Srebrenica massacre
The Srebrenica massacre ( Serbo-Croatian : Masakr u Srebrenici / Масакр у Сребреници ), also known as the Srebrenica genocide ( Serbo-Croatian : Genocid u Srebrenici / Геноцид у Сребреници ), was the July 1995 genocidal killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys in and around the town of Srebrenica , during the Bosnian War . The killings were perpetrated by units of the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) under the command of Ratko Mladić . The Scorpions , a paramilitary unit from Serbia , who had been part of the Serbian Interior Ministry until 1991, also participated in the massacre. Prior to the massacre, United Nations (UN) had declared the besieged enclave of Srebrenica , in eastern Bosnia , a " safe area " under UN protection. However, the UN failed both to demilitarize the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) within Srebrenica and to force withdrawal of the VRS surrounding Srebrenica. UNPROFOR 's