The most important aspect of the International Court of Justice verdict on the lawsuit brought by Bosnia-Herzegovina against Serbia is that it does not provide justice for the victims. This verdict shows that, even at the international level, law does not mean justice.
However, this verdict does not justify the triumphalist reaction in Serbia. The verdict is a defeat for Serbia because it condemns Serbia for not preventing genocide and not fulfilling its international obligation to hand over indictees to The Hague Tribunal. It also obligates the Serbian government to adopt a declaration that acknowledges the genocide in Srebrenica, as well as declare the denial of the genocide in Srebrenica a criminal act. Two years ago, eight nongovernmental organizations - including Women in Black - made these same demands without result.
We do not believe that the verdict fulfills justice. Since the beginning of the aggression in Bosnia-Herzegovina - especially since the genocide in Srebrenica in 1995 - Women in Black has demanded punishment of the planners, commanders, and perpetrators of the biggest atrocities committed in Europe since World War Two. The Republika Srpska armed formations who committed genocide in Srebrenica received tremendous military, financial, and logistical support from the Slobodan Milosevic regime.
Unfortunately, the climate that produced war has not only survived; it intensified when Vojislav Kostunica came to power. The most damaging expression of these policies is the institutional denial of the criminal politics of the previous regime.
As we have for all these years, we will continue to extend moral, emotional, and political solidarity and support to the victims from Srebrenica and all of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and demand that all criminals are brought to justice.
We demand the immediate arrest of the criminal Ratko Mladić and all who have protected him. That who continue to protect Mladić and others directly violate the Genocide Convention; they are committing the most terrible crime in international criminal law.
Women in Black - Belgrade
February 28, 2007
