Saturday marks 20 years since the genocide at Srebrenica, a town in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian war. Serbian forces killed more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in the massacre, and about 20,000 civilians were forced to flee the area. Historians say it was the worst episode of mass murder in Europe since World War II.

The Bosnian war lasted more than three and a half years and reached a climax in July 1995 when troops commanded by Gen. Ratko Mladic overran the U.N.-designated safe haven in Srebrenica. Mladic was later indicted for war crimes at The Hague, along with former Serbian and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic. Milosevic died in prison in 2006; Karadzic and Mladic are still facing the war crimes tribunal.
According to The Guardian newspaper, a new survey of evidence shows that the fall of Srebrenica was part of a policy by Britain, France, the United States and the United Nations to pursue peace at any price, something that happened at the expense of Srebrenica. Although the superpowers could not have predicted the extent of the massacre, they were aware of Mladic’s rhetoric calling for the Bosniak Muslim population of the region to “vanish completely.”
The war was finally brought to an end with the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in December 1995 in the U.S. after an agreement was reached among the presidents of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia.
This Saturday, heads of state will gather at a memorial in Srebrenica to remember those killed. They will be welcomed by the mayor of Srebrenica and representatives of victims’ associations. Former President Bill Clinton, under whose administration the Dayton Accords were signed, is expected to lead a U.S. delegation at the ceremony.
During Al Jazeera America’s Sunday night segment The Week Ahead, Del Walters spoke to Ivica Puljic, the Washington, D.C., bureau chief of Al Jazeera Balkans, and to Adisada Dudic, an attorney and a witness of the massacre at Srebrenica, who joined the conversation from Sarajevo.
Puljic said that not addressing what happened in Srebrenica is a lack of political will. “People feel betrayed all over the region,” he said. “They couldn’t find a solution or justice all of these years. They’re expecting the United Nations to do something on their behalf.”
Last week U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon paid tribute to the victims of Srebrenica at a U.N. commemorative event, saying, “The United Nations, which was founded to prevent such crimes from recurring, failed in its responsibilities to protect the lives of innocent civilians seeking protection from the conflict and violence around them. The U.N. Secretariat, the Security Council and member states share the blame.”
Serbia has asked Russia to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution on the genocide in Srebrenica. It was drafted by the U.K. to mark the 20th anniversary and is expected to be voted on this week, but Belgrade says adopting the resolution would only deepen ethnic divisions in Bosnia.
“This is definitely a shame on the international community that we cannot stand together and actually call this genocide,” said Dudic. “The systematic murders that happened in the span of a few days were premeditated, deliberate murders. It’s been established by years of testimony, evidence and witnesses reliving horrific events during the trials. It’s been established by the ICJ [International Court of Justice] and ICTY [International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia] as genocide. So today the international community should respect the victims and honor their pain and suffering and call it by the proper name so we can begin some process of reconciliation.”
Puljic agreed and said the 20th anniversary of signing the Dayton Accords is a good opportunity to focus on Bosnia. “To all the people who are denying that something happened in Srebrenica, denial is the last stage of genocide. The United Nations and the U.S. government have documents proving that it was genocide.”
Regarding former leaders being charged with war crimes 20 years later, Dudic said, “I must admit the trials are slow, but the people of Srebrenica are grateful that they’re happening. We do want the trials to proceed, and we do want the people who are responsible to face their trials and actually hear the testimonies of the witnesses.”
Dudic said financial compensation may be an option but added, “I don’t know how you can put a price on all this. The debate should be more about how a lot of the families — including mothers, sisters, daughters and sons — are left with no way of feeding themselves. Bosnia is still in disarray, and many people from Srebrenica are still in financial ruin. Financial compensation may help provide an education for someone or help them start their lives over, but there is no way to put a price tag on the pain that they are suffering and will likely continue feel for the rest of their lives.”

Ireland will be the first country to hold a referendum on marriage rights for same-sex couples. There are 18 nations globally that have legalized same-sex marriage, with some states in the U.S. and Mexico also allowing it.

Irish voters will decide on Friday whether or not to change the constitutional definition of marriage, allowing same-sex couples to wed. Homosexuality was illegal in Ireland until 1993, and the country began recognizing civil partnerships in 2011.

