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Ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War

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Ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War
Part of the Bosnian War
Exhumed victims of ethnic cleansing through murder in the Srebrenica massacre
Ethnic distribution at the municipal level in Bosnia and Herzegovina before (1991) and after the war (1998)
LocationBosnia and Herzegovina
Date1992 - 1995
Attack type
ethnic cleansing, deportation, concentration camps, torture, genocidal rape, mass murder, genocide
Deathstens of thousands killed[1]
between 1.0[2] and 1.3 million[3] deported or forcibly resettled
Injured
  • 12,000[4] to 20,000 women raped[5]

Ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War occurred during the conflict (1992–95), as large numbers of Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) and Bosnian Croats were forced to flee their homes or were expelled by the Army of Republika Srpska and Serb paramilitary.[6][7][8][9] Bosniaks and Bosnian Serbs had also been forced to flee or were expelled by Bosnian Croat forces, though on a restricted scale and in lesser numbers. Bosniak forces expelled Serbs and Croats in some isolated cases in Konjic and Goražde, and abused some Serbs in parts of Sarajevo. The UN Security Council "Final Report (1994)" states that while it was recorded that Bosniaks also engaged in "grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other violations of international humanitarian law", they did not engage in "systematic ethnic cleansing" to the likes of Bosnian Serb forces. It was stated that "there is no factual basis for arguing that there is a moral equivalence between the warring factions".[10]

Beginning in 1991, political upheavals in the Bosnia and Herzegovina displaced about 2,700,000 people by mid-1992, of which over 700,000 of them sought asylum in other European countries,[11][12] making it the largest exodus in Europe since World War II. The number of Bosniaks and Croats on the Bosnian territory held by the Army of Republika Srpska fell from 551,000 and 209,000 in 1991 to 28,000 and 11,000 in 1995, respectively. The number of Bosniaks and Serbs on the Bosnian territory held by the Croatian Defence Council fell from 117,000 and 130,000 to 8,000 and 1,000, respectively. In the territory controlled by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the number of Serbs changed from 400,000 to 50,000, of Croats from 243,000 to 110,000, and of Bosniaks from 1,323,000 to 1,550,000.

The methods used during the Bosnian ethnic cleansing campaigns included "killing of civilians, rape, torture, destruction of civilian, public, and cultural property, looting and pillaging, and the forcible relocation of civilian populations".[13] Overall, it is estimated that between 1.0 and 1.3 million people were uprooted in these ethnic cleansing campaigns, and that tens of thousands were killed. The UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) later convicted several officials for persecution on political, racial or religious ground, forced transfer and/or deportation constituting a crime against humanity. Additionally, the Srebrenica massacre, also included as part of the ethnic cleansing campaign, was found to constitute the crime of genocide.

Historical background

Main articles: Breakup of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav Wars, Bosnian War, and Croat-Bosniak War

After the death of its leader Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslavia experienced a deeply dysfunctional political system and economic calamity in the 1980s.[14] As communism was losing its potency, new nationalist leaders emerged instead, embodied in Slobodan Milošević in Serbia and Franjo Tuđman in Croatia.[15] Slovenia and Croatia called for reforms of Yugoslavia, and a looser confederation of the state, but this was opposed by the Belgrade government.[16] On 25 June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence. A short armed conflict followed in Slovenia, and the Croatian War of Independence escalated.[17] Macedonia also declared independence, but this was conversely granted peacefully by Yugoslavia.[18] The RAM Plan began to be implemented, laying foundations for new borders of a "Third Yugoslavia" in an effort of establishing a country where "all Serbs with their territories would live together in the same state."[19]

