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The 11th of July 1995, the enclave and the city of Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina falls into the hands of the nationalist forces of General Mladic. They immediately organize the forceful transfer of the women and children and massacre more than 7 500 men. The enclave had however been officially proclaimed « safe area » by the UN and, as a consequence, its population had theoretically been placed under the protection of the international community. Following this massacre, the International Criminal Tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia has conducted investigations and several debates and reports have been commissioned by the international and state institutions involved in the unfolding of the tragic events: Bosnia- Herzegovina (1996), the UN (1999), France (2001), the Netherlands (2002), Republika Srpska (2004). For the first time, in this issue of Cultures & Conflits, these inquiries and reports are cross-analysed. The contributions focus on the meaning of writing the history of an event of such gravity, on the identification of criminal, political and moral liabilities and on the construction of a public debate on foreign policy issues.