In the spring of 1992 the Bosnian Serb Army, remnants of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and paramilitary forces carried out systematic attacks and widespread ethnic cleansing of the Bosniak civilian population of the Podrinje - the Drina Valley region of Eastern Bosnia where Srebrenica is located. In the course of these attacks on Podrinje, at least 11,391 Bosniaks had been killed in 1992, while approximately 100,000 Bosniaks living in area had been expelled from their homes same year. Thousands of refugees sought shelter in Srebrenica only to find themselves trapped in a crowded ghetto with unbearable living conditions.

From 1992 to 1995, Serb forces constantly attacked Bosnian Muslim villages around Srebrenica. Bosniak refugees were particularly vulnerable as they were frequently the target of artillery attacks from militarized Serb villages around Srebrenica such as Kravice, Ratkovići, Dučići, Fakovići and Brađevina. The Serbs around Srebrenica never demilitarized despite of being required to do so under the terms of the 1993 demilitarization agreements.

In July 1995 the Bosnian Serb army staged a brutal takeover of Srebrenica and its surrounding area, where they proceeded to perpetrate genocide. Over a period of several days the Bosnian Serb soldiers separated Bosniak families, forcibly expelled 25,000-30,000 people in a massive campaign of ethnic cleansing and systematically murdered at least 8,372 boys, men, and elderly in fields, schools, and warehouses throughout the local area.

Despite efforts to conceal the crime, as of July 2009 the identity of 6,186 Srebrenica massacre victims have been identified through DNA analysis conducted by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). The victims' remains have been excavated from some 70 mass graves. According to the ICMP, "the overall high matching rate between DNA extracted from these bone and blood samples leads ICMP to support an estimate of close to 8,100 individuals missing from the fall of Srebrenica."