Dutch offer ‘deepest apologies’ for role in Srebrenica genocide

Defence minister offers ‘deepest apologies’ for the role played by Dutch peacekeepers in Bosnia when an estimated 8,000 Bosniak Muslims were massacred by Serb forces.

Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren pays tribute to victims of the Srebrenica massacre in the village of Potocari, near the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, on July 11, 2022 The Netherlands offered its “deepest apologies” for the role played by Dutch peacekeepers in the Srebrenica genocide, when roughly 8,000 Bosniak Muslims were massacred by Bosnian Serb forces 27 years ago this month.

It is the first time the Dutch government has apologised to relatives of the victims.

Outgunned and outnumbered, Dutch peacekeepers were unable to prevent Bosnian Serb forces from overrunning the United Nations-declared “safe haven” in Srebrenica city at the tail end of regional wars in the 1990s.

During a week of bloodletting in July 1995, Bosniak Muslim men and boys were separated from the women and taken to execution sites where they were massacred. Their bodies were dumped in mass graves.

“Only one party is to blame for the horrific genocide: the Bosnian Serb army,” Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren said on Monday during a visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina to commemorate the genocide.

“But let me be clear. The international community failed to offer adequate protection to the people of Srebrenica and as part of that community the Dutch government shares responsibility for the situation in which that failure occurred. And for this we offer our deepest apologies,” Ollongren said, putting her hand to her heart.

“The events of 1995 led to deep human suffering that is palpable here to this day. We cannot relieve you of this suffering. But what we can do is to look history straight in the eye,” she said.

Dutch courts had already determined that the Netherlands was partly responsible for the fall of Srebrenica and compensation was paid to survivors.

The Dutch government resigned over the episode in 2002, with then-Prime Minister Wim Kok saying the government in that way accepted its responsibility for the massacre but not the blame.

Relatives of those killed did not deem this enough and have been pushing for an official apology for years.

Last month, the Netherlands apologised to the Dutch UN soldiers present at the massacre for the conditions under which they had to serve, sparking anger from the relatives of the victims.

The slaughter in Srebrenica, judged an act of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, was the worst single atrocity of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, in which about 100,000 people were killed.

 

 

Sri Lankans make crypto Ponzi scam claims

Many Sri Lankans have been duped by a fake cryptocurrency investment scheme which has swindled millions of rupees.

Investors who have lost money are feeling the pinch more amid Sri Lanka's continuing economic crisis

Colombo, Sri Lanka–When 37-year-old Harshana Pathirana quit his job in the hotel sector, sold his car and invested in what he believed was a cryptocurrency, he dreamed of making a fortune, especially as the economy around him cratered.

More than a year later, with the tourism sector battered in the face of Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis, Pathirana is unemployed and has lost all his investment.

“I invested 2.2 million Sri Lankan rupees ($6,162) and was promised a five times higher return. But I only received about 200,000 Sri Lankan rupees ($560.20),” Pathirana told Al Jazeera. “I lost everything.”

Pathirana’s name has been changed to protect his identity as his family is unaware that he has lost his money. “My family thinks I sold the car and deposited the money in my bank account,” he said. He is now trying to migrate to find a job and earn some money.

Pathirana is one of the many Sri Lankans both locally and overseas who claim to have been deceived by a group of men that ran a fake cryptocurrency investment scheme and swindled millions of rupees. While it is not clear how many people in total claim to have been duped, one person that Al Jazeera spoke to said easily a thousand people had joined in his district alone, and that since the model worked on bringing on new investors, the scheme had a cascading effect.

These investors are feeling the pinch amid Sri Lanka’s economic crisis which has seen inflation hit 60.8 percent in July, causing acute shortages of essentials, and making basic meals almost unaffordable.

The scam is said to have affected professionals like doctors, security personnel and people from lower middle-income backgrounds in rural districts, mostly between the ages of 30 and 40.

Some of those who spoke to Al Jazeera were Sri Lankans who had made investments while working in countries like South Korea, Italy and Japan.

