Dutch Must Pay Srebrenica Compensation

[Lonewolf_50]

Originally Posted by NutLoose

What will this result in?. Countries refusing to send troops for fear of being sued?

Hopefully, yes. I'd say write off the peacekeeping and "let 'em play" and see how that goes. Nobody to sue after the fact is one advantage.




"Should have known." What a load of rubbish for the basis of the ruling. Dutch own goal repeated.

[FOGII]

Originally Posted by Leon Jabachjabicz

So does that make us all liable? Should we have ignored CAOC direction and intervened with the Serbs against our ROE? The rumour was that one nation's pilot did drop and was whisked away for Court Martial.
LJ

LJ,

If it's the same incident the individuals ended up with non-punitive letters of reprimand.

People forget that 6th Fleet units, including the super MEU, were not under NATO or UN command but were in support of NATO. The counter factual rabbit hole is what would have happened if the Dutch Co had known this command relationship and the implications.

S/F, FOG

[ORAC]

Dutch veterans sue over trauma of Bosnia genocide

More than 200 Dutch army veterans are suing for the trauma and emotional damage they claim they suffered after failing to prevent the genocide of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica while serving as United Nations peacekeepers.

The litigation was announced as the Hague Court of Appeal upheld a 2014 civil court judgment, which found that the Dutch government was liable for the murders of 350 men, among the 8,000 Muslims killed in Europe’s worst atrocity since the Second World War. The soldiers who served in the Dutchbat III battalion were UN peacekeepers supposed to be protecting Muslim refugees from Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb commander who is on trial for the genocide.......

.....206 of the Dutchbat soldiers, including one commander, are claiming €22,000 each, €4.5 million in total, for the trauma they suffered by being given an “impossible mission” to protect the Bosnian Muslims. “They are still experiencing damages in all aspects of their lives and believe that the defence ministry should be held responsible,” said Michael Ruperti, their lawyer, on Monday night.

[Lonewolf_50]

Heh: politicians send soldiers off to polish a turd, and provide as a tool an old tooth brush. Time to push back at the pols, good for them.
But this is treating the symptom, not the cause. It avoids the culpability of the entirety of the UN security council membership who put together the conops they had to try and make happen. (I hope they win, though.)

[Slow Biker]

For an interesting account of UN peacekeeping read Heroes of Jadotville by Rose Doyle. A company of the Irish Army was sent to the breakaway province of Katanga during the Congo crisis of the early '60s supposedly to protect the Belgian expats. It didn't quite work out like that. A story of betrayal, courage and leadership.

[racedo]

Originally Posted by Slow Biker

For an interesting account of UN peacekeeping read Heroes of Jadotville by Rose Doyle. A company of the Irish Army was sent to the breakaway province of Katanga during the Congo crisis of the early '60s supposedly to protect the Belgian expats. It didn't quite work out like that. A story of betrayal, courage and leadership.

In a pub in Dublin in 1990's an Irish friend introduced me to someone who told me the story of this, he had been there and is referenced in various books.
Initially disbelieving because I have met too many vets who want to tell you how they won the war single handed, I got confirmation from mate that yup he was the real McCoy.
In terms of leadership it is probably one of the greatest UN actions where an officer and his men stood up and did the job asked of them.
Looking at actions of the Dutch it is a world away from this.
There were SAS operating close to Srebenica but they were there as observers only to report on what was occurring, they reported and no Govt could claim they were unaware of what was going to occur.