United Nations Security Council Resolution 819

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UN Security Council
Resolution 819
Srebrenica.jpg
Srebrenica
Date16 April 1993
Meeting no.3,199
CodeS/RES/819 (Document)
SubjectBosnia and Herzegovina
Voting summary
  • 15 voted for
  • None voted against
  • None abstained
ResultAdopted
Security Council composition
Permanent members
Non-permanent members
←  818 Lists of resolutions 820  →

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.

Contents

Resolution

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]

Ineffectiveness

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]

See also

Related Research Articles

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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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bosnian genocide</span> Murder of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats during the Bosnian War

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Deliberate Force</span> 1995 campaign by NATO and UN forces against Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dutchbat</span> United Nations battalion in the Bosnian war

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Srebrenica</span> 1992 - 1995 siege 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.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Security Council Resolution 824</span> United Nations resolution adopted in 1993

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Security Council Resolution 838</span> United Nations resolution adopted in 1993

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.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Security Council Resolution 859</span> United Nations resolution adopted in 1993

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Security Council Resolution 900</span> United Nations resolution adopted in 1994

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Security Council Resolution 913</span> United Nations resolution adopted in 1994

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Security Council Resolution 941</span> United Nations resolution adopted in 1994

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Security Council Resolution 942</span> United Nations resolution adopted in 1994

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Security Council Resolution 998</span> United Nations resolution adopted in 1995

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Security Council Resolution 1004</span> United Nations resolution adopted in 1995

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Security Council Resolution 1034</span> United Nations resolution adopted in 1995

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References

  1. ↑ Ramsbotham, Oliver; Woodhouse, Tom; Miall, Hugh (2005). Contemporary conflict resolution: the prevention, management and transformation of deadly conflicts (2nd ed.). Polity. p.  138. ISBN   978-0-7456-3213-1.
  2. ↑ Wheeler, Nicholas J. (2000). Saving strangers: humanitarian intervention in international society . Oxford University Press. pp.  253. ISBN   978-0-19-829621-8.
  3. ↑ Bouchet-Saulnier, Françoise; Brav, Laura; Olivier, Clémentine (2007). The practical guide to humanitarian law (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. p.  336. ISBN   978-0-7425-5496-2.
  4. ↑ Nuhanović, Hasan (2007). Under The UN Flag; The International Community and the Srebrenica Genocide. DES Sarajevo. ISBN   978-9958-728-87-7.
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