무력충돌 중 중대한 인권침해로 인한 피해자 배상

Reparation for Victims of Serious Human Rights Violations during Armed Conflicts: Focus on the Case of Bosnia-Herzegovina

Historically, Bosnia-Herzegovina (hereafter “Bosnia”) has been a region where diverse ethnic groups, cultures, and religions coexisted. However, in the process of the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, armed conflicts broke out between ethnic groups in Bosnia, and mass atrocities were experienced. Although the Dayton Peace Agreement—led by the United States—was signed by the parties involved in the conflict in November 1995, thus ending the war in Bosnia, large and small conflicts continued. Accordingly, extensive efforts are still needed to heal the wounds from war and settle peace through reconciliation. Since the end of the war, Bosnia has focused on the punishment of war criminals through the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and many studies have been conducted in this regard. However, research on reparation for victims of these war crimes has been relatively limited. Thus, this paper examines and evaluates the efforts that have been made at the international and domestic levels to compensate the victims of the Bosnian War. At the international level, such compensation was first attempted by the ICTY but was ineffective, as it was entrusted to the domestic courts. Afterward, in the Genocide Convention Case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Bosnia sought reparation from Serbia by invoking state responsibility. However, in its 2007 judgment, although the ICJ confirmed Serbia’s violation of the obligation to prevent and punish genocide, it refused to give an order for compensation because a sufficient and direct causal link could not be found between the violation and damages. Thus, the declaration on Serbia’s failure to prevent and punish the genocide was to be considered appropriate satisfaction. At the Bosnian national level, the victims sought compensation through the domestic court and Human Rights Court, but this too had several limitations. The victims also argued for compensation in the Netherlands, but the Dutch Supreme Court only recognized a 10% liability of the Dutch government for the deportation of refugees from the UN military compound, which was carried out by the Dutch UN forces. In conclusion, many Bosnian War victims have not yet received adequate reparation, almost 30 years after the end of the war. Therefore, it is critical to establish a comprehensive reparation program for all the victims as soon as possible.