In July 1991, Bosnian Serb and Bosniak representatives signed the Zulfikarpašić–Karadžić agreement, which would leave Bosnia and Herzegovina in a state union with Serbia and Montenegro. Despite initially welcoming the initiative, Izetbegović later dismissed it.[20] In October, he gave a televised proclamation of neutrality regarding the war in Croatia.[21] The Serbs started establishing autonomous entities in Bosnia in fall.[22] On 9 January 1992, the Bosnian Serb Assembly proclaimed the Republic of Serbian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which would include territory with Serb majority and "additional territories, not precisely identified but to include areas where the Serbs had been in a majority" before World War II.[23] On 29 February and 1 March 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina held an independence referendum, after which itself declared independence from Yugoslavia.[24] Most of Bosnian Serbs wanted to stay in the same state with Serbia.[25] During the 16th session of the Bosnian Serb Assembly on 12 May 1992, Radovan Karadžić, the leader of the self-proclaimed Republika Srpska, presented his "six strategic goals", two of which were "separation from the other two national communities and the separation of states" and "creation of a corridor in the Drina Valley thus eliminating the Drina as a border between Serbian states".[26] Republika Srpska General Ratko Mladić identified "Muslims and Croat hordes" as the enemy and suggested to the Assembly that it must define whether to throw them out by political means or through force.[27]

The Bosnian War quickly escalated. The Serb forces were comprised out of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and Serbian and Bosnian Serb paramilitary forces.[28] Their aim was either to form a rump Yugoslavia[29] or a Greater Serbia.[30] At any rate, the Serb authorities in Belgrade wanted to carve up new territories for Serbs in Bosnia and Croatia which would be eventually added to Serbia and Montenegro.[31]

At the start of the war, Bosniak forces, organized in the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH), and Croat forces, organized in the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), initially cooperated against the JNA and the VRS.[32] The HVO was the official army of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia (HR HB), an separate "political, cultural, economic and territorial entity" within Bosnia proclaimed by Mate Boban on 18 November 1991.[33] It claimed it had no secessionary goal and vowed to respect the central government in Sarajevo.[34] HR HB was financed and armed by Croatia. It is assumed that HR HB was planning a secession of Croat-majority areas in Bosnia ad Herzegovina and a unification with Croatia, in accordance with the Karađorđevo meeting, where the partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina was reportedly discussed.[33]

Definitions

A destroyed house in the Višegrad municipality

Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy of "rendering an area ethnically homogenous by using force or intimidation to remove from a given area persons from another ethnic group".[35]

A report by the UN Commission of Experts dated 24 May 1994 found that ethnic cleansing has been carried out through "murder, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, extra-judicial executions, rape and sexual assaults, confinement of civilian populations in ghetto areas, forcible removal, displacement and deportation of civilian populations, deliberate military attacks or threats of attacks on civilians and civilian areas, and wanton destruction of property". Such forms of persecutions of a group were defined as crimes against humanity, though they can also fall within the meaning of the Genocide Convention.[36]

Ethnic cleansing is not to be confused with genocide. These terms are not synonymous, yet the academic discourse considers both to exist within a spectrum of assaults on nations or religio-ethnic groups. Ethnic cleansing is similar to forced deportation or population transfer of a group to change the ethnic composition of a territory, whereas genocide is aimed at the destruction of a group.[37]

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered a verdict in the Bosnian Genocide Case to draw a distinction between ethnic cleansing and genocide.

It [i.e. ethnic cleansing] can only be a form of genocide within the meaning of the [Genocide] Convention, if it corresponds to or falls within one of the categories of acts prohibited by Article II of the Convention. Neither the intent, as a matter of policy, to render an area "ethnically homogeneous", nor the operations that may be carried out to implement such policy, can as such be designated as genocide: the intent that characterizes genocide is "to destroy, in whole or in part" a particular group, and deportation or displacement of the members of a group, even if effected by force, is not necessarily equivalent to destruction of that group, nor is such destruction an automatic consequence of the displacement. This is not to say that acts described as 'ethnic cleansing' may never constitute genocide, if they are such as to be characterized as, for example, 'deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part', contrary to Article II, paragraph (c), of the Convention, provided such action is carried out with the necessary specific intent (dolus specialis), that is to say with a view to the destruction of the group, as distinct from its removal from the region. — ICJ.[38]

International reports

On 17 November 1992, United Nations special rapporteur Tadeusz Mazowiecki issued the report Situation of human rights in the territory of the former Yugoslavia to the UN. In it, the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Herzegovina was singled out, and described as a political objective of Serb nationalists who want to ensure control of territories with a Serb majority as well as "adjacent territories assimilated to them". Paramilitaries played a major role in ethnic cleansing, according to the report.[39]

