Potocari Memorial Center near Srebrenica, November, 2017, where 2,500 genocide victims had been laid to rest.John Heeneman\/ Press Associaiton. All right reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n
Every July 11 since 1995, hundreds of people gather in Poto\u010dari to commemorate the Srebrenica genocide, the most horrific
\ncrime committed in Europe since WWII. <\/p>\n
Survivors and victims' families demand justice, recognition and respect.<\/p>\n
In a few days of that July of twenty-three years ago, more
\nthan 8,000 boys and men were systematically and brutally executed, and 30,000
\npeople violently displaced. <\/p>\n
Since then, the relatives of the victims \u2013 and in
\nparticular mothers who have lost husbands, sons, brothers \u2013 have started a
\nlong, courageous walk to justice and recognition. They demand recognition, but their
\nsuffering is ignored, vilified or denied. <\/p>\n
Along that way, they have found some measure of each. The International
\nCriminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has determined that genocide was
\ncommitted in Srebrenica and convicted some of the war criminals that orchestrated
\nand took part in it. And grass-root organisations are overcoming great
\nobstacles to starting the difficult journey to reconciliation. <\/p>\n
All this carries a strong significance,
\nbut remains little consolation for the survivors of the genocide and
\nthe victims\u2019 families. <\/p>\n
They demand
\nthat their loved ones be found: but the slow identification process can only
\ninflict additional suffering. They demand health care to treat their trauma,
\nand they get substandard therapy. They demand accountability, but many war
\ncriminals still go free and unpunished. They demand recognition, but their
\nsuffering is ignored, vilified or denied. <\/p>\n
The latter is certainly one of the most outrageous offenses
\nthat they have been obliged to endure during the post-genocide period. And yet,
\nthey have found the strength to continue their fight for truth and justice,
\ndespite the denial and minimisation of the genocide, which we see also
\nhappening in education.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Mono-ethnic schools and the
\n\u201ctwo-schools-under-one-roof\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
Such a situation perpetuates the ethnic divisions which made
\ncurrent and past tensions possible and hinder reconciliation and peace. We must
\nreverse this. <\/p>\n
Civilian
\nvictims of the Srebrenica genocide must receive adequate social protection and
\nimproved legal assistance to assert their rights and obtain reparation. They must step up the search for mass graves and ensure
\nthat witnesses who may disclose the information necessary to identify all the
\nother places where corpses have been buried feel safe to do so. <\/p>\n
Political
\nand judicial authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Serbia must improve
\ntheir cooperation to end impunity, by identifying and punishing war criminals.
\nThey should also invest more in identifying all genocide victims and clarify
\nthe fate of those who remain missing. They must step up the search for mass
\ngraves and ensure that witnesses who may disclose the information necessary to
\nidentify all the other places where corpses have been buried feel safe to do
\nso. <\/p>\n
Governments and decision makers must adopt farsighted
\npolicies that establish accountability and focus on education. This must become
\na shared responsibility, primarily for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, but
\nalso for other European countries, not only in the former Yugoslavia. <\/p>\n
The education
\nsystems in the region must become more inclusive. They must lead the young
\ngenerations out of the caves of prejudice in which manufactured realities blur
\nthe truth and spread the seed of hate. School books, not only in Serbia and
\nBosnia and Herzegovina, but all over Europe, must include an objective
\ntestimony of the Srebrenica genocide, portraying it without political or ethnic
\nconnotations. They must educate
\nabout the past, educate to debunk myths, educate about justice and equality for
\nall.<\/p>\n
European
\ncountries should provide more support to grass-root initiatives for reconciliation.
\nThey should also put more pressure on politicians and other public figures in
\nSerbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to stop denying the past and to build more
\ninclusive education systems and societies.<\/p>\n
Like the Holocaust and the Rwanda genocide, the Srebrenica
\ngenocide was not an accident. It began well before it occurred. <\/p>\n
It started when
\nhuman beings were singled out because of their ethnicity. It grew with a public discourse, fomented
\nby some media, which dehumanised them and marginalised critical voices. It took
\nshape in the systematic and industrial extermination of a large group of
\npeople, under the eyes of a passive international community. And it continues today, with denial and impunity. [European education
\nsystems] must lead the young generations out of the caves of prejudice in which
\nmanufactured realities blur the truth and spread the seed of hate.<\/p>\n
The
\nSrebrenica genocide marked one of the darkest pages of European history. If we
\nwant to write a brighter future, we must remember what happened and
\ntreat all the victims as our victims, without political or ethnic connotations.
\nWe must acknowledge the suffering of the survivors and of the victims\u2019 families.
\nWe must make their struggle for justice our goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As Commissioner for Human Rights I will continue calling for
\njustice for all the victims of the crimes that happened during the wars in the
\nBalkans.\u00a0 Serving justice is the only way
\nwe can all confront the past and prevent it from repeating itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 Poto\u010dari to commemorate the Srebrenica genocide, the most horrific crime committed in Europe since WWII. Survivors and victims' families demand justice, recognition and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}