United Nations Takes A Step To Combat Srebrenica Genocide Denial
The Srebrenica Genocide Memorial in Bosnia and Herzegovina honors victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. (Photo courtesy The Advocacy Project)
(ANALYSIS) In May 2024, United Nations member states voted to declare July 11 as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica, an annual day of remembrance for victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
During the Srebrenica genocide, at least 8,372 people were killed, thousands displaced and whole communities destroyed. The resolution establishing the U.N. day, sponsored by Germany and Rwanda, was adopted by a recorded vote of 84 nations in favor, 19 against and 68 abstentions.
Apart from designating the day, the U.N. resolution requested the U.N. secretary general to establish an outreach program entitled “The Srebrenica Genocide and the United Nations”, starting its activities with preparations for the 30th anniversary in 2025.
It further condemned any denial of the Srebrenica genocide as a historical event and urged member states to preserve the established facts, including through their educational systems by developing appropriate programs, also in remembrance, towards preventing denial and distortion, and occurrence of genocides in the future.
The Srebrenica genocide refers to a massacre when in July 1995 the Bosnian Serb army overran Srebrenica, which was previously declared a safe area by the U.N. Security Council, and brutally murdered thousands of men and teenagers, and expelled 20,000 people from the town.
This brutal killing of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica by the army of Republika Srpska was recognized as an act of genocide by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as well as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk welcomed the resolution, stating that “the resolution is all the more important given the persistent revisionism, denial of the Srebrenica genocide, and hate speech by high-level political leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in neighboring countries. Recent weeks have underscored how urgent it is to deal with the past in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Western Balkans.”
Introducing the draft resolution, Antje Leendertse, ambassador and permanent representative of Germany to the U.N., said that the initiative was about honoring the victims and supporting survivors, “who continue to live with scars of that fateful time.”
However, the resolution received some pushback including from Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who labeled the text “highly politicized,” saying it would “open a Pandora’s box. “This is not about reconciliation, not about memories, this is something that will just open an old wound and create complete political havoc,” he added. “Not only in our region, but even here, in this hall.”
The United Nations under-secretary-general and special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, welcomed the adoption of the resolution, stating that it “constitutes an important milestone to honor and pay tribute to the victims of the Srebrenica genocide, to the survivors and their families. The crimes committed in Srebrenica have been conclusively proven by the [ICTY] to constitute genocide.
Those who seek to deny, trivialize or promote revisionism as it relates to this and other crimes committed during the conflict and adjudicated by competent courts, are harming not only the victims of those crimes, but also overall efforts for peace and reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the broader region.”
The U.N. Special Adviser denounced the ongoing presence of genocide denial trends, stating that “questioning the tragic reality of what happened in Srebrenica is not acceptable. Amplifying the spread of messages denying that genocide — the deliberate killing of Bosnian Muslim men and boys, because of who they were — took place, including with hate speech and with glorification of war criminals, is even more vicious. For long, survivors have been the primary voices raising alarm on genocide denial and having to testify, again and again, that their experiences were real. In this as in many other aspects of their work, they should never be alone. Genocide denial needs to be addressed and countered as a matter of priority.”
As the U.N. resolution passed, each year, on July 11, the U.N. will invite all member states, organizations of the United Nations system, other international and regional organizations and civil society, including nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions and other relevant stakeholders to observe the day, including with special observances and activities in memory and honor of the victims of the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica, as well as appropriate education and public awareness-raising activities.
Indeed, such U.N. days are used to ensure greater awareness around the topics they are focused on and use them to shape a better future.
This piece was republished from Forbes with permission.
Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab is a human rights advocate, author and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. She’s authored the book “Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East” and more than 30 UN reports. She works on the topic of genocide and persecution of ethnic and religious minorities around the world. She is on X @EwelinaUO.