On 18 December 1992, the United Nations General Assembly issued resolution 47/147, in which it condemned "in the strongest possible terms the abhorrent practice of "ethnic cleansing" and recognises that the Serbian leadership in territories under their control in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Yugoslav Army and the political leadership of the Republic of Serbia bear primary responsibility for this reprehensible practice".[40]

On 1 January 1993, Helsinki Watch released a report on the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. It found that ethnic cleansing was "the most egregious violations in both Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina", since it envisaged "summary execution, disappearance, arbitrary detention, deportation and forcible displacement of hundreds of thousands of people on the basis of their religion or nationality".[41]

United Nations Security Council Resolution 780 authorised the establishment of a Commission of Experts to record the crimes in the former Yugoslavia, including Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 27 May 1994, these reports were concluded, and described the policy of ethnic cleansing.[42]

On 15 November 1999, the Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to General Assembly resolution 53/35: The fall of Srebrenica [A/54/549] was released by the UN. It detailed the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995, and found that it was part of the larger Serb ethnic cleansing plan to depopulate Bosnian territories they wanted in order to repopulate them by Serbs.[43]

Campaigns

Serb forces

Detainees in the Manjača camp, near Banja Luka, 1992
Main articles: Prijedor ethnic cleansing, Foča ethnic cleansing, Zvornik massacre, and Doboj ethnic cleansing (1992)

Between 700,000 and a 1,000,000 Bosniaks were expelled from their homes from the Bosnian territory held by the Serb forces.[44] Methods used to achieve this included coercion and terror in order to pressure Bosniaks into leaving Serb-claimed areas.[45]

Numerous discriminatory measures were introduced against Bosniaks on VRS-held territory.[46] In the Prijedor municipality, starting from 30 April 1992, non-Serbs were fired from their job positions and banned from entering the court building. They were replaced by Serbs. Bosniak intellectuals and others were deported to the Omarska camp.[47] Bosniak and Croat homes were searched for weapons and sometimes looted.[48] Serb forces accompanied non-Serbs wearing white armbands to buses which drove them to the Omarska, Trnopolje or Keraterm camp. Movement was restricted through a curfew or check points. Radio appealed to Serbs to "lynch" Bosniaks and Croats.[49] Torture and mistreatment in these detention centers were established as to leave no other choice for the inmates then to accept the offer of the release under the condition that they sign a document of leaving the area.[50]

In Banja Luka, Bosniaks and Croats were evicted from their apartments, while incoming displaced Serbs took their accommodation. Forced labor imposed by the authorities hastened the flight of non-Serbs. Those leaving Banja Luka had to sign documents of abandonment of their property without compensation.[51] Paramiltaries would often break into the homes of non-Serbs at night, rob and beat the occupants. In some instances, they would shoot at the houses. The local Serb police did nothing to prevent these sustained assaults.[7] In Zvornik, Bosniaks were given official stamps on identity cards for a change of domicile. In order to leave the area, they had transfer their property to an agency for the exchange of houses. Starting from May/June 1992, Bosniaks were bused to either Tuzla or Subotica in Serbia. Some were ordered to leave by gunpoint. Similar forced transfers occurred in Foča, Vlasenica, Brčko, Bosanski Šamac and others.[51] UNHCR representatives were reluctant in helping Bosniaks leave war-affected areas, fearing they would become an unwilling accomplice in the ethnic cleansing.[52] In Foča, even the city's name was cleansed: it was renamed to Srbinje, which translates "The Place of the Serbs". One Bosniak woman, who was raped, claimed that the man told her his aim was to baptise and convert all of them to Serbs.[53]

In Kozluk in June 1992, Bosniaks were rounded up and then placed in trucks or trains to leave the area.[54] In Bijeljina, non-Serbs were also evicted from their homes and fired from their jobs.[55] Arrested non-Serbs were sent to the Batković camp,[56] where they performed forced labor on the frontlines.[57] Serb paramilitary singled out Bosniaks and used violence against them. In Višegrad in 1992, hundreds of Bosniaks were rounded up on the bridge, shot and thrown into the river, or burned alive while locked in houses, Bosniak women were raped while a Bosniak man was dragged around the town tied to a car.[58]