Most of them had given up their jobs, pawned their jewellery, mortgaged their property, and sold their vehicles to invest all they could, hoping they would receive significant gains.

“If I had my money today, I could have opened up a fixed deposit account and used it to improve the economic status of my family,” Roshan Marasingha, 38, who spoke to Al Jazeera from South Korea, said.

He said that he had invested 3.1 million Sri Lankan rupees ($8,683) and received only 550,000 Sri Lankan rupees ($1,540) in return.

“Unfortunately, we were the bottom-level investors in their pyramid (scheme). So we didn’t receive the return that was promised,” Marasingha lamented.

 

The Indian woman who married herself

Inspired by a Netflix show, 24-year-old Kshama Bindu tied the knot with herself last month – the first example of ‘sologamy’ in India.

Bindu's elaborate Indian wedding with herself made her an overnight internet sensation

New Delhi, India – Though she is dressed aptly as a newlywed, she is different from other brides. Because Kshama Bindu has not married a man, or a woman – she has married herself.

“People look weirdly at me. Like I have committed a crime,” she told Al Jazeera.

Bindu’s “sologamy” – a marriage with self – was conducted last month in an elaborate Indian wedding setup, making her an overnight internet sensation and the first Indian ever to engage in such a practice.

Bindu says she came up with the idea of sologamy only three months before her wedding after watching the Netflix show, Anne With An E, a coming-of-age story of a young orphaned girl who endured abuse as a child.

Taking the line from the show – “I want to be a bride but not a wife” – to another level, she finally tied the knot with herself on June 8.

Since then, from travelling for work to going out for shopping in the western Indian state of Gujarat, the 24-year-old has been earning disapproving looks from strangers.

But she could not be happier. The day of her wedding was the best day of her life, she said, adding, “I was in awe of myself when I looked into the mirror. I had no worries of a normal Indian bride. I felt like I was enough for myself.”

The best part about her marriage to self, she says, is that not much has changed since the wedding.

“I don’t need anybody else’s validation. I don’t have to think about moving to a different city because my partner has to move. I can think just about myself,” she told Al Jazeera, adding that no one but herself can give her greater love.

Bindu came up with the idea of sologamy after watching a Netflix show 

Bindu is an unusual woman in a traditional Indian society now undergoing rapid changes.

Is this radical self-love, a quest for fame, a deliberate glorification of being alone as a protest against loneliness, or a rejection of patriarchy and societal expectations of women?

Experts say such a declaration of self-love could have been a result of past trauma and failed relationships, and could even point to narcissistic tendencies.

Anusnigdha, a psychoanalytically-oriented researcher at Birmingham University in the United Kingdom, believes extreme trauma at a young age could explain self-love.

For someone who has gone through trauma, acceptance of this kind could be immensely healing, she said.

“In a society where everything is now celebrated on social media, it seems she wanted to make a public declaration that she has finally accepted herself after a journey of healing,” Anusnigdha told Al Jazeera.

I don’t need anybody else’s validation. I don’t have to think about moving to a different city because my partner has to move. I can think just about myself.

by Kshama Bindu, 24

Bindu says she did have a tough childhood and was repeatedly sexually abused when she was eight.

“Every time it happened, I would look into the mirror crying and try to motivate and inspire myself. I would have to remind myself that I am strong. Because of this, I grew up much before my time,” she said.

According to India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data from 2020, sex crimes against children in India went up, with at least 40 percent of the total crimes against children being sexual offences.

Bindu describes herself as a vocal person who always takes a stance against injustice.

“Some people dislike me and want me to take a chill pill, or to take it easy. I am a buzzkill because I call out casual sexism and misogynistic jokes,” she said.

“Rest in Peace, patriarchy and gender rules,” reads the graveyard tattoo on Bindu’s left wrist. “Patriarchy has hit me many times and in different stages of my life.”

Bindu says patriarchy has affected her in different stages of her life 

Anusnigdha feels that the pressures of an ideal marriage for women in Indian society could also be a driving factor in Bindu’s marriage with herself.

