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Bosnia-Herzegovina
 What Is Genocide?
 Preventing Genocide
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 Background
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 Photo Gallery: Srebrenica: Legacy of Genocide

Bosnian Serb forces killed some 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys following the
fall of Srebrenica in 1995.

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 The Mladic Files

A 2012 project by award-winning journalist and Museum fellow Michael Dobbs
provides reporting on and analysis of the trial of Ratko Mladic in The Hague.

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 Fifteen Years Later: Forward or Backward in the

Balkans
 In observance of the 15th anniversary of the genocide at Srebrenica, the Museum held
a conference in July 2010 to reevaluate US and EU engagement with Bosnia and the
region.

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In 1991, Yugoslavia's republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina (Bosnia) had a population of 4 million,

composed of three main ethnic groups: Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim, 44%), Serb (31%), and
Croat (17%), as well as Yugoslav (8%).

On April 5, 1992, the government of Bosnia declared its independence from Yugoslavia. The
creation of an independent Bosnian nation that would have a Bosniak majority was opposed
by Bosnian Serbs, who launched a military campaign to secure coveted territory and
“cleanse” Bosnia of its Muslim civilian population. The Serbs targeted Bosniak and Croatian
civilians in areas under their control, in what has become known as "ethnic cleansing."

During the subsequent civil war that lasted from 1992 to 1995, an estimated 100,000 people
were killed, 80% of whom were Bosniaks. In July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces killed as many
as 8,000 Bosniak men and boys from the town of Srebrenica. It was the largest massacre in
Europe since the Holocaust.
Fighting ended after a NATO bombing campaign forced Bosnian Serbs to the negotiating
table, and a peace agreement, the Dayton Accords, was signed in 1995.

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Fifteen Years Later: Forward or Backward

in the Balkans?
 What Is Genocide?
 Preventing Genocide
 Justice and Accountability
 Cases
 Take Action
 Preventing Genocide Blog
 Speakers and Events
 Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide

A Bosniak woman at a makeshift camp for people displaced from Srebrenica in July
1995. US Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of Ron Haviv/VII.

Marking the 15th anniversary of Srebrenica.



Carl Gershman.

Panel I.

Panel II.


Mike Abramowitz and Antony Blinken.

Ambassador Stephen Rapp speaks with reporters.

Natasa Kandic, Emir Suljagic, and Anisa Suceska-Vekic.



Conference participants.

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Introduction
Marking the 15th anniversary of the genocide at Srebrenica and anticipating the upcoming
Bosnian national elections, this conference reevaluated the American and European Union
engagement with Bosnia and the region.

This event was held at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. It was cosponsored by the U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum and the National Endowment for Democracy and made
possible in part by the Helena Rubinstein Fund.

View the keynote address, delivered by Vice President Biden’s national security advisor,
Antony Blinken.