Increasingly, non-state actors exercise unofficial forms of influence within international affairs. Analyzing the actions and platforms in which they operate offers a broader perspective on their ...influence within diplomatic spheres traditionally occupied by state actors. This paper explores the relationship between victim-oriented advocacy roles taken by the NGO ‘Mothers of Srebrenica’ and the resulting formulation of a ‘culture of remembrance’ as an unofficial part of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s cultural and public diplomacy portfolio. We examine the Mothers’ advocacy work in promoting genocide remembrance and fighting genocide denial within the country’s foreign policy agency framework. We scrutinize under which circumstances their advocacy shapes or is formulated in parallel with official state diplomacy. We trace three types of advocacy engagement and discuss the influence in contributing to the country’s cultural and public diplomacy. This analysis contributes to scholarship on the influence of non-state actors in public diplomacy by examining the role of advocacy organizations on local, regional, and global levels and expanding the scholarship about the intersection of non-state actors and cultural and public diplomacy to include states undergoing transition, particularly post-conflict states.
In two decisions of 2019, the Dutch courts have come up with novel interpretations of the 'control-based' standard of attribution in the international law of State responsibility. This is a standard ...of attribution that is laid down in Article 8 of the International Law Commission's (ILC) Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (ARSIWA), which is, by and large, reflective of customary international law. The traditional understanding of Article 8 ARSIWA is that it applies to relations between States and private persons or entities, in particular armed groups: conduct of a non-State armed group is attributed to a State to the extent that the State exercises control over that group. However, the Dutch courts have extended the scope of application of Article 8 ARSIWA to conduct of organs of international organisations (the UN) as well as foreign States (i.e., States other than the Netherlands). Internationally speaking, this is a novel interpretation of Article 8 ARSIWA, for which there are no precedents. After introducing the Dutch courts' reasoning in these cases, the contribution zooms out and inquires what the Dutch evolutions imply for the development of the controlbased attribution standard in the international law of State responsibility. The author argues that the relatively peculiar interpretation of Article 8 ARSIWA, as applying to interactions between States and international organisations and between States inter se, is practically viable in a narrow range of scenarios characterised by relatively strong politico-military relations and hierarchies. Keywords: State responsibility, control, military operations, Srebrenica, Jaloud
The forming process of the modern Bosniac families in Ljeskovik settlement started at the beginning of the 17th century, and lasted till the end of the 19th century. However, the whole process can be ...tracked down from the mid 19th century, covered with data collected during the first census in Bosnia from 1850/51, and according to the informations gethered from land books of the Srebrenica District from 1894 andfrom there onwards. The first census from 1850/51 considered only male population. From the data collected in 1850/51, there are seven families or surnames in Ljeskovik, and those are: Čaušević, Duraković, Hodžić, Jahčić, (Bihačić), Kamramović, Mahmudović, Omerović, and Tabaković. By the end of the 19th century according to land books of the cadastral district of Ljeskovik, there are 43 surnames, or family names recorded: Aganović, Avdić, Beširović, Buljubašić, Demirović, Dervišević, Džanić, Efendić, Halilović, Hasanović (Duraković), Hasanović (Vranjkovina), Hasić, Hodžić, Husić, Kreševljaković, Mahmutović, Malović, Mandžić, Mehanović, Mehmedović, Memić, Mujčinović, Mujić, Mujić (Mahmutović), Mustafić, Mustafi (Katanić), Numanović, Omerović, Osmanović, Salkić, Salihović, Selimović, Selmanagić, Sinanović, Smajić (Omerović), Smajlović (Čaušević), Softić, Suljić, Špiodić, Tabaković, Travničanin, i Zukić. This work covers only families that use to live in Ljeskovik in the second half of the 19th century.
LAY SUMMARY
Research has shown time and time again that war has an impact on the mental well-being of Veterans and their families. But what does that impact look like when a mission is characterized ...by severe violations of norms and values (in other words, moral injury)? In this study, family members of Dutch Veterans talked about the impact on their lives of a mission gone bad in the former Yugoslavia, 25 years after it happened. Although most of the families were doing well, all of the families felt left alone in taking care of their Veterans after they returned and in dealing with negative press coverage. For the well-being of all, they expressed the need for more appreciation for and acknowledgement of Veterans and their families.