“Most cases of sologamy across the world are women. From a young age, girls are prepared for marriage. It can feel like a lot of pressure. By marrying herself, she has shut people up,” she said.

What is sologamy?

There are multiple references to sologamy in Western popular culture. The idea has featured in several popular Hollywood films and television series, including Sex And The City, Glee and Doctor Who.

Organisations such as Marry Yourself Vancouver in Canada and IMarriedMe.com in the United States offer sologamy packages and assistance.

Bindu recalls not feeling shocked when she first learned about the concept. “I had heard a lot about polygamy and monogamy, but never sologamy,” she told Al Jazeera.

“After watching the show, I googled for the first time whether it was legal to marry oneself in India. When I read about it, it felt normal and even attractive to me. It wasn’t a shock.”

But to her friends and family, it was a bolt out of the blue. Eventually, they all came on board. Her friends even planned a bachelorette party for her, which could not take place in the end because of the barrage of media people outside her gate.

“I was on a sort of house arrest because of the media outside, I couldn’t go out. The neighbours too had objections,” she says.

After the news of her marriage broke, the media flocked outside her house for interviews. Her story got mixed responses, but most stories painted her as a pioneer of sorts.

Most cases of sologamy across the world are women. From a young age, girls are prepared for marriage. It can feel like a lot of pressure.

by Anusnigdha, Researcher, Birmingham University

Anusnigdha feels that Bindu has successfully tapped into the social media potential and styled herself a trendsetter and feminist icon. She says that even the wedding, an act of self-acceptance, was done in a performative way.

But it was not an easy journey. Not only were people mocking her for the decision, there was political backlash too. Just a week before her wedding, the priest who was supposed to solemnise the marriage backed out.

“This is because politics got involved,” says Bindu, referring to the opposition she faced from Sunita Shukla, a politician from the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who declared she would not allow the wedding to take place in a Hindu temple.

Because of threats, Bindu was under pressure to keep the marriage discreet. She held the ceremony in her house before the scheduled date. She said the wedding was authentic Gujarati, with garba – a Gujarati dance form – and sweets.

Shukla told the media such a marriage would be against Hinduism.

“I am against the choice of venue, she will not be allowed to marry herself in any temple. Such marriages are against Hinduism. This will reduce the population of Hindus. If anything goes against religion then no law will prevail,” she told India’s ANI news agency.

Bindu says she called at least 25 Hindu priests to perform the wedding rituals but to no avail. Ultimately, technology came to the rescue. The hymns and wedding chants were played on a Bluetooth speaker in Bindu’s house when the wedding finally took place.

Like a proper Indian bride, she got a full bridal mehndi (henna) on her hands and feet a day before the marriage ceremony. On her big day, she invited a makeup artist to get a bridal look.

“After my wedding, I received a lot of questions about how my sex life is going to be. While it is true that I have pledged not to date, remarry or have sexual relations with anyone but myself, I can fulfil my needs fully,” she said.

 

China labour watchdogs face tough tradeoffs to keep access alive

The Better Cotton Initiative faced scrutiny over its work after partnering with Chinese firm accused of rights abuses.

The Better Cotton Initiative ceased monitoring conditions in Xinjiang's cotton industry in 2020 amid reports of widespread human rights abuses in the region

Tokyo, Japan – When the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) launched in 2005 promising to promote the use of traceable, sustainable cotton in global supply chains, the non-profit organisation (NGO) honed in on cotton-growing regions with a documented history of human rights abuses.

BCI’s mission took it to Xinjiang, China, the homeland of the Uighur ethnic minority, where the NGO began working in 2013.

To assist its work on the ground in one of the world’s largest cotton-producing regions, BCI partnered with state-owned Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a firm human rights groups and Western governments have accused of overseeing the arbitrary detention and forced labour of Uyghurs and other ethnic minority Muslims.

Despite mounting evidence of abuses detailed in NGO reports and media investigations in 2018 and 2019, BCI continued to operate in Xinjiang until October 2020.

