BRATTLEBORO — The Hon. Patricia Whalen will speak on “Proving Genocide” at the Marlboro College Graduate Center on Vernon Street on Friday, Dec, 11, at 7:30 p.m., as part of Windham World Affairs Council monthly series of events.
This event is free and open to the public. Coffee, tea, and conversation will precede Judge Whalen's talk at 7 p.m.
Whalen served on the War Crimes Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo. She will examine the evidence used to establish and prove the genocide at Srebrenica, and give a brief background on the events leading up to Srebrenica, with a focus on the investigation of the crime.
The Srebrenica massacre was the genocidal killing in July 1995 of more than 8,000 Muslim Bosniaks, mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War.
The killings were perpetrated by units of the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) under the command of General Ratko Mladic. The Scorpions, a paramilitary unit from Serbia, who had been part of the Serbian Interior Ministry until 1991, also participated in the massacre.
In April 1993, the United Nations (UN) declared the besieged enclave of Srebrenica - in the Drina Valley of northeastern Bosnia - a “safe area” under UN protection. However, in July 1995, a Dutch battalion under the command of the United Nations in Srebrenica failed to prevent the town's capture by the VRS - and the subsequent massacre.
Whalen has been a judge for more than 20 years, both in Vermont and, for five years (2007 to 2012), in the War Crimes Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She holds specializations in human rights, war crimes, gender violence, genocide, and crimes against humanity, as well as family law. In 2013 and 2014, she served as a special advisor to the court in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
From 2004 to 2014, Whalen was the program director of the Vermont Afghan Judicial Education Program, which included a unique homestay experience combined with cultural exchange and legal education for Afghan women judges.
Whalen remains committed to her work in the field of judicial education, gender violence and international humanitarian law, according to a press release. Currently, she lives in Westminster West and is a judicial educator and consultant.