Genocide

The Bosnian Crisis

In Bosnia, Muslims represented the largest single population group by 1971. More Serbs and Croats emigrated over the next two decades. In a 1991 census Bosnia's population of some 4 million was 44% Bosniak, 31% Serb, and 17% Croatian. Elections held in late 1990 resulted in a coalition government split between parties representing the three ethnicities (in rough proportion to their populations) and led by the Bosniak Alija Izetbegovic. As tensions built inside and outside the country, the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his Serbian Democratic Party withdrew from government and set up their own "Serbian National Assembly." On March 3, 1992, after a referendum vote (which Karadzic's party blocked in many Serb-populated areas), President Izetbegovic proclaimed Bosnia's independence.

Far from seeking independence for Bosnia, Bosnian Serbs wanted to be part of a dominant Serbian state in the Balkans--the "Greater Serbia" that Serbian separatists had long envisioned. In early May 1992, two days after the United States and the European Community recognized Bosnia's independence, Bosnian Serb forces with the backing of Milosevic and the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army launched their offensive.

Back Ground

Aided by Serbian guerrillas in Croatia, Milosevic's forces invaded in July 1991 to protect the Serbian minority. In the city of Vukovar, they bombarded the outgunned Croats for 86 consecutive days and reduced it to rubble. After Vukovar fell, the Serbs began the first mass executions of the conflict, killing hundreds of Croat men and burying them in mass graves. The massacre in Vukovar was not an isolated event, but an anomaly that began to spread to the rest of Serbian controlled Bosnia. Another atrocity between Croat and Serbian forces was the Ahmici massacre of April, 1993. No one was spared when Serbs shelled the village and destroyed two mosques as the youngest victim was a three month old baby boy who was gunned to death in his crib. The oldest victim was a 96 year old woman. There were 120 estimated deaths that day.

Massacres

At this point, some of the worst genocidal crimes of the four year conflict occurred. In Srebrenica, a Safe Haven, U.N. peacekeepers stood by helplessly as the Serbs under the command of General Ratko Mladic systematically selected and then slaughtered nearly 8,000 men and boys between the ages of twelve and sixty - the worst mass murder in Europe since World War II. In addition, the Serbs continued to engage in mass rapes of Muslim females.

Executions

 The actions of the Serbs were labeled as 'ethnic cleansing,' a name which quickly took hold among the international media.

The Serbs ethnic cleansing campaign included unlawful confinement,

murder, rape, sexual assault, torture, beating, robbery and inhumane treatment of civilians; the targeting of political leaders, intellectuals and professionals; the unlawful deportation and transfer of civilians; the unlawful shelling of civilians; the unlawful appropriation and plunder of real and personal property; the destruction of homes and businesses; and the destruction of places of worship.

Ethnic Cleansing

Women and girls were kept in various detention centers where they had to live in intolerably unhygienic conditions and were mistreated in many ways including being repeatedly raped. Serb soldiers or policemen would come to these detention centers, select one or more women, take them out and rape them. All this was done in full view, in complete knowledge and sometimes with the direct involvement of the Serb local authorities, particularly the police forces. Common profound complications among surviving women and girls include gynecological, physical and psychological (post traumatic) disorders, as well as unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. The survivors often feel uncomfortable, frustrated, sickened with men, sex and relationships; ultimately affecting the growth/development of a population or society. Thus committing a slow genocide according to some.

Mass Rape

 There were allegedly 677 concentration camps spread throughout Bosnia during the war. They were structured similarly to those in Nazi Germany. Living conditions were low Hygiene was low Death toll was High

Concentration Camps

 The U.N. was incompetent and irresponsible in its handling of the Bosnian crisis. They failed to recognize irrefutable evidence that genocide was taking place in Bosnia. Although nearly a decade later the U.N. finally recognized the Serbs crimes as genocidal, it was already thousands of lives to late. Even though the U.N. failed to prevent genocide, they have made an effort to bring Serbian war criminals to justice, and repair the damage that they have done. There is nothing that the U.N. can do now except learn from their mistakes. In the future they need to make more direct and immediate efforts to prevent genocidal crimes.

Who is to blame?

 In this case it wasnt the testimony of just one man, but thousands. It took nearly a decade of victims coming forward and telling their stories for the world to come to terms with what had happened. Now that the U.N. recognizes the Bosnian genocide, they can pursue those who are responsible.

How can the power of one mans testimony overcome the injustice of racial hatred?