The Arrest of Ratko Mladic

By Laura Duncan on 05/27/2011 @ 03:59 PM

The morning of May 26 brought the news that Ratko Mladic, one of the individuals responsible for the heinous war crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s, has finally been arrested. General Mladic will face trial for these crimes before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), in The Hague. The news of his arrest is a moment of celebration for the international community, which hopes this event will strengthen international institutions. But it is also a moment of sorrow, in which we are reminded of our failure to prevent the horrible crimes that took place in the former Yugoslavia.

General Mladic was the leader of the army of the Bosnian Serbs (VRS) during the massacre at Srebrenica, a crime which has been defined by the ICTY as an act of genocide. The Srebrenica enclave was part of the UN declared “safe-areas”, in which all parties were to refrain from violence. On July 2, 1995, the VRS began their attacks in Srebrenica and in less than two weeks succeeded in entering the area. Once there, the VRS separated men and boys of military age from the women, children and elderly. While the latter were taken to buses and relocated to other areas, the men and boys were brutally killed. Between July 13 and July 19, 1995, over 7,000 men and boys were killed in Srebrenica. Their bodies were buried in mass graves and later moved to more isolated areas in an attempt to hide the evidence of their executions.

General Mladic will face trial before the ICTY for these and other violations of international law. The ICTY was created in 1993 by Security Council Resolution 827 with the purpose of “prosecuting persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia…” One of the main barriers to the prosecution of war criminals has been the refusal of some states to cooperate in arresting these individuals. Among the most notorious fugitives were General Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, the former President of the Bosnian Serbs, who was finally arrested in July 2008 by Serbian authorities and transferred to The Hague, where he is already being tried for his crimes.

To quote Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “this is a great day for justice in the international system.” The government of Serbia has taken an important step to show its cooperation with the international community. We hope that his trial will serve to warn other leaders around the world of the consequences of violating humanitarian law, and that it will bring justice to the victims of one of the most horrific crimes of our generation.

The No Limits Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization, which means we cannot post material that is political or partisan. Comments or postings reflect the opinions of the author only, and in no way reflect the position of No Limits. No Limits does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of any posting. If you send a blog post to No Limits and we publish it on the site, we will note you as the author but we cannot pay for any submissions. Because of space considerations, not all posts submitted may be published. We are not responsible for the content of or for third party rights in material posted by you. For more information, please visit our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.