The non-profit’s exit came several months after the United States Office of Foreign Assets banned transactions with the XPCC over its role in “serious rights abuses against ethnic minorities.”

In a statement that has since been removed from its website, BCI, which has headquarters in London and Geneva, said the “sustained allegations of forced labour and other human rights abuses” were a factor in its departure. Since then, BCI has declined to comment on its decision to leave Xinjiang, or why it took as long as it did to act.

“BCI has once never issued a public apology, nor has the chairman ever faced the media on this,” Brett Mathews, the editor of Apparel Insider and a garment supply chains expert, told Al Jazeera.

“Where was the due diligence? Why didn’t they do any research on the XPCC and its known links with all sorts of atrocities towards the Uighur population?”

BCI did not respond to a request for comment from Al Jazeera.

Beijing has denied allegations of rights abuses and genocide in Xinjiang and credited its “vocational education and training centres” with reducing violent extremism and poverty.”

Tough decisions and compromises

BCI’s case is one of the most dramatic examples of the tough choices and compromises labour and human rights watchdogs must face when operating in China under what critics says is the increasingly authoritarian rule of President Xi Jinping.

Rights groups including the Fair Wear Foundation, Workers Rights Consortium, Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior, and Amnesty International have all found themselves no longer able to continue working in mainland China or Hong Kong.

Those that remain are increasingly subject to strict controls and oversight that risk degrading their ability to identify or address human rights issues in global supply chains.

“Since 2015, the Chinese government has been targeting and cracking down on labour groups,” Johnson Ching-Yin Yeung, a Hong Kong-based campaigner with the Clean Clothes Campaign, told Al Jazeera.

“The risk factor has, in my understanding, deterred a lot of monitoring activities.”

Border controls and other travel restrictions, which have been ramped up under Beijing’s draconian “zero COVID-19” strategy, have made it increasingly challenging for foreign observers to even enter China or access, for example, facilities in Xinjiang considered to be high-risk for forced labour.

Even digital monitoring has become challenging, campaigners say, due to new data security laws that have already impacted the availability of information from the Automatic Identification System used to track ships.

During a 19-day period in October and November, the level of shipping data available for Chinese waters plunged by an estimated 90 percent, according to market intelligence firm VesselsValue.

 

Sri Lanka ex-leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa seeks entry into Thailand

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled Sri Lanka amid mass protests, requests entry into Thailand after weeks in Singapore.

Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka amid widespread anti-government protests

Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has requested entry into Thailand for a temporary stay in a second Southeast Asian country after fleeing his island nation last month amid mass protests, the Thai foreign ministry has said.

Rajapaksa fled to Singapore on July 14 following widespread demonstrations over Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis in seven decades, and days after thousands of protesters stormed the president’s official residence and office over acute shortages of food, fuel and medicine.

He then resigned from the presidency, becoming the first Sri Lankan head of state to quit mid-term.

Rajapaksa is expected to leave Singapore and head to Thailand’s capital Bangkok on Thursday, the Reuters news agency reported, citing two sources who asked not to be named. Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

There was no immediate comment from the Sri Lankan embassy in Singapore, which had supported Rajapaksa’s attempt to stay longer in the city-state.

Tanee Sangrat, a Thai foreign ministry spokesman, said Rajapaksa holds a diplomatic passport that allows him entry into the country for 90 days. He did not say when Rajapaksa intended to visit.

 

Child feared dead on Greek islet where refugees are stranded

A five-year-old Syrian girl has reportedly died, with her parents and dozens others awaiting rescue following alleged pushbacks.

Baida, a Syrian refugee, is among the group of asylum seekers who remain stranded on a Greek islet 

Athens, Greece – A five-year-old Syrian girl, who was among a group of refugees and migrants, is understood to have died on a Greek islet on the Evros River.

Her parents have submerged the girl’s body in river water in an attempt to keep it cool, as Greek authorities appear unable to locate the group.

Those still on the islet with the girl’s remains say she died in the early hours of Tuesday after being stung by a scorpion, two days after they were stranded there.

Another girl, who is nine, remains in critical condition. She is also understood to have been stung by a scorpion.

