Dutchbat - Consequences

Consequences

This incident had great impact on public opinion in the Netherlands. An official investigation of the incident on the part of the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (Nederlands Instituut voor oorlogsdocumentatie, NIOD] lasting seven years, published April 10, 2002, made the Prime Minister Wim Kok resign within six days. The 3,400-page report criticized the political and military High Commands of the Netherlands as being guilty of criminal negligence, for not preventing the massacre. The conclusions were devastating:

  • The mission was not suitably prepared.
  • There was no coordination between the Ministry of Defence (under Joris Voorhoeve) and of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (under Hans van Mierlo).
  • The contingent did not receive sufficient means to accomplish the mission. Adequate firepower and Forward Air Controllers (FACS) to direct air attacks were missing.
  • The non-Dutch in charge of air support refused to give aid as requested by Karremans.
  • The Netherlands and the UN did not perform their duty.

On December 4, 2006, Minister of Defence Henk Kamp gave a decoration to the soldiers of Dutchbat III, draaginsigne DBIII. This award was severely criticized by the public as well as by some survivors and relatives of Srebrenica victims. In June 2007 an association of relatives of the victims of the massacre presented a denunciation in The Hague against the Government of the Netherlands and the UN for its negligence in the massacre. In October of the same year, twelve former members of DUTCHBAT III visited the Memorial for the Srebrenica massacre, paying tribute to the victims. The same group of relatives opposed their act of atonement to open dialogue. According to testimonies of 171 of the members of the battalion, 65% left the Army, 40% of these requested psychological treatment, and 10% show symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (official figure; health professionals treating these people deem the number much higher).

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