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Dutch state found liable for some Srebrenica deaths.

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  • Dutch state found liable for some Srebrenica deaths.

    A court in the Netherlands has ruled the Dutch state was responsible for the deaths of more than 300 victims of the Srebrenica massacre.




    The court said: "The state is liable for the loss suffered by relatives of the men who were deported by the Bosnian Serbs from the Dutchbat (Dutch battalion) compound in Potocari in the afternoon of 13 July, 1995."
    So what does this mean for Peacekeeping , not only for Ireland , but in general ? Will countries be hesitant in proving troops ? What happens to the next bunch of lads who get hopelessly outnumbered ?

  • #2
    The more interesting point was the original report which predated the court case. It held the UN and the Dutch government responsible for sending in troops in the first place without a strong enough mandate. But because the UN can't be sued in a Dutch court the Dutch government was held solely liable.

    That opens up a whole can of worms for any troop contributing country on a Peace keeping mission where the ROE/Objectives/Mandate are weak and normally circumscribed by the Security Council.

    Can you imagine the prospective litigants from Chad lining up ?
    “The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards.”
    ― Thucydides

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    • #3
      It's just a ridiculous verdict, why don't they sue the Serbs instead.
      Everyone who's ever loved you was wrong.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by terrier View Post
        http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0716/631...nica-massacre/

        So what does this mean for Peacekeeping , not only for Ireland , but in general ? Will countries be hesitant in proving troops ? What happens to the next bunch of lads who get hopelessly outnumbered ?
        shows you how sh|te the UN and it's missions really are - especially when the mandate is pushed and the Peacekeepers do the very best they can in terrible situations.

        bad news indeed.
        RGJ

        ...Once a Rifleman - Always a Rifleman... Celer et Audax

        The Rifles

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        • #5
          The Dutch or UN didn't kill a single civilian in Srebrenica, the Bosnian Serb army did the killing and its them who were responsible for the massacre not the Dutch Peacekeepers.

          The 2/3 strength Dutch Battalion of only 400 troops, low on ammo, fuel, food and water with no reinforcements was opposed by several thousand Bosnian Serb's. It could of become their Jadotville.

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          • #6
            Which would have been the greater wrong (mission & own troop deaths -v- unarmed civilian massacre)?

            I like to think I would have fought but being on the ground is different

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            • #7
              Originally posted by DeV View Post
              Which would have been the greater wrong (mission & own troop deaths -v- unarmed civilian massacre)?

              I like to think I would have fought but being on the ground is different
              The Dutch did fight in order to defend themselves and their posts for a number of days, one Dutch peacekeeper was killed, but with no reinforcements or resupplies and NATO ignoring their calls for air support they had few options in the face of a force of several thousand Bosnian Serb's other than to withdraw.

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              • #8
                Strictly this does not fall under our "overseas" forum, but it can stay here as there is an issue. For whatever reason the un did not react as they should have, in my opinion, perhaps they were afraid of escalating the situation, but I don't see how it could be any worse, in my opinion the serbs were responsible in the first degree, and the un in the second. The un is going rapidly in the direction of the league of nations.....
                "We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey"
                Radio transmission, siege of Jadotville DR Congo. September 1961.
                Illegitimi non carborundum

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                • #9
                  Seems drearily inevitable that if the Dutch had put up a bigger fight & then they were forced to surrender...

                  We'd be seeing the same trial, only it would be saying the Dutch had unnecessarily inflamed the situation by fighting back and thus caused the slaughter.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Rhodes View Post
                    The Dutch did fight in order to defend themselves and their posts for a number of days, one Dutch peacekeeper was killed, but with no reinforcements or resupplies and NATO ignoring their calls for air support they had few options in the face of a force of several thousand Bosnian Serb's other than to withdraw.
                    The Peacekeeper was actually killed by a Bosniak they were supposed to be protecting who threw a grenate at their AFV as the dutch were withdrawing.
                    They were however in a no win situation. Surrounded by Serbs (Not Bosnian Serbs, there is a difference) they were for a while supported by UN air strikes, until the weather made that impossible. The Serbs had already lain siege to the town and had succeeded in starving the inhabitants, by sniper fire killing anyone who tried to leave their homes to find food. They had cut off all resupply routes on the ground.
                    The Dutch were facing a similar situation, and the UN were not keen to upset the Status Quo my taking decisive action to end the siege.. The Dutch Commander on the ground was forced to make sophies choice, and allowed himself to become part of the serb propaganda machine in the process. He chose to save his troops, instead of taking on an aggressor with greater strength of numbers and arms, on their own turf.
                    For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

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