To: Minister for Foreign Affairs & Trade
Ireland: Oppose Glorification of War Criminal Ratko Mladic
We call on the Irish Government and Ireland’s representatives in the European Union to oppose any further progress in Serbia’s EU accession negotiations while Serbian state institutions and senior political figures continue to glorify Ratko Mladić, a convicted war criminal responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Why is this important?
Who was Ratko Mladić?
Ratko Mladić was the military commander of the Bosnian Serb forces during the war in Bosnia in the 1990s.
He was convicted by an international court of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
His crimes included responsibility for the Srebrenica genocide in July 1995, when more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were systematically killed after the town fell to forces under his command.
These are not disputed allegations. They are findings of an international criminal court.
Why are we petitioning now?
Following Mladić’s death, he has been publicly honoured and celebrated in Serbia.
The concern is not simply that individual Serbian citizens admire him.
The far more serious issue is the involvement of political figures, public institutions and nationalist movements in treating a man convicted of genocide as a national hero.
For a country seeking membership of the European Union, this should be unacceptable.
European integration after the Second World War was built on the principle that countries must confront the darkest parts of their history rather than celebrate those responsible for atrocities.
A state cannot credibly ask to join that political community while glorifying a commander convicted of genocide.
What does this have to do with Ireland?
Serbia is currently negotiating to become a member of the European Union.
EU membership is not automatic. Every candidate country must meet political and legal standards before it can join, and existing EU member states — including Ireland — have a say in whether accession negotiations move forward.
Ireland therefore has both a voice and a responsibility.
This petition asks Ireland to use that voice.
We are asking the Irish Government to state clearly that Serbia’s accession process should not advance while its government and political institutions tolerate, endorse or participate in the glorification of Ratko Mladić.
What we are asking for
We call on the Irish Government, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Ireland’s representatives within the European Union to:
1. Oppose the opening of any further accession clusters or chapters with Serbia, including Cluster 3, until the Serbian Government clearly and publicly distances itself from the glorification of Ratko Mladić and other convicted war criminals.
2. Oppose the provisional closure of existing negotiating chapters while Serbian state institutions or senior government representatives participate in, endorse or facilitate the glorification of convicted war criminals.
3. Support the European Parliament’s position that Serbia’s accession process must remain genuinely merit-based and that negotiations may be frozen where there is backsliding on fundamental European values.
4. Call on the Serbian Government to recognise and respect the final judgments of international courts concerning Ratko Mladić, including his convictions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
5. Call on Serbian state institutions and senior public officials to publicly reject the portrayal of Ratko Mladić as a national hero and to refrain from providing state honours, state resources or official participation in events glorifying him.
6. Ask the European Commission to treat the glorification of convicted war criminals as a measurable issue when assessing Serbia’s progress towards EU membership.
2. Oppose the provisional closure of existing negotiating chapters while Serbian state institutions or senior government representatives participate in, endorse or facilitate the glorification of convicted war criminals.
3. Support the European Parliament’s position that Serbia’s accession process must remain genuinely merit-based and that negotiations may be frozen where there is backsliding on fundamental European values.
4. Call on the Serbian Government to recognise and respect the final judgments of international courts concerning Ratko Mladić, including his convictions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
5. Call on Serbian state institutions and senior public officials to publicly reject the portrayal of Ratko Mladić as a national hero and to refrain from providing state honours, state resources or official participation in events glorifying him.
6. Ask the European Commission to treat the glorification of convicted war criminals as a measurable issue when assessing Serbia’s progress towards EU membership.
A European future for Serbia should remain possible.
But progress towards EU membership should require Serbia’s political leadership to make a basic choice: whether it wishes to honour the victims of genocide and accept the judgments of international courts, or glorify the men convicted of committing those crimes.
It should not be possible to do both.
Ireland should take a stand
Ireland has consistently presented itself internationally as a country committed to human rights, international law and peaceful resolution of conflict.
Those principles mean little if they carry no consequences.
When a state seeking EU membership glorifies a man convicted of genocide, the appropriate response cannot simply be expressions of concern followed by business as usual.
Ireland should oppose further progress in Serbia’s EU accession negotiations until that glorification ends.
A country seeking membership of the European Union should not celebrate a convicted genocidaire as a national hero.
We ask the Irish Government to say so clearly — and to act accordingly.