They are part of a group of 39 asylum seekers, some of whom are trapped for a second time on this unnamed islet after repeated alleged pushbacks between Turkey and Greece.

One member of the group, 27-year-old Baida, also from Syria, has been sending frantic messages to lawyers and journalists since the reported death.

“A girl died. A child. She’s dead. I can do nothing,” she said in a WhatsApp voice note sent to a group including this reporter.

She posted photos of the girl on her back with her eyes closed, lying on a patch of grass on the islet.

In another message, she questioned why the children have not received any help.

“No one hears our voices,” she said.

“If you hear our voices please help us,” Baida said. “The other girl might die tomorrow.”

The refugees say they were forced on the islet by Turkish authorities on August 7.

The Evros land border is a frequent crossing point for those wishing to claim asylum in Europe, but many reports have documented violent Greek pushbacks in recent months, as well as incidents where people have been made to cross by Turkish authorities.

The stranded refugees and migrants wish to claim asylum in Greece.

Greek authorities have been notified of their location and activists have made emergency calls on their behalf to police, but officials say that they have not been able to locate the group.

On Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights issued an order stating that the trapped asylum seekers should not be removed from Greek territory and that they should be provided with food, water and adequate medical care.

In their messages, members of the group describe what amounts to a geopolitical ping-pong game, being pushed back and forth across the land border by Greek and Turkish authorities for weeks in the highly militarised border zone in which no lawyer, human rights organisations or journalists can legally enter.

Some were originally stranded in the same location in late July, having tried to cross the border from Turkey.

They say they survived on food scraps, nuts and muddy water from the river before being returned to Turkey by Greek authorities.

Then, they accused Turkish authorities of holding them in military barracks, and later bringing them back across to the river and ordering them — at gunpoint — to cross again into Greek territory.

Al Jazeera has contacted Greek and Turkish officials in an attempt to verify the details of these alleged incidents but had not received a response by the time of writing.

Longtime foes, NATO members Athens and Ankara are currently locked in rows on several fronts, including the refugee issue and oil and gas exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean.

 

England’s Euro 2022 win ‘inspiration for girls and women today’

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth leads tributes after England’s women’s team beats Germany in the final to win the first major trophy.

Chloe Kelly's extra-time goal secured England's win at a sold-out Wembley on Sunday

England’s Euro 2022 football win “will be an inspiration for girls and women today, and for future generations”, Queen Elizabeth II has said after the Lionesses beat Germany 2-1 to lift their first major trophy.

Chloe Kelly’s extra-time goal secured England’s win at a sold-out Wembley on Sunday.

“Your success goes far beyond the trophy you have so deservedly earned,” the queen said in a statement on Sunday.

“You have all set an example that will be an inspiration for girls and women today, and for future generations.”

Substitute Ella Toone’s sublime chip, in front of a record crowd for any European Championships match of 87,192 at Wembley, had put England in front.

Germany’s Lina Magull levelled 11 minutes from the end of 90 minutes.

Kelly struck in extra time to give England the win, which came just over 56 years to the day since the England men defeated West Germany to win the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley.

Here is how the players, experts and the fans reacted to England’s win:

England forward Kelly: “Thank you to every single person. Honestly, it’s amazing. This is what dreams are made of. It’s unbelievable. To be here and score the winner, these girls are special, this manager is special. This is amazing. I just want to celebrate now.”

England coach Sarina Wiegman: “I think we really made a change. I think this tournament has done so much for the game but also for society and women in society in England but I also think in Europe and across the world and I hope that will make a [bigger] change too.”

England captain Leah Williamson: “I just can’t stop crying. We talk, we talk and we talk and we finally [did] it. You know what? The kids are all right. This is the proudest moment of my life. Listen, the legacy of this tournament is the change in society.”

Sri Lanka

 

With no fuel and no cash, Sri Lanka grinds to a halt

Less than a day’s worth of fuel remains, says the energy minister, as the cash-strapped nation extends school closures.

