Srebrenica, thirty years later: lessons humanitarian workers must not forget

Thirty years ago, on July 11, 1995, the Srebrenica massacre began, one of the most atrocious episodes of the Bosnian war and the worst massacre on European soil since World War II. Over the course of just a few days, more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were systematically executed by Bosnian Serb forces under the command of General Ratko Mladić and his militias. Srebrenica had been declared a “safe zone” on April 16, 1993 (Resolution 819) by the Security Council. The United Nations did not prevent the Bosnian Serb advance nor protect the civilian population. The UN peacekeeping forces, outnumbered, poorly equipped, and without a strategy, offered no meaningful resistance.

The massacre was classified as genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and confirmed by the Inter national Court of Justice, marking a legal and moral milestone in international law. This genocide was observed, underestimated, and ultimately tolerated by the international community. This crime marked a collective failure to protect civilian populations and questioned the effectiveness of the multilateral system in preventing mass atrocities, leaving deep scars in Bosnia and a bitter and shameful lesson for the international community on the consequences of inaction.

Srebrenica remains one of the most painful failures of international diplomacy, of humanitarian presence, and of my own experience. To this day, questions remain about what it means to bear witness, to speak out, and to act—or not act—in the face of mass atrocity.