Introduction
Ethnic Conflicts are not a recent development. Although these conflicts have persisted for millennia around the world, they have gained public attention in the last 30 years following the fall of Communism and the events in Eastern Europe, which led to the breakup of the former Soviet Union.
The ability of states to uphold political stability was beginning to wane in the post-Cold War world. Third World nations mostly suffered from losing the backing of their previous patrons as a result of the two superpowers ceasing to compete for influence in the world. What had once provided stability was no longer there.
In Bosnia, the last decade of the twenty-first century was marked by genocides against entire societies. Bosnian Muslims were the target of ethnic cleansing carried out by Serbs between 1992 and 1995.
Bosnia and The United Nations:
Bosnia and Herzegovina, a previous Ottoman province, has always been a multiethnic state. According to the 1991 census, 44% of the population were Muslims (Bosniak), 33% Serb, 17% Croat and 6% describing themselves as Yugoslav. In late 1991, the Croat region declared itself an independent state from Bosnia but it wasn’t recognised internationally. While wanting to secede from the country entirely the Croats had agreed to cooperate with the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina. [1]
Bosnia Independence Referendum in 1992, voters said ‘yes’ to the Independence from Yugoslavia which President Alija Izetbegović officially proclaimed on March 3, 1992. Against this, the Bosnian Serbs made a self-declaration of their own state ‘Republika Srpska’ within the border of Bosnia, which received no recognition except from one, the Serbian and Montenegro Leader- Slobodan Milosevic, a hyper-nationalist who had a vision of creating a greater Serbian nation. It marks the start of war which continued till 1995. This paper discusses further details of war, ethnic cleansing, and Genocide in Bosnia and the role of the International community, the UN, and other Multilateral Institutions in it.[2]
The European Economic Community organized a conference in August 1991 to and Herzegovina from devolving into violence. The United Nations Security Council issued Resolution 713 imposing an arms embargo on the former Yugoslav territories on September 25, 1991, The Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) and the Serb forces were mostly unaffected by the embargo. On the other hand, the embargo had a significant impact in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the start of the Bosnian War as the Serbs had the armaments and the equipment of the JNA, and the Bosniaks had outdated weapons by Croatia breaching the embargo.
Following the United States and European Community’s recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s independence on April 7, Bosnian Serb paramilitary groups opened fire on Sarajevo, and shortly after, Yugoslav army units (JNA) comprising Bosnian Serbs began bombarding the city and civilian population with Tanks, artillery and Sniper fire, killing thousands in a siege that would last for years, Their goal is to take the control of capital as soon as possible. To fight back, the Bosniaks and Croats ally to protect their chances for Independence. [3]
The UN made a swift effort to negotiate with Milosevic and the Serb forces, and they came to an agreement for the Yugoslav army to be withdrawn. But what happened is the JNA just gave up control of around 1 lakh Serb troops, who mostly continue fighting for the Serbs in Bosnia. For the remainder of that year, the front lines were held by a hastily constructed Bosnian government army and some more experienced Bosnian Croat forces, albeit their authority was steadily eroding in several areas of eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.
A war with Croat forces in 1993–1994 and an international arms embargo both undermined the military might of the Bosnian government. However, Bosniaks and Croats decided to create a unified federation later in 1994. Although the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) forces facilitated the delivery of humanitarian aid, the UN declined to intervene in the Bosnian War. Later, the group expanded its responsibilities to include safeguarding several UN-designated “safe areas.” But in July 1995, the UN was unable to keep the region of Srebrenica secure.[4]
Serbia had begun its “ethnically cleansing” campaign of eliminating all Bosnian Muslims, or Bosniaks, from Bosnian territory in April 1992. Using weapons from the former Yugoslavia, Serbia and ethnic Bosnian Serbs surrounded Sarajevo, the country’s capital, and launched an attack on Bosniaks. Numerous Bosniaks were forced into concentration camps, where other civilians were malnourished, tortured, and killed, and women and girls were often gang-raped.
Srebrenica, Sarajevo, Goradze and other Muslim enclaves were designated safe zones by the United Nations Security Council in 1993 and would be guarded by a UN peacekeeping force. However, in one such area, Srebrenica, in July 1995, Serbs carried out the biggest genocide in Europe since World War II. An estimated 23,000 elderly, pregnant, and children were loaded onto buses and driven to Muslim-controlled territory, while 8,000 “battle-age” men were detained and slaughtered. The so-called safe area of Srebrenica fell without a single shot fired by the UN, and thousands of men were massacred, the Srebrenica genocide is still remembered as a failure of the UN and the International community who failed to intervene in this horrific massacre.
Almost 2,000,000 were displaced during the 1992–95 war. Subsequent studies concluded that the death toll was about 100,000.
The Serbs lost territory in Bosnia and Croatia after the conflict, in addition to their own region. In addition, following the conflict, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Montenegro all proclaimed their independence from the Serbs.
There is a belief in Yugoslavia that Christian Serbs are better than Muslim Serbs. The genetic corruption of Muslim Serbs led to their interbreeding with Turkish Muslims, even though Christian and Muslim Serbs were of the same race.
Muslims from Bosnia were forced to flee the UN safe zone because their neighbors were also involved in hostilities. But because of this circumstance, Bosnian Muslims became the target of Bosnian Serbs.
Post-Conflict Reconciliation era:
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established to prosecute war crimes, providing a form of justice and accountability for victims. The establishment of truth and reconciliation commissions, like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina, aimed to uncover the truth about war crimes and foster reconciliation. The sustained involvement of international organizations and peacekeeping forces has been instrumental in maintaining stability and fostering dialogue between ethnic groups. But Bosnia-Herzegovina remains ethnically divided, with separate entities for Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats. Efforts at reconciliation have been slow and contentious, hindered by ongoing political tensions and nationalist rhetoric.[5]
[1] Bose, Sumantra. Bosnia After Dayton, London, Hurst & Company, 2002.
[2] RAOSAVLJEVIC, PREDRAG. BOSNIA AND RWANDA – HISTORICAL AND LEGAL COMPARISON OF THE TRAGEDY, Dec 15, 2004.
[3] Trebincevic, Kenan. – The Bosnia List: A Memoir of War, Exile, and Return.
[4] Ahmad, Sheila Zulfiqar. “The UN’s Role in the Bosnian Crisis: A Critique.” Pakistan Horizon 51, no. 2 (1998): 83–92. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41394460.
[5] Donais, T. 2005. The Political Economy of Peacebuilding in Post-Dayton Bosnia. London/ New York: Routledge.
