Link to article: https://apnews.com/article/bosnia-serbs-srebrenica-genocide-denial-56d4c3b1e7dca96a5be28b66a9fcdc6a
Thousands of Bosnian Serbs gathered on Thursday to publicly deny the ruling of two international courts. In Srebrenica, in 1995, over eight thousand Bosniak Muslims were brutally executed by troops of Bosnian Serbs. The bodies were secretly buried in mass graves as a method to dispose of evidence against the crimes committed. Following the atrocities, multiple United Nations judges have ruled that the event is to be classified as a genocide. At the rally, a Bosnian Serb leader has announced that he recognizes the event as a horrible mistake but refuses to accept the label of genocide.
The rally was sparked by the United Nation’s current drafting of a resolution that, when passed, will officially commemorate the genocide in Srebrenica. The Bosnian Serbs, and allies like China and Russia, do not want this because it will label them as a genocidal group which would be detrimental to their image on the international scene. Additionally, leaders claim that should the resolution be passed, there will be a split between the Bosnian Serbs and the Bosniaks. There is already severe ethnic division between the two, but an official split could be extremely difficult to navigate for the two groups and the surrounding countries.
In class, we have discussed the proceedings of international courts. Oftentimes, even the ruling of an international court is not enough to end a conflict. This example shows how groups may defy the court by denying the ruling and proceeding in their own way. It also how potentially intense the consequence of a court ruling may be. This further demonstrates the difficulty in enforcing international law even with the system that is in place for doing so.