Recent polls have shown there is more than enough support in favor of same-sex marriage. According an Irish Times poll of 1,200 voters, 58 percent of respondents said they planned to vote in favor of the measure, while 25 percent planned to vote against it, with 17 percent undecided.

Gay rights campaigners say they have won the support of major political parties and that a “yes” result in the referendum would give same-sex couples more legal protection and broader social acceptance.

Last month the country’s Health Minister Leo Varadkar was the first member of the government to publicly announce that he is gay. He said the decision came from his desire to be “fully honest” with the people of Ireland.
Ireland is traditionally a deeply Roman Catholic society, with the church wielding tremendous influence. Support for the church has dropped dramatically, however, over the past three decades. The church has warned that if the vote passes, it may no longer perform the civil parts of a marriage service. That means that couples married in a Catholic ceremony would need a separate civil registration.

The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin, warned that the changed definition would interfere with the tradition of marriage, adding that “the union of a man or woman is open to the procreation of children.”

Anti-gay-marriage campaigners put out an advertisement saying, “You should be able to have reservations about gay marriage without being called a homophobe.”

During Al Jazeera America's Sunday night segment The Week Ahead, Erica Pitzi spoke to Quentin Fottrell, an Irish journalist for The Wall Street Journal and a gay rights activist, and to Richard Socarides, a former special assistant and senior adviser to President Bill Clinton.

Fottrell summed up the vote by saying, “It basically enshrines marriage for same-sex couples in the constitution, which currently does not exist. This is really about ensuring that the children of same-sex couples have the same rights, legal protections and constitutional protections as those of parents of the opposite sex.”

Socarides said, “A lot of it depends on how these issues develop politically. In Ireland, there’s no legal requirement that the issue be put to a public referendum. We [in the U.S.] don’t really have national referendums. The closest thing we have in the United States would be an effort to amend the U.S. Constitution, and some people have talked about amending the Constitution to prohibit gay marriage. But we don’t usually like to put people’s civil rights up for a public referendum.”

Fottrell said the “yes” campaign in Ireland has been extraordinarily well organized. “Tens of thousands of Irish people have emigrated since 2008, since the Great Recession. Upward of 70 percent of them are in their 20s, who would naturally skew towards more liberal causes. Although the polls suggest that it will be a “yes” vote, it will really depend on a high turnout on the day.”

Socarides agreed but said he believes the poll will be closer than people expect.

A “yes” outcome would change the social future of Ireland. Fottrell said, “This will send a huge message to the [gay and lesbian] children of Ireland that their relationships are just as important as a straight kid.”

“No matter what the result, people will understand people better afterwards,” said Socarides. “It’s important because Ireland is an important country politically. It’s an important country in the EU, and this sends an important message.”

Greece negotiated a four-month extension of its bailout on Friday, which has helped the country to avoid defaulting on its loans. Once an outline is ready to show how Greece will keep its finances in check, the European Commission, European Central Bank, and International Monetary Fund will review the reforms before officially ratifying the extension.

Greece joined the EU in 1981 and replaced its currency, the drachma, with the euro two decades later. The country was at risk of defaulting on its loans after years of unrestrained spending and borrowing. That led to the rest of the eurozone’s having to bail out Greece twice, once in 2010 and again in 2012, with $275 billion.

The assistance, however, came with strict austerity conditions, leading to multiple tax hikes and a nearly 27 percent unemployment rate. That led to anger among the population and to strikes and mass protests in the streets. Last month voters elected Alexis Tsipras from the anti-austerity Syriza party after he promised to renegotiate the country’s loan deal.

Greece’s eurozone creditors balked at Tsipras’ changing the terms of its bailout, and the country will still have to deliver on fiscal reforms by this summer to receive further financial assistance.

During Al Jazeera America’s Sunday night segment The Week Ahead, Richelle Carey spoke to Dan Kelemen, a political science professor at Rutgers University, and to Megan Greene, the chief economist with Manulife Asset Management, who joined the discussion from Boston.

“For the most part, Tsipras and the Greek government had to climb down from a lot of their big promises and their demands, although he’s spinning it as having won a battle,” said Kelemen. “In reality, he had to give up on most of what he wanted.”

