How were Bosniak men and boys separated from other civilians after the fall of Srebrenica?

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Two women in headscarves embrace and mourn over a green coffin among rows of identical coffins at the Potocari cemetery during the Srebrenica massacre mass funeral. — Srebrenica genocide Women mourning over a coffin before the mass funeral for 136 newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, 2015.

Following the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995, the separation of Bosniak men and boys from other civilians was a systematic and brutal process carried out by Bosnian Serb forces.

At the Potočari base, where thousands of civilians had sought refuge, Bosnian Serb forces used terror—including rape and individual murders—to force the population out. While women, children, and older adults were placed on buses and transported to Bosniak-held territory, the men and boys were systematically identified and separated.1

Additionally, Bosnian Serb officers utilized UN equipment and issued false promises of security to induce the thousands of men who had fled through the forest to surrender. Once captured or having surrendered, these men and boys were taken on July 12 and 13 to various holding sites, primarily in Bratunac, before being transported to execution sites.1

The targeting of these individuals based on their identity constitutes a grave violation of human rights and international law. The systematic nature of this separation and the subsequent mass executions are recognized as an act of genocide.1