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The Unfulfilled Promise of Protection. The Netherlands and Srebrenica
- from PART IV - PENDING CASES
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- By Christ Klep, Assistant Professor, History of International Relations Department, Utrecht University and Assistant Professor Military History, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
- Edited by Peter Malcontent
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- Book:
- Facing the Past
- Published by:
- Intersentia
- Published online:
- 15 December 2017
- Print publication:
- 29 July 2016, pp 323-338
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- Chapter
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
The Srebrenica tragedy stands out as one of the blackest pages in post-war human rights history. In July 1995 an estimated nine thousand Muslim men were slaughtered by Bosnian Serb forces. A Dutch United Nations battalion (Dutchbat) had been tasked with shielding the Muslim population of Srebrenica. But the Dutch unit proved unable to stop the Bosnian Serb assault and prevent the subsequent massacre. The tragedy has haunted the UN and the Netherlands since those fateful days of 1995. Critics have consistently underlined the unfulfilled promise of protection by both the UN and the Netherlands. British journalist Robert Fisk, for example, wrote scathingly: ‘Why, one keeps asking oneself, were these Dutchmen in uniform in the first place? Aren't soldiers occasionally expected to fight, even to die?’
This intensely emotional event offers a meaningful case study regarding the complex problem of finding remedies for grave historical injustices. This chapter will look more closely at the attempts of Srebrenica survivors and their sympathisers (mostly human rights NGOs and lawyers, left-wing politicians and intellectuals) to seek remedies from Dutch authorities and the UN via the Dutch judicial system. So far, this has proven to be a time-consuming and arduous process, laden with recriminations and sensitivities. Two civil lawsuits before the Dutch District Court in The Hague will figure prominently here. The actual claims by the Srebrenica survivors as well as the dispositions of the Dutch authorities and the District Court in The Hague itself provide a telling insight into the problems – legal, practical and political – plaintiffs from Srebrenica have encountered in their search for apologies and compensation. This case study also allows us to analyse more broadly the UN's responsibility when it comes to peace operations that have turned sour and the way the organisation addresses claims from victims. As will become evident, the District Court in The Hague based its arguments time and again on the political reality of an imperfect UN system and on the unsatisfactory instrument of UN peace operations.
THE EVENTS
In 1993 the UN Security Council established ‘safe areas’ to protect six hard-pressed Muslim enclaves in Bosnia-Herzegovina that were surrounded by Bosnian Serb troops. Soldiers from the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) were tasked with safeguarding the local population in all six safe areas.
Chapter 11 - The Second World War: The Dilemmas of Occupation
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- By Christ Klep
- Edited by Emmeline Besamusca, Jaap Verheul
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- Book:
- Discovering the Dutch
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 07 January 2021
- Print publication:
- 18 November 2014, pp 145-156
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Summary
On May 4, National Memorial Day, the Dutch commemorate all civilians and members of the armed forces who died in wars and peacekeeping operations since the outbreak of the Second World War. The Dutch flag is flown at half-mast and two minutes of silence are observed at eight o’clock in the evening. In most cities and villages people gather around monuments, listen to speeches, and lay down flowers to remember the dead. The official national commemoration, which is attended by the king and queen, members of the government, military authorities, representatives of the resistance movement, and survivors of persecution, is held at the National Monument on Dam Square in the city center of Amsterdam and is broadcasted on public television. Similar events are organized at other locations, such as the Waalsdorpervlakte in the dunes near The Hague, where many Dutch resistance fighters were executed during the war.
The following day, on May 5, Liberation Day is celebrated with a wide variety of festivals, concerts, fairs and other lively events. It can be argued that these two days, perhaps together with King's Day on April 27, belong to the few truly national holidays during which the Dutch display and ponder their national history and identity.
Although the commemorative festivities aim to address above all wider themes of freedom and liberation from all kinds of war, persecution, and hatred (including links to domestic debates about the position of minorities), the dates are anchored in the more specific memory of the Second World War in the Netherlands. The dates were chosen because on May 5, 1945 the commander of the German army in the Netherlands, General Johannes Blaskowitz, surrendered to his Allied opponent, Canadian Lieutenant- General Charles Foulkes in the small town of Wageningen.
The yearly commemoration of what for most people is still “The War” illustrates the huge impact the Second World War had – and still has – on Dutch society. In common parlance the twentieth century is divided into prewar and postwar generations. Even more than half a century later references to the war can be found almost daily in Dutch newspapers and media.