The Dutch Defence Ministry has decided to award high medals to 850 Dutch troops who were in Bosnia as part of the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR).
Among those who were decorated at a ceremony on Monday in the Dutch city of Asen were 350 Dutch soldiers whose task was to protect the Muslim enclave in Srebrenica, which had been given the status of a UN safe haven. However, the Serb army led by Ratko Mladic raided the enclave in the summer of 1995 and committed the worst atrocities in Europe since the Second World War. About 8,000 Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) were killed then.
During today's ceremony in Asen, a group of Bosnian refugees in the Netherlands held a protest rally.
"This is the proof that they (the Dutch) were also accomplices in the genocide," a protester said.
The Bosnian media also carried strong-worded articles on the decision of the Dutch ministry.
The Dutch UN contingent that was deployed in Srebrenica is believed to have allowed Serbs to enter the eastern enclave of Srebrenica, and to have done nothing to stop crimes.