Denial of justice: The case study of victims of gross human rights violations in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The dissertation attempts to examine issues of whether the entity governments of Republika Srpska are responsible for gross human rights violations and denial of justice to non-Serb persons. It finds that Republika Srpska governments are importantly ethically and legally responsible for the massive crimes and denial of justice conducted against non-Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia established beyond a reasonable doubt that Republika Srpska government is responsible for the ethnic cleansing campaign in Prijedor and Srebrenica genocide carried out against non-Serbs. However, the entity governments officially deny both the ethnic cleansing in Prijedor and Srebrenica genocide through interpretative denials of non-Serbs' human sufferings as "Serbian defensive-liberation war" and "mass crime". Consequently, many survivors' human rights to full reparations, such as public and factual acknowledgement of serious mass crimes and recovering of human dignity are violated systematically. Denial of moral responsibility for the mass crimes by the governmental officials and supporters, such as regular humiliation of victims, nationalistic moral relativism or righteousness of ethnic purity negate the victims' rights to remembrance and equal human treatment. Nationalistic and racial ideological remnants of "Great Serbia" and "Islamophobia" are still present within public pillars and affairs of the entity which hinder adequate redress. Except for the restitution, rehabilitation, satisfaction, compensation and non-repetition are worryingly unaddressed based on empirical research. Denial of justice in a strictly legal sense witness about discriminatory reparation laws, sham judicial proceedings, inadequate material compensations, rehabilitation programs, memorialisation and commemoration events. Historically, denial of justice to victims of mass crimes leads to further resentments and conflicts. Recommendations about adequate respect and protection of the victims' human rights are to be found in human rights education and mainly within an application of normative standards provided by Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law instrument which sets a victim-centred approach and international legal principles for creation of good redress politics by governments. Keywords: Denial, Human Rights, Universality, Victims, War Crimes, Reparations, Srebrenica