Introduction: In 1995, the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission involving the Dutch battalion, Dutchbat III, in the former country of Yugoslavia ended in the killing of 8,000 Bosniak Muslim boys and men by the Bosnian-Serbian army. The mission and its aftermath may be considered potentially morally injurious events that had a long-term impact on the Bosnian people and Dutch Veterans. A study was conducted 25 years after the mission to examine its impact on home front members (i.e., Veterans’ partners and close family members). Methods: Qualitative data were obtained through interviews with five female partners and two parents of Dutchbat III Veterans, as well as from a focus group with four female partners. Topics included the mission, experience of appreciation and support, health, daily functioning, resilience, meaning-making, and possible solutions. Thematic analysis was conducted using open, axial, and selective coding. Results: Findings were interpreted using a model of morally injurious impacts of war on military family members. Family members reported a generally good quality of life and no need for care for themselves but a unanimous perceived lack of support by the government and need for more recognition and appreciation of the Veterans. Discussion: Home front members of Dutchbat III Veterans seemed to suffer mainly from indirect mission impact that led to continued feelings of betrayal. Recognition and appreciation of military Veterans by the government and media may prevent or mitigate such feelings. Involving home front members in Veteran care and long-term follow-up is important.
Abstract
Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić, the war-time Bosnian Serb leaders, were first indicted by the UN Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 1995. The two hid ...for many years, with their trials starting only in 2009 and 2012, respectively, after they were apprehended in headline-generating operations. Their continued evasion of trial was constantly critiqued. After all, thousands were killed, tortured, detained, raped, expelled, and robbed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and these two men were widely seen as responsible. Pleas were made by survivors and frustration expressed on behalf of the victims, as many said, 'justice delayed is justice denied'. However, as this article shows, the many years the two high-ranking individuals spent hiding were well-used to collect evidence which led to their convictions and life sentences. Contrary to conventional wisdom, delay can actually be beneficial in prosecuting leaders for atrocity crimes.
This Article explores the transitional, post-transitional and strategic narratives about the wars in the former Yugoslavia, more specifically in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The criminal justice narrative ...created by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) dominates the transitional narratives about the Yugoslav wars. It is not uncommon that both sides - the victims and the perpetrators - express dissatisfaction with the justice outcome depending on the verdict. Transitional narratives based on the criminal trials are expected to provide clarity on the distinction between "bad" and "good" guys; between perpetrators and victims; between the criminality of the perpetrating side and the response of the victim's side. With the passage of time, all transitional narratives will be challenged by post-transitional narratives, launched by various societal and political actors for different reasons with specific objectives behind them. For example, the ruling post-conflict elites can decide to create a post-transitional narrative in which they will try to re-interpret or counter the existing transitional narratives with the goal to exonerate the policies of the predecessor regime that led to the violence by reintroducing the "politics of the past" into the "politics of the present" in the perusal of the still to be achieved political objectives of the predecessor regime. Using the example of the ICTY genocide judgments, this Article will explore how its transitional narrative of genocide has been undermined by the post-transitional narratives launched by the Serbian post-conflict elites in the perusal of the unfulfilled strategic goals of the predecessor regimes.
The Srebrenica Exhibition van den Berg, Dion; Hoondert, Martin J.M.
Oñati socio-legal series,
06/2020, Letnik:
10, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
In February 2017, an exhibition was opened in Srebrenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina) telling the story of the Bosnian war (1992-1995) and the Srebrenica genocide (1995). In this article we describe how ...the exhibition was designed and we reflect on the impact of the exhibition on the processes of restorative justice and social reconstruction. Leading question is: Does the exhibition successfully construct a shared sense of truth about the Srebrenica genocide? This evaluative question demands insight in the concept of truth and, more specific, in the debate about plural truths and multiple narratives. En febrero de 2017, se inauguró en Srebrenica (Bosnia-Herzegovina) una exposición que narraba la historia de la Guerra de Bosnia (1992-1995) y el genocidio de Srebrenica (1995). En este artículo, describimos cómo se diseñó la exposición, y reflexionamos sobre el impacto de la exposición en los procesos de justicia restaurativa y reconstrucción social. La pregunta que nos guía es: ¿Consigue la exposición construir un sentido compartido de verdad sobre el genocidio de Srebrenica? Esta pregunta evaluativa exige indagar en el concepto de verdad y, más específicamente, en el debate sobre pluralidad de verdades y multiplicidad de narrativas.
Based on ethnographic studies carried out during commemorations in Vukovar and Srebrenica, this paper analyses gendered representations of said mnemonic events. Specific practices that incorporate ...both military and civilian components, as well as discourse on heroism and victimhood, lay at the focus of this research: the Column of Remembrance in Vukovar and the Nezuk to Potočari Peace March. Following the theoretical findings on the nexus between memory and gender, the main actors and their agency are studied from the gender perspective. The symbolic capital of the two sites of memory and transformations of memorial practices impact the representation of gender on both state and grassroots levels and give an insight into the questions this paper asks: Why are women present in such large numbers in both Vukovar and in Srebrenica? How is gender represented in the course of these commemorations?What are the political implications of such choices? What kind of strategies are used in official and grassroots initiatives? Finally, how is it connected to gender?
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