The Srebrenica massacre , [ a ] also known as the Srebrenica genocide , [ b ] [ 8 ] was the July genocidal killing [ 9 ] of more than 8, [ 10 ] Bosniak Muslim men and boys in and around the town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War. Before the massacre, the United Nations UN had declared the besieged enclave of Srebrenica a " safe area " under its protection [ 14 ]. A UN Protection Force contingent of [ 15 ] lightly armed Dutch soldiers failed to deter the town's capture and subsequent massacre.
In , in a unanimous ruling on the case of Prosecutor v. In , and , the Dutch state was found liable by its supreme court and the Hague district court, of failing to prevent more than deaths. As the former Yugoslavia began to disintegrate, the region declared national sovereignty in and held a referendum for independence in February The result, which favoured independence, was opposed by Bosnian Serb political representatives, who boycotted the referendum.
Srebrenica, and the surrounding Central Podrinje region, had immense strategic importance to the Bosnian Serb leadership. It was the bridge to disconnected parts of the envisioned ethnic state of Republika Srpska. By April , Srebrenica had become isolated by Serb forces. On 17 April, the Bosnian Muslim population was given a hour ultimatum to surrender all weapons and leave town. Nonetheless, the Bosnian Muslims remained surrounded by Serb forces, and cut off from outlying areas.
Between April and March Srebrenica and the villages in the area held by Bosniak were constantly subjected to Serb military assaults, including artillery attacks, sniper fire Each onslaught followed a similar pattern. Serb soldiers and paramilitaries surrounded a Bosnian Muslim village Srebrenica was subjected to indiscriminate shelling from all directions daily. Other Bosnian Muslim settlements were routinely attacked as well.
All this resulted in a great number of refugees and casualties. Between April and June Bosnian Serb forces, with support from the JNA, destroyed predominantly Bosniak villages around Srebrenica, forcibly uprooted 70, Bosniaks from their homes and systematically massacred at least 3, Bosniaks, including women, children and elderly. The Srebrenica enclave had reached its peak size of square kilometres square miles , though it was never linked to the main area of Bosnian-government controlled land in the west and remained "a vulnerable island amid Serb-controlled territory".
