Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina!
By Lucas Rodrigues
Background Information
What was the Bosnian genocide and how did it start? To say the least, it was a large-scale representation extreme discrimination against the Bosniak and Croatian people. It really began after Josip Tito died. After his death, the nation plummeted head first into war. The Bosniaks were Bosnian muslims, and they were blamed for crimes of which the result was death. Around 100,000 people were killed, which, according to History.com, is the largest genocide since the Holocaust. Many political leaders were involved! It was truly a horrible time for those poor people.
Governmental Response
The Bosnian and Croat governments did everything in their power, from fighting the Serbian army controlled by their vicious Milosevic,to even declaring independence from Yugoslavia. There was not much else they could do because the Serbs had by far the best army, and were intent on exterminating the object of their hatred. It was a corrupt mess, and many people could do nothing to stop it.
Non-governmental Response
The USA, European Union, and Russia really downplayed what was going on initially. They thought it was an even war between to equal parties. Until 1995 the US wanted to stay out of the war. They finally realized that not intervening was hurting their reputation and leading to more deaths. Finally, they sent troops to help stop the bleeding after their foreign policy changed. Also, the UN and NATO began to intervene, which finally led to negotiations of ceasefire with Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.
Conclusion
Overall, political leaders need to pass more non-discrimation laws, and also there needs to be extremely strong punishment for anyone involved in a hate crime. Secondly, there needs to be a worldwide group that has the resources and power to prevent genocide. That is the only way that genocide will stop completely.