February 27th, 2006: Bosnia’s Tragedy – Europe’s Shame

International human rights action conducted by the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) and the survivors of the Bosnian genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague (Carnegieplein/Vredes Paleis)

on the occasion of

the beginning of the public of Bosnia and Herzegovina against Serbia-Montenegro on February 27th, 2006.

On Monday, February 27th, the hearing concerning the application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Serbia-Montenegro) at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague will begin. The suit was filed by the American lawyer Francis A. Boyle in the name of the former multi-ethnic presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Members of the steering committee were the Bosnian Croat Stjepan Kljuic and Ivo Komsic, the Bosnian Serb Mirko Pejanovic, head of Serbia’s Civic Council and recipient of the Alternative Nobel Peace Price, the Bosnian Serb Tatjana Ljuic-Mijatovic and the Bosnian Muslims Nijaz Durakovic and Alija Izetbegovic.

The hearing will go on until May 9th, 2006.

Hundreds of survivors of the Bosnian genocide, including 50 women who will serve as the representatives of nine unions of relatives of victims of Srebrenica and the Drina valley, numerous inmates of former Serbian concentration and detention camps, survivors of the air raids of Bosnian towns, of deportations and of ethic cleansing, will participate in the solemn vigil organised by the Society for Threatened Peoples International and commemorate the

200.000 victims who lost their lives during the Bosnian war (1992-1995)

During our vigil, a 60m long banner with the names of the 8106 identified victims of the Srebrenica massacre as well as two more banners with the names of 16 rape camps and 60 concentration and detention camps and the 324 mass graves which have so far been discovered will be presented. Moreover, the names of the 8106 known victims will be read out loud.

We wish to invite you to our

Solemn Vigil in memory of the victims of the genocide and war of aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina

in front of the International Court of Justice (Carnegieplein/Peace Palace) in The Hague on Monday, February 27th, 2006 from 10 o’clock am till 3 o’clock pm.

We will begin to read out loud the names of the 8106 the identified victims of Srebrenica at 10 o’clock am. We hope that representatives of the Dutch Parliament will join the women, who have lost their husbands, brothers or sons in Srebrenica, and commemorate their dead with them. Short talks by the representatives of the survivors are also planned.

Please cover our solemn vigil in the Hague in your newspaper or news magazine.

The women:

The following unions are represented by the participating 50 women: the Mothers’ movement from the exclaves of Srebrenica and Zepa, the Union of female prisoners Sarajevo, the Mothers of Srebrebica (Srebrenica), the Women from Srebrenica in Tuzla, The mothers of Srebrenica and the Drina valley (Sarajevo), the Women’s union of the Drina Valley (Sarajevo and Drina towns), the Union of families of the missing of Srebrenica (Srebrenica), ‘Victims of war’ of rape camps in Foca, Visegrad, Women of Srebrenica in Berlin.

Europe’s shame:

By conducting this solemn vigil the Society for Threatened Peoples International wishes to remind the public of Europe’s failure to prevent the massacres during the war in Bosnia. It was the first genocide in European territory since World War II. In spite of appeals, protests, and campaigns by human rights organisations, Europe did not intervene in Bosnia until it was too late. Among the prominent figures who pleaded for intervention were: Roy Gutmann, Susan Sonntag, Cherif Bassiouni, Simon Wiesenthal, Marek Edelman, Elie Wiesel, André Glucksmann, Freimut Duve, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, Stephan Schwarz, Otto von Habsburg, Alain Finkielkraut, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Simone Veil, Marie-Louise Beck. Vaclav Havel, Henry Levy, Vytautas Landsbergis, Rita Süssmuth, Tan Sri Ghazali Shafi, as well as many non-governmental organisations, such as the American Jewish Congress, die Society for Threatened Peoples International/Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker International, and Human Rights Watch.

The genocide:

The regime of Slobodan Milosevic is not to be held responsible. Milosevic and his followers and supporters bear the blame for the war of aggression against Bosnia-Herzegovina and the genocide against Bosnians civilians (90% Bosnian Muslims/Bosniacs). His troops had supported the war of aggression for three years.

For the first time in the history of the International Court of Justice a law suit will be conducted, during which one state (Bosnia-Herzegovina) sues another (Serbia-Montenegro) by referring to violations against the UN-Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948).

The International Criminal Tribunal of the former Yugoslavia in The Hague has already sentenced the Serb General Radislav Krstic to a prison term of 35 years because of his compliancy in the genocide. In July 1995, the Tribunal of The Hague brought in an action against the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his general, the former commander-in-chief of the Bosnian Serb army Ratko Mladic, by reason of genocide and crimes against humanity. As a result of an initiative by the Society for Threatened Peoples two war criminals were convicted for their compliancy in genocide in Germany.

