Dutchbat

UNPROFOR DUTCHBAT was a Dutch battalion under the command of the United Nations in operation United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). "Dutchbat" was a military name formed from the words "Dutch battalion". It was hastily formed out of the emerging Air Mobile Brigade of the Royal Netherlands Armed Forces between February 1994 and November 1995 to participate in peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia. It was tasked with the role of safekeeping the Muslim enclave and designated UN "safe zone" of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War. The enclave fell to the Bosnian Serbs under Colonel General Ratko Mladić during the third 'rotation', "Dutchbat III," commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Karremans.

Subsequent investigation showed that, when the Serbian forces came to take over the enclave, the small battalion was far too lightly equipped to repel the more heavily armed soldiers, and also had its request for air support to the UNPROFOR ignored. The Serbian forces under Mladić's command led Srebrenica's male inhabitants into the mountains, where they were massacred.

In 2016, several veterans of the battalion, with approval of its commander, sued the Dutch government for "severe negligence and carelessness" regarding the mission.

DUTCHBAT was a Dutch army battalion, Its mission consisted of deploying four successive rotations, each of around 450 persons, named "Dutchbat I, -II, -III and -IV". The Dutch troops were armed with personal weapons, machine guns and two anti-tank RPGs, in accordance with the UN mandate of UNPROFOR. The headquarters were installed in an old battery factory in Potočari, 5 km from Srebrenica. DUTCHBAT used 30 observation posts (OPs) throughout the perimeter of the enclave, mostly consisting of a sandbagged armored car and associated personnel and equipment.

UNPROFOR's mission was the protection of the civilian population of this Bosniak enclave (dubbed a "secure area" or "safe haven" by the UN). The Rules of Engagement (ROE) stated that the peacekeepers could use force for self-defence only. They relied on air support from NATO. Intervening in the fighting was forbidden to all NATO troops, however Minister Voorhoeve of the Netherlands had ordered that “under no circumstances was Dutchbat allowed to cooperate in the separate treatment of men.” DUTCHBAT's zone fell under siege by the VRS, when NATO air forces began bombing the Bosnian Serbs besieging Sarajevo.

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