Menu
  • Home
  • Hydro Flask Limited Edition
  • NRL Rugby Shop
  • Football Kit
  • rio de janeiro loja futebol
SportsNewsForYou

We must not forget Srebrenica

Posted on March 27, 2019

Potocari Memorial Center near Srebrenica, November, 2017, where 2,500 genocide victims had been laid to rest.John Heeneman/ Press Associaiton. All right reserved.

Every July 11 since 1995, hundreds of people gather in Potočari to commemorate the Srebrenica genocide, the most horrific
crime committed in Europe since WWII.

Survivors and victims' families demand justice, recognition and respect.

In a few days of that July of twenty-three years ago, more
than 8,000 boys and men were systematically and brutally executed, and 30,000
people violently displaced.

Since then, the relatives of the victims – and in
particular mothers who have lost husbands, sons, brothers – have started a
long, courageous walk to justice and recognition. They demand recognition, but their
suffering is ignored, vilified or denied.

Along that way, they have found some measure of each. The International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has determined that genocide was
committed in Srebrenica and convicted some of the war criminals that orchestrated
and took part in it. And grass-root organisations are overcoming great
obstacles to starting the difficult journey to reconciliation.

All this carries a strong significance,
but remains little consolation for the survivors of the genocide and
the victims’ families.

They demand
that their loved ones be found: but the slow identification process can only
inflict additional suffering. They demand health care to treat their trauma,
and they get substandard therapy. They demand accountability, but many war
criminals still go free and unpunished. They demand recognition, but their
suffering is ignored, vilified or denied.

The latter is certainly one of the most outrageous offenses
that they have been obliged to endure during the post-genocide period. And yet,
they have found the strength to continue their fight for truth and justice,
despite the denial and minimisation of the genocide, which we see also
happening in education. 

Mono-ethnic schools and the
“two-schools-under-one-roof” system still characterises education in Bosnia and Herzegovina.It is also characterised by the ignorance of the past and manipulation of the facts about the recent war.

Such a situation perpetuates the ethnic divisions which made
current and past tensions possible and hinder reconciliation and peace. We must
reverse this.

Civilian
victims of the Srebrenica genocide must receive adequate social protection and
improved legal assistance to assert their rights and obtain reparation. They must step up the search for mass graves and ensure
that witnesses who may disclose the information necessary to identify all the
other places where corpses have been buried feel safe to do so.

Political
and judicial authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Serbia must improve
their cooperation to end impunity, by identifying and punishing war criminals.
They should also invest more in identifying all genocide victims and clarify
the fate of those who remain missing. They must step up the search for mass
graves and ensure that witnesses who may disclose the information necessary to
identify all the other places where corpses have been buried feel safe to do
so.

Governments and decision makers must adopt farsighted
policies that establish accountability and focus on education. This must become
a shared responsibility, primarily for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, but
also for other European countries, not only in the former Yugoslavia.

The education
systems in the region must become more inclusive. They must lead the young
generations out of the caves of prejudice in which manufactured realities blur
the truth and spread the seed of hate. School books, not only in Serbia and
Bosnia and Herzegovina, but all over Europe, must include an objective
testimony of the Srebrenica genocide, portraying it without political or ethnic
connotations. They must educate
about the past, educate to debunk myths, educate about justice and equality for
all.

European
countries should provide more support to grass-root initiatives for reconciliation.
They should also put more pressure on politicians and other public figures in
Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to stop denying the past and to build more
inclusive education systems and societies.

Like the Holocaust and the Rwanda genocide, the Srebrenica
genocide was not an accident. It began well before it occurred.

It started when
human beings were singled out because of their ethnicity. It grew with a public discourse, fomented
by some media, which dehumanised them and marginalised critical voices. It took
shape in the systematic and industrial extermination of a large group of
people, under the eyes of a passive international community. And it continues today, with denial and impunity. [European education
systems] must lead the young generations out of the caves of prejudice in which
manufactured realities blur the truth and spread the seed of hate.

The
Srebrenica genocide marked one of the darkest pages of European history. If we
want to write a brighter future, we must remember what happened and
treat all the victims as our victims, without political or ethnic connotations.
We must acknowledge the suffering of the survivors and of the victims’ families.
We must make their struggle for justice our goal. 

As Commissioner for Human Rights I will continue calling for
justice for all the victims of the crimes that happened during the wars in the
Balkans.  Serving justice is the only way
we can all confront the past and prevent it from repeating itself.

Recent Posts

  • High-Speed QSFP-DD Cable Solutions for Next-Generation Data Centers
  • Optical Attenuator: Principles and Applications
  • How is Dew Point Calculated?
  • **How Is Dew Point Calculated**
  • Light Detector Sensor: A Comprehensive Guide

Recent Comments

    Archives

    • April 2025
    • March 2025
    • February 2025
    • January 2025
    • December 2024
    • November 2024
    • October 2024
    • September 2024
    • August 2024
    • July 2024
    • June 2024
    • May 2024
    • April 2024
    • March 2024
    • February 2024
    • January 2024
    • December 2023
    • November 2023
    • October 2023
    • August 2023
    • July 2023
    • June 2023
    • April 2023
    • March 2023
    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • March 2019

    Categories

    • Football News
    • News
    • Read

    Meta

    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org
    ©2025 SportsNewsForYou | WordPress Theme by Superb WordPress Themes
    Menu
    • Home
    • Hydro Flask Limited Edition
    • NRL Rugby Shop
    • Football Kit
    • rio de janeiro loja futebol