Bosniak enclaves were placed under siege by the VRS.[59] After the VRS takeover of Srebrenica on 11 July 1995, Bosniak men were killed in the massacre while 23,000 were bused out of the area by 13 July.[60]

Croat forces

UN Peace keepers collecting bodies from Ahmići in April 1993
Main articles: Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing and Siege of Mostar

In the Spring of 1992, as the VRS forces were advancing towards Odžak and Bosanska Posavina, Croat forces uprooted Serb civilians living in the area and transported them to Croatia. They also expelled Serbs from Herzegovina and burned their houses in May 1992.[61] In 1993, the Bosnian Croat authorities also resorted to ethnic cleansing in conjunction with the attack on Mostar where Bosniaks were placed in Croat run detention camps. Bosniaks were evicted from the western part of Mostar by Croatian forces, as were Bosniaks from other provincial centers, towns and villages, such as Stolac, Čapljina and other.[62] In order to assume power in communities in Central Bosnia and Western Herzegovina coveted by the HR BH, its president Mate Boban ordered the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) to start a persecution of Bosniaks living on these territories. The Croat forces used "artillery, eviction, violence, rape, robbery and extortion" to expel or kill the Bosniak population. Some were locked up in the Heliodrom and Dretelj camps. The Ahmići and Stupni Do massacres also had the aim to ethnically cleanse Bosniaks from these areas. Boban even ordered the assassination of his own people, Bosnian Croats who were opposing his plans.[63]

Croat soldiers blew up Bosniak business shops in some towns. They arrested thousands of Bosniak civilians and tried to deport them to third countries in order to remove them from Herzegovina.[64] The forces of HZ HB purged Serbs and Bosniaks from government offices and the police. The Bosniaks on HZ HB designated areas were increasingly harassed.[65] In Vitez and Zenica in April 1993, Croat soldiers warned Bosniaks that they would be killed in three hours unless they left their homes.[66] A similar pattern was observed in Prozor, where Bosniaks left after Croat forces took over the city, looting and burning their stores.[67]

Bosniak forces

The UN Security Council "Final Report (1994)" states that while it was recorded that Bosniaks also engaged in "grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other violations of international humanitarian law", they did not engage in "systematic ethnic cleansing".[10] During the Siege of Goražde, Bosniak forces expelled some Serbs from Goražde, and placed others under house arrest in 1993.[68] During the Siege of Sarajevo, some Serbs experienced persecution in the Sarajevo suburbs, including arbitrary arrests, torture, abuse and murder of Serb civilians in the Pofalići neighborhood in May 1992.[69] A similar pattern was observed when the Bosniak authorities initiated a campaign to drive out local Croats from Konjic in March 1993.[62] In 2017, the Bosnian prosecutors charged former members of the Bosnian Army of crimes against humanity against Serbs, with the aim of expelling them from the municipality of Konjic and surrounding villages.[70][71] After the war, Croats left Vareš voluntarily, though out of fear from Bosniak revenge. The departure of Croats from Sarajevo, Tuzla and Zenica had different motives, which were not always the direct consequence of pressure by the Bosniaks.[45]

Demographic changes

Displaced Bosnians in 1993

According to the 1991 census, Bosnia and Herzegovina had a population of 4,364,574, of which 43.7% were Bosniaks, 31.4% Serbs, 17.3% Croats and 5.5% Yugoslavs.[72] The goal of the warring factions was to acquire territory for their own ethnic group by ethnically cleansing the area of people of other ethnicities living there.[73] Even though Serbs comprised 31% of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Karadžić claimed 70% of the country's territory.[74] The organizers of ethnic cleansing also had the intent of destroying Bosnia's multiethnic society in order to make way for a society based on nationalist supremacy.[75] Overall, it is estimated that between 1.0[2] and 1.3 million[3] people were uprooted in these ethnic cleansing campaigns, and that tens of thousands were killed.[1] Indian academic Radha Kumar described such territorial separation of groups based on their nationality as "ethnic apartheid".[76]

