During the civil war in the former Yugoslavia, Bosnian-Serbs under the command of Gen. Ratko Mladic' on 11 July 1995 deported and murdered some 7,500 Muslims from the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica, which was a safety area under the flag of the United Nations. Dutch peacekeepers (the “Dutchbat”) witnessed the deportation but took no action. After the massacre, which is regarded as the most horrible genocide in Europe since World War II, investigations started about the responsibility. Lost evidence (e.g., films) and contradictory explanations hindered the research. The conclusions of a report, prepared by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, led to the fall of the second Wim Kokcabinet in 2002. The governmentaccepted the political respon sibility for the fact that the Dutch “blue helmets” had not prevented the deportation.
Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands. EdwART. 2012.