Netherlands apologises over failure to prevent Srebrenica genocide

The Dutch government has apologised to Bosniak families who lost their relatives in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren offered the apology at the 27th commemoration of the genocide at the cemetery on Monday in Potocari in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"The Netherlands was one of them. Despite everything, Srebrenica was crushed ... The Netherlands is also a part of this failure. For this reason, we offer you our deepest apologies. It connected the Netherlands forever," said Ollongren.

She said that international institutions have promised to protect innocent people.

"The international community failed to protect the people of Srebrenica. As part of this community, the Dutch government shares political responsibility for the situation in which this failure could have happened. We cannot take away the suffering. But what we can do is look history straight in the eye," said Ollongren.

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What happened in 1995?

More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed when Bosnian Serb forces attacked the eastern town of Srebrenica in July 1995, despite the presence of Dutch peacekeeping troops.

Dutch troops failed to act as Serb forces occupied the area, killing some 2,000 men and boys on July 11 alone.

Around 15,000 residents of Srebrenica fled to the surrounding mountains, but Serb troops hunted down and killed 6,000 more people.

The bodies of victims have been found from 570 places across the country.

In 2007, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that genocide had been committed in Srebrenica.

The court found The Netherlands guilty of handing over 300 Bosniak civilians to the Serbs who took refuge with Dutch soldiers and the United Nations during the occupation of Srebrenica.

READ MORE: Srebrenica: An open wound for Bosniaks