An autorickshaw driver waits in a queue hoping to get fuel near a fuel station in Colombo

Sri Lanka has less than a day’s worth of fuel left, the energy minister says, with public transport grinding to a halt as the country’s economic crisis deepens.

Power and energy minister Kanchana Wijesekera on Sunday said petrol reserves were about 4,000 tonnes, just below one day’s worth of consumption, as queues snaked through the main city of Colombo for kilometres.

The cash-strapped nation on Sunday extended school closures because there is not enough fuel for teachers and parents to get children to classrooms, with most pumping stations being without fuel for days.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Al Jazeera last week the petrol shortage will last until July 22 when the next oil shipment is expected. He said a gas deal has been secured which will ensure supplies for the next four months.

“It [fuel shortage] is a big setback to the economy and has caused lot of hardship to people. When we came in, the shortage of dollars actually contributed to this situation. We have been taking steps since then especially to get gas which will be available in the next few days, diesel and furnace oil as well,” he said.

“The issue has been petrol … and that will take a bit of time. We are hoping to get shipment of petrol by July 22 but I have asked the [concerned] minister to try to get the shipment earlier.”

ICJ to rule on Myanmar objections to Rohingya genocide case

If the objections are dismissed, the case will move to the next phase and the evidence for the alleged atrocities.

As genocide cases move slowly through the international courts, many Rohingya continue to endure enormous hardship

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is set to rule on Myanmar’s preliminary objections to a genocide case brought over the military’s brutal 2017 crackdown on the mostly Muslim Rohingya.

The court heard arguments on the objections in February, and ICJ President Judge Joan E Donoghue will read out its decision on Friday at 3pm (13:00 GMT).

Akila Radhakrishnan, president of the Global Justice Center (GJC) in New York, says it is “reasonably likely” that the ICJ will reject the objections, allowing the court to move to the next stage of the process — the merits phase — when it will consider the factual evidence against Myanmar.

“These objections were nothing more than a delaying tactic and it is disappointing that the ICJ has taken a year and a half to make its decision,” Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK), told Al Jazeera. “The genocide is ongoing and it is vital that the court doesn’t allow any further delays.”

Here are some more details about the lawsuits Myanmar and its military are facing, and what is at stake.

What is the ICJ case?

The Gambia took the case against Myanmar to the ICJ in November 2019, with the backing of the 57-member Organisation for Islamic Cooperation, after a brutal military crackdown in the northwestern state of Rakhine forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh.

Myanmar is accused of breaching the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide(PDF).

The ICJ has already ordered Myanmar to take urgent measures to protect the Rohingya, with the judges saying it had “caused irreparable damage” to the group’s rights.

Rohingya continue to attempt risky journeys to escape Myanmar and Bangladesh. This group was stranded  off the coast of the Indonesian province of Aceh in December

A United Nations investigation found in 2018 that the crackdown had been carried out with “genocidal intent” and recommended that Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and five generals be prosecuted.

The UN mission’s chairman Marzuki Darusman said the victim accounts were among “the most shocking human rights violations” he had come across and would “leave a mark on all of us for the rest of our lives”.

In March this year, the United States determined the Myanmar military’s actions against the Rohingya amounted to genocide.

Myanmar has denied genocide and says the crackdown in 2017 targeted Rohingya rebels who had attacked police posts.

The military, which staged a coup in February 2021, has now taken control of the case, replacing elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who initially defended Myanmar at the court in The Hague. She has not been seen in public since the coup and is on trial in secret military courts on dozens of charges.

Some rights groups and activists have raised concerns about the ICJ dealing with the military’s representatives.

They note that Myanmar’s United Nations ambassador remains Kyaw Moe Tun, who was appointed by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and is now aligned with the National Unity Government established by politicians who were overthrown.

What are Myanmar’s objections?

The objections, filed a month before the military coup, have not been revealed publicly.

But court proceedings indicate Myanmar is contesting The Gambia’s right to bring the case and whether the ICJ has the necessary jurisdiction.

Myanmar ratified the Genocide Convention in 1956 and The Gambia in 1978.