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Srebrenica: ten years on, the nightmare continues
06-07-2005 Photo gallery
In Bosnia & Herzegovina, thousands of families remain in anguish, not knowing what became of their loved ones after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995. The ICRC and other organizations continue their efforts to discover the truth.
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In mid-July 1995, in the fourth year of a war that had seen many atrocities and caused great suffering among all communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, thousands of Muslim women and children were forced to flee from Srebrenica, in Serb-held territory, to the town of Tuzla. For days, ICRC staff helped the most vulnerable of them to cross the no man’s land separating the front lines and on to a local airfield, where – traumatized – they gave details of missing husbands, brothers, fathers, sons …
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The Dayton accord stipulated that the former warring parties work with the ICRC to establish the fate of all who had gone missing throughout the conflict – Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs. Working as a neutral intermediary, the ICRC established a working group to bring the parties around the table; it was their responsibility to find out what had happened to the thousands of missing people and share the information, to end the agony of families – who have a right to know.
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At the same time, the ICRC made contact with all family associations, and made public appeals for people to come forward with information. It published a consolidated list of names of all who had disappeared – the “Book of the Missing,” now in its sixth edition; the book has been circulated world-wide and is on the web. The ICRC and the national Red Cross offer to arrange psycho-social assistance for the families.
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The ICRC has created an ante-mortem database, after questioning more than 12,000 families. Each family is asked almost 200 questions to clarify the circumstances of the disappearance of their relative, gather details of the personal belongings of the missing person and verify medical and dental records. The data is then used to confirm the findings of post-mortem examinations and DNA analysis of human remains. So far, the ante-mortem data collected has helped forensic specialists to identify over 900 sets of remains.
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The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) was created in 1996 following the G-7 summit in France. One of its tasks is to help the authorities to locate and excavate burial sites. It has brought together a wealth of forensic know-how with the aim of – quite literally – piecing together the remains exhumed and trying to establish an identity. One of the complicating factors is that remains from several people are very often mixed together in one grave.
(See the International Commission on Missing Persons website)
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When remains are found, a bone or tooth sample is sent to the ICMP’s Identification Coordination Division in Tuzla. The sample is photographed, catalogued and bar-coded to ensure accuracy and confidentiality. Then it goes to one of the regional DNA laboratories, where it is submitted for DNA profiling. Afterwards the profile is stored in a centralized database in Tuzla, pending a DNA match.
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To obtain a match, hundreds of blood samples are taken from families each month. The process is voluntary and each sample is given a code that can be read only on ICMP computers. This pioneering DNA-led identification programme is being carried out on a scale never before attempted; ICMP's first DNA match was achieved in November 2001 and since then more than 7,700 have been found.
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Thousands of body bags containing bodies and body parts at ICMP’s Podrinje identification project in Tuzla bear silent testimony to the difficulties in carrying out identifications – and to the terrible burden of grief weighing down on the families.
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Ramo Muhic was just 18 when he, his father and an uncle fled to the hills near Srebrenica to try to escape death. They separated, believing this would increase their chances of survival. In the end, only he managed to get away. He has some of his father’s remains but wants to delay burial until he has more – a full skull, at least. Like many thousands of others, in all of Bosnia’s communities, Ramo may have a long wait ahead.
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