Hasan Nuhanović

In "Netherlands v Nuhanovic", judgement of 6 september 2013, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands recognized (see paras 3.9.4 and 3.11.2-3.11.3) the 'dual attribution' provided for in the 4th paragraf of the introductory commentary to ARIO (Articles on Responsibility of International Organizations, see United Nations General Assembly's resolution A/RES/66/100 of 27 February 2012).

In a similar civil law action before the District Court members of the Mothers of Srebrenica association are seeking to hold the United Nations itself responsible for failing to protect their relatives who were among the refugees gathered outside the base and under the protection of UNPROFOR. On 10 July 2008 the Court ruled that the United Nations cannot be sued for failure to protect the victims of genocide at Srebrenica because it enjoys an absolute immunity from liability. This ruling impedes any alternative claim by Hasan Nuhanović and the Mustafić family against the United Nations until the Mothers of Srebrenica's appeal is heard. The outcome of the appeal against the District Court decision will be announced on 5 July 2011.

As of 2018, according to customary international law enshrined in the Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (ARSIWA, UN GA Res. 59/83, 12 December 2001) and in the Articles on Responsibility of International Organizations (ARIO, UN GA RES 66/100 27 February 2012), dual attribution of international legal responsibility (i.e. attribution of legal responsibility both to the State and the International Organization involved in the wrongful act) is possible. In conclusion, in all kinds of UN peacekeeping operations, all conduct of the troops is attributable to UN regardless of effective control exercised by UN, since UN peacekeeping operation is an organ of the UN and with reference to ARIO art.6; the very same conduct is also additionally attributable ('dual attribution') to relevant troop-contributing state regardless of effective control exercised by the state, since state's armed forces are an organ of a state (ARSIWA, Art.4.). This is precisely the case for UNPROFOR, which is a UN peacekeeping operation, where according to international law international wrongful acts are hence attributable both to the troop-contributing state and the UN (as recognized by the Supreme court of the Netherlands in the judgement of 6 september 2013). Note that international law is slightly different when it comes to UN-authorized operations which are not organs of the UN (like KFOR).

As a U.N. translator/interpreter Hasan Nuhanović worked with the Dutchbat III contingent of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) which was assigned the task of protecting the United Nations "safe area" of Srebrenica in the latter part of the Bosnian war (1992–1995). When Srebrenica fell to Bosnian Serb Army forces under General Ratko Mladić in July 1995, Nuhanović's family were among 5000-6000 civilian refugees who found shelter on the UN base in Potočari. His father Ibro was one of three representatives of the 30,000 refugees inside and outside the base who took part with Dutch senior officers in supposed "negotiations" with Gen. Mladić.

Hasan Nuhanović (born 2 April 1968 in Zvornik) is a Bosnian survivor of the Srebrenica genocide who campaigns "For truth and justice" on behalf of other survivors and relatives of the victims. Hasan, the former U.N. interpreter for Dutch peacekeepers who were stationed in Srebrenica in 1995, at the end of the Bosnian war, has been battling the Dutch state in civil court for nine years. Finally, in July 2011, he won on appeal against the Dutch Government with court stating the Dutchbat are to blame for handing over his family members to forces of Ratko Mladić, who was tried in The Hague. His entire immediate family: mother, father and brother, were murdered by the Bosnian Serb Army and its allies from Serbia proper, when they were handed over to them by Dutch U.N. soldiers after seeking refuge in the UN protection force base at Potočari following the fall of the town of Srebrenica in July 1995. Bosnian investigative journalist Dragan Stanimirović nicknamed him the “Elie Wiesel of Bosnia", in a reference to another activist survivor of genocide. His story, Zbijeg, was published in Bosnian in 2012 and in English as The Last Refuge: A True Story of War, Survival and Life Under Siege in Srebrenica in 2019.