UN Security Council Resolution 819 | ||
---|---|---|
![]() | ||
Date | 16 April 1993 | |
Meeting no. | 3,199 | |
Code | S/RES/819 (Document) | |
Subject | Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
Voting summary |
| |
Result | Adopted | |
Security Council composition | ||
Permanent members | ||
Non-permanent members | ||
|
United Nations Security Council resolution 819, adopted unanimously on 16 April 1993, after reaffirming resolutions 713 (1991) and all (1992) subsequent resolutions, the Council expressed concern at the actions of Bosnian Serb paramilitary units in towns and villages in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, including attacks on civilians, the United Nations Protection Force and disruption to humanitarian aid convoys. The resolution marked the UN's first civilian "safe area" being declared; it failed to prevent the Srebrenica massacre.
Acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the Council went on to demand that all parties and others concerned treat Srebrenica and its surroundings as a safe area which should be free from any armed attack or any other hostile act, further demanding the cessation of all hostilities and withdrawal by Bosnian Serb paramilitary forces from areas around Srebrenica. This was the first instance of a civilian "safe area" being declared in the world. [1] It also demanded that Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) cease supplying weapons, military equipment and other services to Bosnian Serb paramilitary units in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The resolution then requested the Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to increase the presence of the protection force in Srebrenica and surrounding areas requesting full co-operation from parties and others concerned and for Boutros-Ghali to report thereon to the council. 147 peacekeepers were later deployed to reassure Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic that the town would not be used as a base to attack his forces. [2] It also reaffirmed that the acquisition of territory by threat or use of force, particularly through ethnic cleansing, is unlawful and unacceptable in international humanitarian law. The council condemned the "abhorrent campaign of ethnic cleansing" by the Bosnian Serb paramilitaries and its actions of forcing the evacuation of the civilian population from Srebrenica.
Regarding humanitarian aid, the council demanded the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance to all areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina and in particular to the civilian population of Srebrenica and that any disruption to the delivery constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law. It then urged the secretary-general and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to reinforce the existing humanitarian operations in the region.
Finally, Resolution 819 demanded that all parties ensure the safety of the protection force, United Nations personnel and other international organisations, allowing for the safe transfer of injured civilians from Srebrenica and its surrounding areas, and announced its decision to send a mission of members of the security council to assess the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The "safe area" would later be extended to other towns including Tuzla, Žepa, Bihać, Goražde and Sarajevo in Resolution 824. [3]
Despite its preemptive wording, Resolution 819 failed to prevent the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995, when the United Nations Protection Force were taken prisoner and the refugees from the fallen enclave fell into the hands of the forces of Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladić, subsequently indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for war crimes including genocide.
In his chronology of events at Srebrenica, Under the UN Flag, the genocide survivor Hasan Nuhanović criticises members of the international community involved on the ground or indirectly influencing or capable of influencing events for specific failures to fulfil their responsibility to protect the Muslim population of the besieged "safe area" under Resolution 819. [4]
The United Nations Protection Force was the first United Nations peacekeeping force in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav Wars. The force was formed in February 1992 and its mandate ended in March 1995, with the peacekeeping mission restructuring into three other forces.
The Bosnian genocide refers to either the Srebrenica massacre or the wider crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing campaign throughout areas controlled by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) during the Bosnian War of 1992–1995. The events in Srebrenica in 1995 included the killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys, as well as the mass expulsion of another 25,000–30,000 Bosniak civilians by VRS units under the command of General Ratko Mladić.
Operation Deliberate Force was a sustained air campaign conducted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in concert with the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) ground operations, to undermine the military capability of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), which had "threatened and attacked" UN-designated "safe areas" in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War with the Srebrenica massacre and Markale massacres, precipitating the intervention. The shelling of the Sarajevo marketplace on 28 August 1995 by the VRS is considered to be the immediate instigating factor behind NATO's decision to launch the operation.
Dutchbat was a Dutch battalion under the command of the United Nations in operation United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). It was hastily formed out of the emerging Air Mobile Brigade of the Royal Netherlands Armed Forces between February 1994 and November 1995 to participate in peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia. It was tasked to execute United Nations Security Council Resolution 819 in the Bosniak Muslim enclaves and the designated UN "safe zone" of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War.
The siege of Srebrenica was a three-year siege of the town of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina which lasted from April 1992 to July 1995 during the Bosnian War. Initially assaulted by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and the Serbian Volunteer Guard (SDG), the town was encircled by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) in May 1992, starting a brutal siege which was to last for the majority of the Bosnian War. In June 1995, the commander of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) in the enclave, Naser Orić, left Srebrenica and fled to the town of Tuzla. He was subsequently replaced by his deputy, Major Ramiz Bećirović.
