Genocide in Srebrenica and the Birth of R2P - 1025 Words

Genocide in Srebrenica and the Birth of R2P In 1995, three years of systematic ethnic cleansing by the Bosnian Serb forces culminated in the town of Srebrenica with the androcide of over 8,000 Bosnian Muslims. The Dutch peacekeepers from the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), charged with protecting the safe area, were ill-equipped to deal with the Serb takeover and watched as women were raped, children were murdered, and men and boys were gunned down. In one of the worst acts of genocide since the holocaust, the international community’s response mirrored that of the peacekeepers on the ground in Srebrenica—watch and wait. By the time NATO forces intervened to force peace talks, nearly 100,000 people were dead from the civil war, 65% of whom were Bosniaks. While conventions have been in place since WWII to define war crimes and genocide and allow prosecution of those who commit these acts, the United Nations response to these atrocities has been sporadic and d isorganized. The massacre in Srebrenica shined a spotlight on the failures of the international community to prevent mass atrocities. We needed an international guideline to systematically and effectively respond to civil war and intrastate conflict. Out of this was born the idea of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). Humanitarian intervention was by no means a new topic—its rhetoric has been around since the mid 1800s. However, in trying to codify the â€Å"right to intervene† there was a controversial