A new chapter opens today in the trial of about six thousand mothers of Srebrenica against the Dutch State and the United Nations (UN). Today's hearing concerns the question of UN immunity from prosecution. The Netherlands would benefit UN exemption since the State slides of responsibility to the UN.

Today's pleas in this class case are not about the central case but concern a so-called incident; a procedure within the main case in which the judges are asked to rule on a particular aspect in the case. The Dutch State initiated this incident, which is about the competence of the Dutch court to deal with a case against the UN. Both the Dutch State as well as the UN believe that the court is not competent to deal with a case against the UN. The court will deliver a judgement on this issue in a few months.

The Srebrenica case
Relatives of the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, mostly mothers who lost their boys, filed a case against the Dutch state and the UN before The Hague District Court in June 2007. The ‘Mothers of Srebrenica say the Dutch State and the UN allowed the massacres to happen. About 8,000 Muslims were killed after Bosnian-Serb forces overran the town in July 1995.

The Bosnian town of Srebrenica was a UN ‘safe area' under the protection of about 450 Dutch peacekeepers at the time. The Mothers' lawyers argue that the Dutch were to blame for refusing to give air support to their own troops defending Srebrenica, claiming that would have prevented Bosnian-Serb forces from advancing and massacring civilians.

The Dutch cabinet resigned in 2002 after a report by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD) blamed politicians for sending the Dutch UN troops on an impossible mission. The Bosnian-Serb troops were under the command of General Ratko Mladic and the former leader Radovan Karadzic, the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal's most wanted fugitives.

Genocide versus immunity
The most significant issue in this case is the question whether the UN can enjoy immunity while it has the obligation to halt genocide. Both international laws, the UN Genocide Convention and the Immunity of the UN, are in conflict. When the court grants the UN its claim on immunity, the prohibition of genocide would be an empty shell.

More Srebrenica cases
Earlier this week, on Monday, a court in The Hague has heard two other cases brought against the Dutch state by survivors of the Srebrenica genocide. They are the first civilian cases to come before the court in connection with the massacre on 11 July 1995.

Hasan Nuhanovic, an interpreter with the United Nations, says his father, mother and younger brother were killed after they were expelled from a Dutch military base in the town. "Dutch battalion members in Srebrenica in the Dutch base expelled my family and handed them over to the Serbs. I saw it with my own eyes," said Nuhanovic.

Nuhanovic said he was allowed to remain inside the base because he had a UN identity card. "If I had not done this, I would not be able to go on with my life. I am seeking justice,".

The family of Rizo Mustafic, an electrician in the Dutch battalion of the U.N. Protection Force who died in Srebrenica, is also suing the Dutch state in a separate case which opened on Monday. Lawyers for the two argue the Dutch state allowed the killing of thousands of Muslims.

Liesbeth Zegveld, the lawyer for the next of kin, argued that Dutch UN soldiers assisted in the deportation of Srebrenica's Muslim population because they were eager to leave as quickly as possible, event though they suspected the deported men would be killed. Ms Zegveld says "They were sent to their deaths, or, in legal terms, exposed to the enemy, which is in violation of Bosnian law, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Geneva Conventions and the Genocide Convention".

UN liability?
The government attorney argues that people were sent away to protect others. He says there was no mistake or miscommunication, and Mr Nuhanovic's family was never forced to leave. And even if the decision was wrong, the UN would be liable for the victims' deaths, not the Dutch state.

However, Ms Zegveld retorted that when the actions of UN peacekeepers are so clearly in violation of UN policy, they are no longer serving the UN. She says that the Netherlands is responsible because Dutchbat ignored the UN instruction to protect the civilian population as much as possible, and decided to evacuate.