Hasan Nuhanović is a Bosnian survivor of the Srebrenica genocide who campaigns "For truth and justice" on behalf of other survivors and relatives of the victims. Hasan, the former U.N. interpreter for Dutch peacekeepers who were stationed in Srebrenica in 1995, at the end of the Bosnian war, has been battling the Dutch state in civil court for nine years. Finally, in July 2011, he won on appeal against the Dutch Government with court stating the Dutchbat are to blame for handing over his family members to forces of Ratko Mladić, who was tried in The Hague. His entire immediate family: mother, father and brother, were murdered by the Bosnian Serb Army and its allies from Serbia proper, when they were handed over to them by Dutch U.N. soldiers after seeking refuge in the UN protection force base at Potočari following the fall of the town of Srebrenica in July 1995. Bosnian investigative journalist Dragan Stanimirović nicknamed him the “Elie Wiesel of Bosnia", in a reference to another activist survivor of genocide. His story, Zbijeg, was published in Bosnian in 2012 and in English as The Last Refuge: A True Story of War, Survival and Life Under Siege in Srebrenica in 2019.
United Nations Security Council resolution 752, adopted unanimously on 15 May 1992, after reaffirming resolutions 713 (1991), 721 (1991), 724 (1991), 727 (1992), 740 (1992) 743 (1992) and 749 (1992), the Council expressed concern at the situation in the Yugoslavia, in particular the fighting in Bosnia and Herzegovina, demanding that all parties end the fighting and respect the ceasefire signed on 12 April 1992.
United Nations Security Council resolution 787, adopted on 16 November 1992, after reaffirming Resolution 713 (1991) and all subsequent resolutions on the topic, the council called upon the parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina to consider the draft outline constitution as a basis for negotiating a political settlement of the conflict in the country, and went on to impose further international sanctions on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
United Nations Security Council resolution 824, adopted unanimously on 6 May 1993, after considering a report by the Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali pursuant to Resolution 819 (1993), the council discussed the treatment of certain towns and surroundings as "safe areas" in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
United Nations Security Council resolution 836 was adopted on 4 June 1993. After reaffirming Resolution 713 (1991) and all subsequent resolutions on the situation in the former Yugoslavia, the Council expressed its alarm at the continuing situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and decided to expand the mandate of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) by allowing it to use force to protect the "safe areas".
United Nations Security Council resolution 838, adopted unanimously on 10 June 1993, after reaffirming Resolution 713 (1991) and all subsequent resolutions on the situation in the former Yugoslavia and in particular Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Council discussed options for the deployment of international observers on the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina to ensure implementation of previous Security Council resolutions.
United Nations Security Council resolution 844, adopted unanimously on 18 June 1993, after reaffirming Resolution 713 (1991) and subsequent resolutions, the Council noted deteriorating situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and authorised a reinforcement of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR).
United Nations Security Council resolution 859, adopted unanimously on 24 August 1993, after recalling all resolutions on the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the council noted that, despite all previous security council resolutions since Resolution 713 (1991), the region was still a scene of hostilities and there was little compliance with previous resolutions, particularly by the Bosnian Serb party.
United Nations Security Council resolution 900, adopted on 4 March 1994, after reaffirming all resolutions on the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Council discussed the restoration of essential public services and normal life in and around the capital Sarajevo.
United Nations Security Council resolution 913 was adopted unanimously on 22 April 1994, after reaffirming all resolutions on the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and also Resolution 908 (1994). The Council discussed the situation in the safe area of Goražde and a settlement of the conflict.
United Nations Security Council resolution 941, adopted unanimously on 23 September 1994, after reaffirming all resolutions on the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Council discussed violations of international humanitarian law in Banja Luka, Bijeljina and other areas of the country.
United Nations Security Council resolution 942, adopted on 23 September 1994, after reaffirming all resolutions on the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Council reinforced measures relating to safe areas under control of Bosnian Serb forces.
United Nations Security Council resolution 998, adopted on 16 June 1995, after reaffirming all resolutions on the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, in particular Resolution 982 (1994), the council established a rapid reaction force of up to 12,500 personnel within the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina following attacks on it and the overall deteriorating situation.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1004, adopted unanimously on 12 July 1995, after recalling all resolutions on the situation in the former Yugoslavia, the council, acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, demanded that Bosnian Serb forces withdraw from the safe area of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina and respect the safety of personnel from the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). The resolution was passed during the Srebrenica massacre.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1034, adopted unanimously on 21 December 1995, after recalling previous resolutions including Resolution 1019 (1995), the Council discussed violations of international humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia, specifically in Bosnia and Herzegovina.