Greene mostly agreed, saying that “the Greek government did have to climb down on a lot, but they did as well as they possibly could have.” She said that Greek banks may be able to use European Central Bank funding now to prop up the banking sector.

In terms of unemployment, Kelemen said the government will have to deliver sustained growth for quite some time before there can be a significant dent in the jobless rate. He said Athens will also have to tackle the underlying structural problems with corruption.

Greene said the compromises that Greece had to make actually benefited the European countries that are lending to it. She said, “We haven’t seen any financial or economic contagion, because it’s been kept within Greece.”

“It’s a huge election year this year in Europe,” she added. “There are elections in Spain, Portugal, the U.K. and Finland. There are regional elections in France and Germany. And in almost all of those countries, you have a major anti-establishment party that has gained a lot of support in the past year.”

She said we could see a major anti-establishment movement spreading throughout Europe on the back of Syriza’s victory in Greece.

But Kelemen said it depends on how the situation is spun. He said creditors will push the idea that they have forced Syriza to back down, in an attempt to send a message to other similar parties across Europe.

Ukrainians are voting in parliamentary elections eight months after protests sparked an uprising across the country. Discontent began after President Viktor Yanukovich rejected a trade deal with the European Union. The move was widely seen as a shift away from Europe and a move toward deeper ties with Moscow. Eventually, it led to Yanukovich’s ouster.
Now the crisis has moved far beyond the question of who should be Ukraine’s next leader. Tensions were exacerbated after Russia annexed Crimea, creating the biggest conflict between Moscow and the West since the Cold War. The United States says it wants Russia to stop its military support for Russian separatists in Ukraine. Moscow wants Washington to cut off economic and military aid to Kiev.
During Al Jazeera America's Sunday night segment "The Week Ahead," Thomas Drayton spoke to Amy Knight, a widely published Russia expert, and to Nicolai Petro, professor of politics at the University of Rhode Island.
“The most pressing thing is this election was whether or not the government was going to continue to support the Minsk Peace Initiative,” Petro said, referring to a peace agreement signed last month by the Ukrainian and Russian governments and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. “That’s a little bit less certain now that Poroshenko’s party came out as the leading party, but it’s not clear what kind of coalition they will be joining to gain a majority.”  
“It’s probably bad news for the Kremlin,” said Knight. “There’s going to be more support for a stronger line taken against Moscow.”
Knight added that despite Ukraine’s economic problems, it’s important that a democratic process took place.
Given that Moscow has cut off most of the country’s gas supply, Ukraine faces another potential economic crisis as winter approaches. Russia says it acted because Ukraine failed to pay its energy debt. As a result, Kiev tried to buy Russian natural gas from European countries, but that prompted Russia to reduce its sales to those nations.
Petro went on to explain that there are now three main camps in Ukraine’s parliament that will have to determine which path the country should take. He says there’s a radical nationalist group of about 13 percent that includes the Freedom Party; a nationalist pragmatic group of about 40 percent with the largest party being the Popular Front; and a more pragmatic but nationalist bloc, led by President Petro Poroshenko and his party.
Knight says corruption is the biggest issue facing the new parliament.  
About 3 million people in the Luhansk and Donetsk region did not vote in the elections. The separatists plan to hold their own elections next month.
“We will have to see how these elections will be interpreted,” said Petro. “It is important for the peace process to continue to have some sort of popular mandate for the rebel-held areas, so that the people who claim to speak for the rebels can then engage in continued direct negotiations with the elected representatives of the Kiev government.”

After more than 300 years of being part of the United Kingdom, Scotland will decide this week on whether to become an independent nation. Until recently, the idea seemed far-fetched, but recent polls show that the yes campaign, in favor of breaking away, is gaining ground, leaving the pro- and anti-independence camps in a virtual tie.

If the yes vote wins, independence would take effect on March 24, 2016, giving the government 18 months to iron out the details for a new country. In a nation of just over 5 million people, anyone 16 years of age or older may vote. That does not include Scots living abroad or Scottish residents of England, Wales or Northern Ireland.

