Médecins Sans Frontières - Srebrenica

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSF149634

Date taken / Date Recorded 01/01/2016 12:00 AM

Country Bosnia and Herzegovina

Commissioning section MSF-FRANCE

Copyright MSF

Usage Rights (MSF) Internal Use Only

Formal Consent Copy available no

Editor's rating ★★★★★ (C)

Video format h264 (Constrained Baseline) (avc1 / 0x31637661)

Duration 1m39s

Maximum Size 1920px × 1080px 196.05 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist Bosnia
20 years ago, Srebrenica's Muslim enclave fell to Bosnian Serb forces despite being under United Nations protection.
During the preceeeding 2 years of seige, doctors and logisticians provided assistance to trapped civilians.
Peacekeepers, deployed by the United Nations, were tasked with defending civilians taking refuge in the Srebrenica enclave that had been declared a security zone.
But, in July 1995, Srebrenica fell to Bosnian Serb forces and 8,000 men over the age of 16 were massacred.
Present throughout, MSF bore witness to these events and went on to challenge its own role in the enclave.

Rony Brauman, former president of MSF (en français)
When MSF started working in Srebrenica, it was all too obvious: 40,000 refugees crowded into a small village of 5,000 inhabitants under extremely harsh conditions, it was completely justified for MSF to be there. (…) But, now we know how things played out, we obviously need to challenge MSF’s contribution towards creating a kind of backdrop of security. But what we now know is that, when the UN declares somewhere a security zone, should not be taken as a guarantee and as soon as it’s possible to get out, grab the opportunity and go.

Twenty years on, civilians trapped by conflict continue to live in enclaves under international protection, as in Central African Republic, or here in South Sudan wher the displaced civilians in this safe haven in Bentiu are not spared the violence that rages the other side of the barbed wire.

Srebrenica - 20 years on (ENG)

Srebrenica - 20 years on (ENG)