- Bosnia was engulfed in civil war between 1992-95 following the dissolution of Yugoslavia
- In July 1995, Srebrenica was designated a ‘safe haven’ under the protection of a Dutch contingent of United Nations soldiers
- 11 July, Mladic’s forces overrun the town and within two days expel all the women and girls before rounding-up all the Bosnian Muslim men of all ages and systematically murder them
- They buried the bodies in mass graves and then, to try and destroy proof, disinterred and reburied bodies at other site hoping to make the forensic evidence impossible to decipher
- The death toll is conservatively estimated at 8,372
A flag will fly at half-mast outside Gloucestershire Constabulary’s Waterwells Headquarters on 11 July as a mark of respect to those who died in one of the worst atrocities since the Second World War.
Police and Crime Commissioner Martin Surl will also join the South West and Oxfordshire interactive online ceremony to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica on 10 July.
The two events will come towards the end of a week of remembrance.
Mr. Surl said, “Recent events, including those which prompted the Black Lives Matters movement, have encouraged people from all backgrounds to stand up to hate, intolerance and prejudice. Srebrenica is another lesson from history of the evil that follows when religious and ethnic differences are encouraged and allowed to fester”.
Srebrenica is about the size of Winchcombe. On 11 July 1995, General Ratko Mladić and his Serbian paramilitary units overran the town. Even though it was under United Nations protection, they rounded up all the Bosnian Muslim men, old and young, and systematically murdered and buried them.
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Reports indicate that more than 8,000 died during the massacre. Subsequent research and advances in DNA technology suggest it may have been a conservative estimate of the carnage.
Mr. Surl said, “In 2014, I was one of a select number of people from the region invited by the Foreign Office to visit the town as part of the ‘Lessons from Srebrenica’ programme. We were there to pay tribute to those who had died in the war, and to gain an understanding of the extent of the atrocities.
“The questions most of the people I met wanted answered were “Why did it happen?” – for although the slaughter was attributed to sectarian rivalry, religion is no longer accepted as the sole reason for it”.
And the slaughter did not end there. Quite apart from those who lost their lives, an estimated 50,000 women and girls were subjected to rape and other forms of systematic sexual violence
Remembering Srebrenica is the UK charity that works to bring the lessons from the Bosnian genocide to the UK. It works within communities to celebrate upstanders, equip people to challenge hate and intolerance and to remember that, as its theme for the 25th anniversary states, Every Action Matters.
Srebrenica – timeline
- Bosnia was engulfed in civil war between 1992-95 following the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
- When the Serb army moved in to Srebrenica, approximately 20,000 Muslims – mostly women, children and the infirm – sought refuge in the Dutch compound in nearby Potocari.
- In July 1995, Srebrenica was designated a ‘safe haven’ under the protection of a Dutch contingent of United Nations soldiers
- 6-8 July 1995: Bosnian Serb forces start shelling Srebrenica enclave
- 9 July: Bosnian Serbs step up shelling; thousands of Bosnian Muslim refugees flee to Srebrenica
- 10 July: Dutch peacekeepers request UN air support after Bosnian Serbs shell Dutch positions. Large crowds of refugees gather around Dutch positions
- 11 July: More than 20,000 refugees flee to main Dutch base at Potocari. Serbs threaten to kill Dutch hostages and shell refugees after Dutch F-16 fighters bomb Serb positions. Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic enters Srebrenica and delivers ultimatum that Muslims must hand over weapons
- 12 July: An estimated 23,000 women and children are deported to Muslim territory; men aged 12-77 taken “for interrogation” and held in trucks and warehouses
- 13 July: First killings of unarmed Muslims take place near village of Kravica. UN soldiers hand over some 5,000 Muslims sheltering at Dutch base in exchange for the release of 14 Dutch peacekeepers held by Bosnian Serbs
- Mladici’s forces round-up all the Bosnian Muslim men of all ages and systematically murdered them
- They buried the bodies in mass graves and then, to try and destroy proof, disinterred and reburied bodies at other site hoping to make the forensic evidence impossible to decipher
- The death toll is estimated at 8,372, although subsequent research suggests that may be a conservative figure