Before the war, the Bosnian territory held by the Army of the Republika Srpska was comprised out of 47% Serbs, 33% Bosniaks and 13% Croats. After the war, according to a research by Bosnian demographer Murat Prašo, in 1995 Serbs comprised 89%, while Bosniaks made 3% and Croats 1% of the remaining population.[77]

In the Bosnian territory held by the Croatian Defence Council and the Croatian Army, before the war, Croats comprised 49% of the population. Their percentage increased to 96% in 1996, while the Bosniaks and Serbs fell from 22% and 25% to 2.5% and 0.3%, respectively. The territory controlled by the Bosnian government also registered an increase of the majority population: before the war, Bosniaks comprised 57% of the population, and then experienced a jump to 74% at the end of the war.[77] After the signing of the Dayton Agreement, the number of Serbs in the Bosnian government territory continued to decrease,[78] as Serbs massively left Sarajevo in the ensuing months.[79]

1991–1995 demographic changes, based on the pre-Dayton Agreement territorial control, according to Murat Prašo[80]
Territory held by the Army of Republika Srpska
Ethnic group 1991 1995 Change
Bosniaks 551,000 (32.7%) 28,000 (3.1%) -523,000 (-29.6%)
Croats 209,000 (12.4%) 11,000 (1.2%) -198,000 (-11.2%)
Serbs 799,000 (47.5%) 806,000 (89.2%) +7,000 (+41.7%)
Total 1,683,000 (100%) 904,000 (100%) -779,000
Bosnian-government held territory
Ethnic group 1991 1995 Change
Bosniaks 1,235,000 (56.9%) 1,238,000 (74.1%) +3,000 (+17.2%)
Croats 295,000 (13.6%) 150,000 (9.0%) -145,000 (-4.6%)
Serbs 438,000 (20.2%) 180,000 (10.8%) -258,000 (-9.4%)
Total 2,170,000 (100%) 1,671,000 (100%) -499,000
Territory held by the Croatian Defence Council and the Croatian Army
Ethnic group 1991 1995 Change
Bosniaks 117,000 (22.1%) 8,000 (2.5%) -109,000 (-19.6%)
Croats 259,000 (49.0%) 307,000 (95.6%) +48,000 (+46.6%)
Serbs 130,000 (24.6%) 1,000 (0.3%) -129,000 (-24.3%)
Total 529,000 (100%) 321,000 (100%) -208,000

Croatian historian Saša Mrduljaš analyzed the demographic changes based on the territorial control following the Dayton Agreement. According to his research, in Republika Srpska, the number of Bosniaks changed from 473,000 in 1991 to 100,000 in 2011, the number of Croats from 151,000 to 15,000, while the number of Serbs changed from 886,000 to 1,220,000.[81]

In the territory controlled by the ARBiH, the number of Serbs changed from 400,000 to 50,000, of Croats from 243,000 to 110,000, and of Bosniaks from 1,323,000 to 1,550,000.[82] In the HVO-held area, the number of Serbs changed from 80,000 to 20,000, of Bosniaks from 107,000 to 70,000, and the number of Croats was 367,000 in 1991 and 370,000 in 2011.[82]

1991–2011 demographic changes, based on the 1995/1996 territorial control, according to Saša Mrduljaš[83]
Territory held by the Army of Republika Srpska
Ethnic group
1991 2011 Change in share
Bosniaks 473,000 (28.9%) 100,000 (7.4%) –21.6%
Croats 151,000 (9.2%) 15,000 (1.1%) –8.1%
Serbs 886,000 (54.2%) 1,220,000 (90.0%) +35.8%
Yugoslavs 82,000 (5.0%) - –5.0%
Others 42,000 (2.6%) 20,000 (1.5%) –1,1%
Total 1.634.000 1.355.000
Territory held by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ethnic group
1991 2011 Change in share
Bosniaks 1,323,000 (61.3%) 1,550,000 (89.1%) +27.8%
Croats 243,000 (11.3%) 110,000 (6.3%) –4.9%
Serbs 400,000 (18.5%) 50,000 (2.9%) –15.6%
Yugoslavs 140,000 (6.5%) - –6.5%
Others 54,000 (2.5%) 30,000 (1.7%) –0.8%
Total 2.160.000 1.740.000
Territory held by the Croatian Defence Council
Ethnic group
1991 2011 Change in share
Bosniaks 107,000 (18.3%) 70,000 (14.9%) –3.4%
Croats 367,000 (62.8%) 370,000 (78.7%) +15.9%
Serbs 80,000 (13.7%) 20,000 (4.3%) –9.4%
Yugoslavs 21,000 (3.6%) - –3.6%
Others 9,000 (1.5%) 10,000 (2.1%) +0.6%
Total 584.000 470.000

