A court said the UN peacekeepers failed to prevent the killing of over 300 Moslem men and boys in 1995.
A Dutch court in The Hague on July 16, 2014, ruled that The Netherlands was responsible for the deaths of more than 300 Bosnian Moslem men and boys in the Srebrenica Genocide in 1995, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II, Al Jazeera TV reported.
The Hague District Court partially ruled in favour of the mothers and widows of the murdered men and boys who had sued the Dutch State and its military in civil proceedings. The law suit claimed that Dutch peacekeepers did not protect Bosnian Moslems in the UN-protected enclave in eastern Bosnia when Bosnian Serb forces overran the town, resulting in the deaths of more than 8,300 men and boys.
After the town was taken over by Bosnian Serb soldiers in July 1995, thousands of local residents fled to a UN compound in nearby Potocari, while others sought shelter in a nearby forest. Dutch troops complained that the compound was getting overcrowded and ordered at least 300 men to leave. “It can be said with sufficient certainty that, had the troops allowed them to stay, the men would have remained alive," the court concluded.
The surviving relatives who filed the law suit said they were disappointed with the ruling, arguing that The Netherlands should be blamed for all 8,000 deaths because Dutch troops did not intervene when Srebrenica was being invaded. Legal experts say the ruling could pave the way for compensation claims and also make countries less willing to participate in UN missions because they can be held liable for potential atrocities.
The Netherlands has argued that it should be immune from prosecution because its troops operated under a UN mandate. Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, said the government would study the ruling. It can appeal the decision in the Court of Appeal.
