Authorised in December 2003, it functioned from January – June 2004 (6 months) before submitting its final report. However its mandate was extended until October 2004.

Mandate: Established by the state of Republika Srpska (National Assembly at its December 25, 2003 session) in accordance with an Office of the High Representative mandate to assume "the investigation and other activities in order to establish the full truth of the events in and around Srebrenica between 10th and 19th July 1995 aiming to establish lasting peace and build confidence in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)." This would include the investigation of crimes, discovering who committed them and who ordered them, and the location of missing persons and mass graves around Srebrenica.

Staff: 7 Members

Results: Approximately 1800 applications were received. 32 mass graves were discovered through the work of the Srebrenica Commission. This information was passed on to the Federation Commission to perform the exhumations.

January 2008: The first interim report was issued on April 14, 2004 and the final report was published on June 11, 2004. An addendum was added in October 2004.

The commission's work was hindered by the Republika Srpska failing to co-operate, although some documents from the Ministry of Defence and other RS government bodies were eventually disclosed.  

During the initial 6 months the Commission did not have the time to compile an accurate list of all persons that went missing. However, the time extension alllowed them to make up a databse with over 150 000 entries, representing 13, 569 different people. Of these, approximately 1700 went mssing between the 10 and 19 July, 1995. A further 698 went missing in July 1995. The Commission was given conflicting information concerning the period during which another 936 people went missing, though all of these were reported by someone as having gone mssing in that July. An additional 4556 persons were reported to have gone mssing outside the Commission's mandate time of July 1995.

So far, 1482 bodies have been identified, leaving between 7000 and 8000 people missing still.

A reparations program is already underway for the families of those killed. The reparation program also led to the establishment of a memorial [ICTJ News]

In November 2007, a court in the Hague ruled that it was legal for the families and survivors of the Srebrenica massacre to sue the Dutch government and the United Nations for allowing the massacre. In 1995, 8000 Muslim men and boys were killed in Srebrenica while the town was under the protection of a dutch section of UN troops. The dutch refused to send the crucial air support requested by their own troops, prompting the majority of the lightly-armed troops present to abandon their posts. Lawyers are petitioning for damages of €25 000 for each plaintiff, of which there are just under 6000, plus overall damages which have yet to be determined. [Reuters]