Initial estimates placed the total number of refugees and internally displaced during the Bosnian War at 2.7 million people,[11] though later publications by the UN cite a figure of 2.2 million people who fled or were uprooted from their homes.[84] It was the largest exodus in Europe since World War II.[52] The Bosnian War ended when the Dayton Agreement was signed on 14 December 1995. It stipulated that Bosnia and Herzegovina was to stay a united country shared by two entities (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and Republika Srpska), while it granted the right of return for victims of ethnic cleansing.[85]

Number of refugees or internally displaced in 1992–1995
Country Bosniaks Croats Serbs
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1,270,000
(63% of the group)[86]		 490,000
(67% of the group)[86]		 540,000
(39% of the group)[86]

Destruction of religious buildings

Orthodox

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, 125 Orthodox churches were destroyed (Banja Luka Eparchy 2, Bihacko-Petrovac Diocese 26, Dabrobosanska Eparchy 23, Zahumsko-hercegovačka 36, Zvornik-tuzlanska 38), while 172 churches were damaged (Banja Luka Eprahija 3, Bihacko-Petrovačka eparchija 68, Dabrobosanska eparhija 13, Zahumsko-hercegovačka 28, Zvornik-tuzlanska 60), demolished 67 parish homes and other objects, while 64 are damaged in greater or lesser degree.[87]

Islamic

Destruction of Islamic religious buildings in Bosnia (1992–1995)[88]
Destroyed by Serbs Destroyed by Croats Damaged by Serbs Damaged by Croats Total destroyed during the war Total damaged during the war Total Total no. before the war Percentage of pre-war damaged or destroyed
congregational mosque 249 58 540 80 307 620 927 1,149 81%
small neighbourhood mosque 21 20 175 43 41 218 259 557 47%
Quran schools 14 4 55 14 18 69 87 954 9%
Dervish lodges 4 1 3 1 5 4 9 15 60%
Mausolea, shrines 6 1 34 3 7 37 44 90 49%
Buildings of religious endowments 125 24 345 60 149 405 554 1,425 39%
Total 419 108 1,152 201 527 1,353 1,880 4,190 45%

Catholic

In 1998, Bosnian bishops reported 269 destroyed Catholic churches in the Bosnian War.[89]

Total number of destroyed Catholic religious objects in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1995)[90]
Destroyed by Muslims Destroyed by Serbs Damaged by Muslims Damaged by Serbs Total destroyed during the war Total damaged during the war Total
churches 8 117 67 120 125 187 312
chapels 19 44 75 89 63 164 227
clergy houses 9 56 40 121 65 161 226
monasteries 0 8 7 15 8 22 30
cemeteries 8 0 61 95 8 156 164
Total 44 225 250 481 269 731 1000

Destruction of housing units

Of the 1,295,000 housing units in Bosnia, around 500,000 were either damaged or destroyed. 50% were damaged and 6% destroyed in FBiH, while 24% were damaged and 5% destroyed in RS.[91] While some of this is the result of incidental damage from combat, a majority of the extensive destruction and plunder was caused by a deliberate plan of ethnic cleansing, aimed at forbidding the expelled people from returning to their homes.[92] Half of all the schools and a third of all the hospitals were also damaged or destroyed.[93]

Legal prosecution and war crimes trials

See also: List of people indicted in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
Radovan Karadžić, the president of Republika Srpska, was sentenced for genocide in Bosnia by the ICTY in 2016