During Al Jazeera America’s Sunday night segment The Week Ahead, Randall Pinkston discussed the referendum with David Scheffer, a professor of international law at Northwestern University, and with Charles King, a professor of international affairs and government at Georgetown University.

“There are lots of pros and cons in this debate, but there are a lot of advantages for the Scottish people,” said Scheffer. “There’s a cultural advantage to resurrect their national identity. Also, the Scottish National Party and much of the Scottish parliament makes the argument that in the long run, Scotland will be better off economically by breaking ties with Westminster.”

The vote for secession, however, remains highly divisive. Last month, 130 business leaders published an open letter warning of the economic setbacks that would affect currency, taxes and pensions, among other issues if Scotland breaks from the U.K. The very next day, 200 other business leaders signed a letter in support of an independent Scotland.

Although many anti-secessionists say Scotland’s economy would suffer if it becomes independent, the Scottish government says it can use its oil resources — something England does not want to give up — to help grow its economy.

British Prime Minister David Cameron went to Scotland on Wednesday to make his case for unity, but the trip was short and involved mainly private events. Meanwhile, Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland, has ramped up his campaign, making door-to-door stops to garner support for independence.

For the United States, an independent Scotland would mean the breakup of one of its strongest allies, the United Kingdom. Traditionally the British government has stood with the U.S. on major foreign policy issues, including the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

“This was a very unpopular move in Scotland itself,” said Scheffer of the Iraq War. “It did tend to incentivize voters to look at what Scotland would be like if it was not tied to some of the more controversial foreign policy decisions of the British government.”

Similarly, an independent Scotland would likely not participate in the current U.S. coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and would remove the British Trident nuclear submarine fleet from its territory, having set that as a condition for joining NATO, for which it would have to apply. Scotland’s status with the European Union would be unclear, but many assume it would have to apply for membership there, too, in the event of independence.

“Having Britain preoccupied with a basic constitutional domestic question takes attention away from these vital foreign policy concerns,” said King. “It is of vital concern to the United States.”

Scheffer agrees. “There are strategic reasons the status quo would be favorable to U.S. foreign policy,” he said. “But this is an expression of democratic will by the Scottish people, who have very strong ties to the United States. If it’s a yes vote, I think the United States should embrace that as an expression of democracy, and we already have one ally in the United Kingdom, and the end result should be that we have two allies.”

He explained that the difference between Scotland and the separatist movements of other countries is that the British government has sanctioned and legally approved this referendum.

“Even in the event of a no vote, I think the issue of Scottish independence is not going to go away,” said King. “And certainly the Scottish National Party is not going to go away.”

Fifty years after the historic embrace between the heads of the Catholic and Christian Orthodox Churches, Pope Francis will become the fourth Pope to visit the Holy Land.

There he will hold his own private meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople at the Apostolic Delegation in Jerusalem, where they will sign a joint declaration. His pilgrimage will include the delivery of three masses and a private visit to the Grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

But in addition to inter-Church relations, the Pope will be extending an olive branch to the other Abrahamic faiths that share the land. Accompanying him on the trip will be Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Muslim leader Omar Abboud, who both hail from the Pope’s native Argentina.

Their packed three-day itinerary, which will take them to the West Bank, Jerusalem, Israel, and Jordan, will include a visit to the Western Wall and a meeting with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.

To address the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian political conflict, Pope Francis will pay visits to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But the pontiff has limited his meetings with high-ranking officials in favor of common worshippers, something that has marked his papacy and his insistence upon championing the world’s poor. He has included in his agenda visits with disabled youth and displaced people from several different refugee camps.

Discussing the significance and expectations of the trip, Al Jazeera’s Thomas Drayton sat down with Father Tom Reese, a senior analyst at the National Catholic Reporter and Rabbi Arthur Schneier, founder and president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, who will also be part of the American contingent welcoming the Pope to the Holy Land.

Father Reese said that fighting and killing among different faith groups can only be stopped through education that does not breed hatred. He also mentioned Christians facing persecution in the Holy Land, some of whom trace their lineage back to the beginnings of Christianity.

For his part, Rabbi Schneier stressed the importance of the visit in terms of reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people. The Vatican did not formally recognize the State of Israel until 1993, after nearly a century of opposing the formation of an entity that would place the Holy Land under non-Christian custody.