By committing genocide and war crimes the regime of Slobodan Milosevic destroyed an internationally recognised and autonomous state and utilized 50 percent of the conquered territory to establish the so-called Republika Srpska after the mass exodus had occured. Until today, the Republika Srpska is governed by Karadzic’s war party.

More than 90 percent of the Bosnian victims were Bosnian Muslims/Bosniacs. The regime of Slobodan Milosevic, supported by the troops of Bosnian Serbs, who were controlled by Mladic and Karadzic, and many paramilitary units, is to be blamed for the establishment of more than a hundred detention and concentration camps where more than 200 000 Bosnian civilians were held captive and more than 20 000

prisoners lost their lives. Omarska, Manjaca, Keraterm, Trnopolje, Luka Brcko, Susica and Foca were some of the infamous concentration camps.

Up to 30 000 Bosnian women were systematically raped, some of them in the rape camps of Visegrad and Foca. About 2.2 million Bosnian children, women and men fell victim to ethnic cleansing and were forced to leave their home country. Hundreds of thousands refugees were scattered all over the globe and have so far not been able to return to their homes.

For months or even years, Bosnian cities, such as Bihac, Sarajevo, Gorazde, Srebrenica, Cerska, and Zepa, were closed in on and attacked. Their civilian population was starved. In Sarajevo alone 11 500 people, including 1500 children, lost their lives. The commander-in-chief of Sarajevo’s Defenders was the famous Serb General Jovan Divjak. The renowned Serb architect Bogdan Bogdanovic condemned the systematic destruction of Sarajevo and other Bosnian cities as a barbarous fight against urban culture itself. Horrendous massacres took place in numerous villages and cities in the North, West, and East of Bosnia. In cities, such as Prijedor, Zvornik, and Foca, members of the political and academic elite were murdered. So far 324 mass graves have been discovered. In Srebrenica alone, more than 8 106 boys and men were murdered. 3 224 people were killed in the city of Prijedor.

Hundreds of villages and neighbourhoods were systematically destroyed. 1186 mosques, madrasahs, as well as cenotaphs of Islamic and Ottoman origin, 500 Catholic churches and Parish halls were demolished. Humanitarian aid was prevented in many regions.

Although 90 percent of the civilian victims were Bosniacs, many Bosnian Serbs also fell victim to the war. Many young men deserted as not to bear the blame for massacres and other crimes against humanity. Some opposed Karadzic’s troops and consequently lost their lives. Many supported their Muslim neighbours or attempted to hide them. Others were displaced like their non-Serb relatives or stayed in Sarajevo.

Regarding the work of the Society for Threatened Peoples International in Bosnia:

The Society for Threatened Peoples:

– forwarded the names of thousands of victims and war criminals to the UN Investigation committee of Cherif Bassiouni and later to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia;

– stayed in touch with the amateur radio operators in the enclaves of Gorazde and Bihac and organised international phone conferences with them;

– built a symbolic concentration camp with Bosnian refugees at the UN human rights conference in Vienna in 1993;

– squatted in the Croatian embassy in September 1993 as Croatian troops invaded Bosnia;

– protested against the genocide during the largest demonstration outside of Sarajevo in Bonn in April 1994 (30 000 participants);

– organised the only large international conference about the genocide with participation of 150 international experts under the patronage of Simon Wiesenthal;

– published the first book on the genocide in Bosnia in the fall of 1992;

– appealed to the international community at the memorial of the former concentration camp Buchenwald, supported by survivors of Serbian concentration camps and the last commander-in-chief of the Warsaw Ghetto, Marek Edelman;

– initiated the persecution and conviction of war criminals in Germany

– built a symbolic Muslim graveyard outside of the villa of Germany’s former chancellor Helmut Kohl;

– documented the displacement of Croat Serbs three days after Croatia’s invasion of the Kraijna in August 1995;

– organised a return of refugees to Prijedor, accompanied by 20 international journalists;

– mediated between eyewitnesses and the international press and media in order to initiate and promote authentic interviews and media coverage;

– supported and promoted unions of the victims of the genocide in Bosnia, of former inmates of rape, detention and concentration camps through its offices in Sarajevo and Srebrenica.

Please contact Mr. Tilman Zülch in case of any questions or if you wish to request an interview with him. Mr Zülch is the author of many books and documentations on the war and genocide in Bosnia and head of the human rights work in Bosnia-Herzegovina since 1992. He is also responsible for this text.

The following members of staff of the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) are in charge of the solemn vigil in The Hague: Mrs. Jasna Causevic, Specialist for South-East Europe at the GfbV-Germany, Fadila Memisevic, Director of the GfbV-section in Bosnia-Herzegovina and recipient of the Swiss Human Rights Award, Belma Zulic, Managing Director of the GfbV-section in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Hatidza Mehmedovic, head of the GfbV-office in Srebrenica.