Dutch UN Forces handed Bosnian refugees over to be murdered by Serb soldiers

INVITATION TO ATTEND HUMAN RIGHTS VIGIL

Survivors of genocide at Srebrenica hope for a just verdict

This Wednesday Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker (GfbV) / Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) will be standing alongside survivors of the Srebrenica genocide as they await the outcome of their legal action against the Dutch state for its failure to protect their relatives, refugees from the former United Nations "safe area". This is a very important day for all survivors from the besieged Eastern Bosnian town on the Drina River. "We hope that the Dutch government, along with the international community, will finally accept responsibility for the deaths of 8376 men and boys from the town and for their surviving relatives", declared GfbV/STP General Secretary Tilman Zülch, speaking in Göttingen, Germany, today.

Six years ago the family of electrician Rizo Mustafic, murdered at Srebrenica, and Hasan Nuhanovic, whose parents and brother were also among those killed, began their civil action in the District Court at The Hague. They sought to hold the Dutch state accountable for the failings of a contingent of Dutch soldiers in United Nations uniforms. The family of Nuhanovic, a translator working for the UN, had sought protection in an office used by the UN forces. Shockingly, after just one night there they were ordered to leave and sent to certain death by a Dutch officer, one of Nuhanovic's immediate superiors, even while a few metres away other Bosnian refugees were being murdered and raped by Serb soldiers. Along with Rizo Mustafic all three were killed. Only the remains of Nuhanovic's father, exhumed from a mass grave, have been found and identified.

Our human rights organisation will be joining the plaintiffs along with other survivors and the mayor of Srebrenica Abdurahman Malkic, in a vigil in front of the Court building in The Hague before and after the announcement of the judge's decision.

We invite you and colleagues from your picture editing sections to attend the vigil:

Wednesday, 10 September 2008,

from 9.00 a.m. onwards, in front of the District Court in the Hague,

Rechtbank`s – Gravenhage

Paleis van Justitie

Prins Clauslaan 60

2595 AJ`s –Gravenhage/Netherlands