A lawyer challenging the immunity of the United Nations has launched an appeal against a Dutch court ruling that thwarted attempts by families of the victims of the Srebrenica massacre to claim damages.
A Dutch court said last July the UN has absolute immunity and cannot be called before any court of law.
The ruling delivered a major blow to a suit filed in 2007 by victims' families against the Dutch state and the UN in the Netherlands for failing to prevent the Srebrenica genocide.
"What's at stake here is the credibility of the United Nations as a protector of human rights," Axel Hagedorn said.
in an interview, adding that his appeal documents were lodged this week with a Dutch court against last year's ruling. The appeals process officially started in January.
Mr Hagedorn, who is representing an association of Srebrenica mothers, said the Dutch state, which is trying to uphold the
UN's immunity, will now be given a chance to reply and a ruling could follow in the second half of this year.
Bosnian Serb forces killed at least 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica that Dutch UN peacekeepers had been charged to protect, but the Netherlands has said its troops were abandoned by the UN, which gave them no air support.
Mr Hagedorn is seeking a ruling that the United Nations does not have absolute immunity and is liable for the genocide and has vowed to take the case to the European Court of Justice if it is not first decided in the Dutch legal system.
"This is a case about human rights, it's a case about obligations. This is such a fundamental case, we have to bring it up there," he said.
Mr Hagedorn's civil suit against the Dutch state is on hold until the issue of the UN immunity is settled. The UN had invoked its immunity after the lawsuit was filed in 2007.
But Mr Hagedorn is confident that if the United Nations is ordered to appear in court it will opt to settle the case and pay compensation, saying that the organisation must now accept responsibility for past mistakes.
"The United Nations wants to be the only organisation in the world above the law - no control whatsoever, whatever they do. This is just not acceptable," he said.
Reuters