Several people were tried and convicted by the U.N.-backed International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in connection to persecution on racial, religious or ethnic ground,[A] forced displacement and/or deportation as a crime against humanity during the Bosnian war in the 1990s. Additionally, the Srebrenica massacre, also included as part of the ethnic cleansing campaign,[95][43] was found to constitute the crime of genocide.[96]

These convictions included Bosnian Serb politicians, soldiers and officials, such as Momčilo Krajišnik,[97] Radoslav Brđanin,[98] Stojan Župljanin, Mićo Stanišić,[99] Biljana Plavšić,[100] Goran Jelisić,[101] Miroslav Deronjić,[102] Zoran Žigić,[103] Blagoje Simić,[104] Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić.[105] They also included some Bosnian Croat officials, such as Mladen Naletilić,[106] Dario Kordić,[107] Slobodan Praljak, Bruno Stojić and Jadranko Prlić.[108]

In its verdict against Karadžić, the ICTY found that there was a joint criminal enterprise which existed already from October 1991 with the aim to forcibly resettle non-Serbs from large parts of Bosnia:

...the Chamber finds that together with the Accused, Krajišnik, Koljević, and Plavšić shared the intent to effect the common plan to permanently remove Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from Bosnian Serb claimed territory, and through their positions in the Bosnian Serb leadership and involvement throughout the Municipalities, they contributed to the execution of the common plan from October 1991 until at least 30 November 1995.[109]

Similarly, in the judgement against Bosnian Croat leader Dario Kordić, the ICTY found that there was a plan to remove Bosniaks from Croat-claimed territory:

...the Trial Chamber draws the inference from this evidence (and the evidence of other HVO attacks in April 1993) that there was by this time a common design or plan conceived and executed by the Bosnian Croat leadership to ethnically cleanse the Lašva Valley of Muslims. Dario Kordić, as the local political leader, was part of this design or plan, his principal role being that of planner and instigator of it.[110]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ The ICTY defined persecution as a dicriminatory policy aimed against a particular group by targeting them through "killings, physical and psychological abuse, rape, establishment and perpetuation of inhumane living conditions, forcible transfer or deportation, terrorising and abuse, forced labour at front lines and the use of human shields, plunder of property, wanton destruction of private property, including cultural monuments and sacred sites, and imposition and maintenance of restrictive and discriminatory measures".[94]

References

  1. ^ a b Seybolt 2007, p. 177.
  2. ^ a b Totten 2017, p. 21.
  3. ^ a b Phillips 2005, p. 5.
  4. ^ Crowe 2013, p. 343.
  5. ^ Nichols Haddad, Heidi (2011). "Mobilizing the Will to Prosecute: Crimes of Rape at the Yugoslav and Rwandan Tribunals". Human Rights Review. 12: 109–132. doi:10.1007/s12142-010-0163-x.
  6. ^ A. D. Horne (22 August 1992). "Long Ordeal for Displaced Bosnian Muslims". Washington Post. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  7. ^ a b "War Crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina: U.N. Cease-Fire Won't Help Banja Luka". Human Rights Watch. June 1994. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  8. ^ "War and humanitarian action: Iraq and the Balkans" (PDF). UNHCR. 2000. p. 218. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  9. ^ Bell-Fialkoff, Andrew (1993). "A Brief History of Ethnic Cleansing". Foreign Affairs. 72 (3): 110–121. doi:10.2307/20045626. JSTOR 20045626.
  10. ^ a b ANNEX IV: Policy of Ethnic Cleansing - Part Two: Ethnic Cleansing in BiH - I: Introduction, 27 May 1994, pp. 36–37
  11. ^ a b Erlanger, Steven (10 June 1996). "The Dayton Accords: A Status Report". New York Times.
  12. ^ Wren, Christopher S. (24 November 1995). "Resettling Refugees: U.N. Facing New Burden". New York Times.
  13. ^ ANNEX IV: Policy of Ethnic Cleansing: Ethnic Cleansing in BiH - I: Introduction, 27 May 1994, p. 33
  14. ^ Burg 1986, p. 170.
  15. ^ Prosecutor v. Delalić et al. – Judgement, 16 November 1998, p. 41
  16. ^ Baker 2015, p. 44.
  17. ^ CIA 2002, pp. 58, 91.
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Bibliography

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