Genocide in Srebrenica: UN establishes Remembrance Day, condemned by Serbs

Text intended to “encourage reconciliation.” The UN General Assembly established an International Day of Remembrance for the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday, despite anger from Belgrade and the Bosnian Serb leader, who still refuses to recognize it.

The vote is “further proof for survivors that we are not alone in our mission to preserve the truth,” Almasa Salihovic, a spokeswoman for the city’s Memorial Center, told Srebrenica. “We have to send a message that we can live together, but sometimes we have to accept the bitter side of history, namely that genocide was committed in the name of one people against another people. We must accept this so that society can heal,” she insisted.

“Constant Revisionism”

The resolution, sponsored by Germany and Rwanda, two countries with other genocides in the 20th century, received 84 votes in favor, 19 votes against and 68 abstentions. “This resolution aims to encourage reconciliation today and in the future,” justified German Ambassador Ante Leenderze, highlighting the role of the UN in ensuring that the crimes of the past are not repeated.

One year before the 30th anniversary of the massacre, the resolution proclaims 11 July “International Day of Reflection and Remembrance of the Genocide Committed in Srebrenica in 1995”. The text also condemns “unconditionally any denial of the historicity of the genocide committed in Srebrenica” and “actions glorifying the people found guilty” of these crimes.

The resolution is “all the more important given the constant revisionism (…) and incitement to hatred” of some political leaders in the region, commented UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

8,000 dead

On July 11, 1995, a few months before the end of the intercommunal conflict that had raged in Bosnia for three years, Bosnian Serb forces under the command of General Ratko Mladic took the city of Srebrenica. In the following days, approximately 8,000 Muslim men and teenagers were executed. The massacre, the worst murder committed in Europe since World War II, has been labeled genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Therefore, this is an indisputable “fact,” supporters of the resolution insist.

However, this is disputed. “There was no genocide,” Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said in Srebrenica on Thursday, warning the international community in advance that he would reject the resolution. “We are telling you right now that we will not accept this. It will not be included in school curricula, and we will not celebrate July 11th.”

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic traveled to New York and condemned the “highly political” resolution. This “will open old wounds and cause political chaos not only in our region, but also here” at the UN, he said, assuring that he paid tribute to “all the victims of the conflicts in Bosnia, Serbs and Bosniaks (Muslims, editor’s note).”