The UN arms embargo materially enabled the Bosnian genocide.
Evidence
For the NATO powers to acknowledge genocide in Bosnia would have been to acknowledge that not only were they breaking the Genocide Convention of 1948 by refusing to prevent and punish genocide, but also that they were rewarding genocide by ceding territory to forces that carried it out. The UNimposed arms embargo had locked into place the vast Serb-army advantage in heavy weapons, violating Article 51 of the UN Charter, which guarantees every recognized nation the right to defend itself; the embargo reinforced the power imbalance that allowed genocide to be carried out with impunity. — Michael A. Sells, The Bridge Betrayed, 109
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the reader’s thread on sacrifice and mass violence, and to international-law failures preceding genocide.