Tilman Zülch to be honoured with the distinction "Srebrenica 1995"

The President of the Society for Threatened Peoples International (GfbV), Tilman Zülch, will this year be honoured with the distinction "Srebrenica 1995". This was the unanimous decision of the three movements of mothers and widows of the victims of Srebrenica in Bosnia. "Zülch and his Society for Threatened Peoples will be honoured for all their support and their encouragement in the struggle of the survivors for truth and justice" says the explanatory text.

Zülch maintained during the three and a half year siege of the former UN protected zone by Serb troops direct contact with the East Bosnian town and the municipality of Srebrenica, keeping the international media constantly informed of their dreadful plight. Immediately after the entry of the Serb troops, ho selected the men and young people and took 3,000 of them away, Zülch gave an urgent warning that they were to be murdered in the stadium of the nearby town of Bratunac. They were in fact shot there. In 1992 already Serb troops had committed massacres of civilians in this stadium. Work for the survivors of the genocide in Bosnia is up to the present day one of the central areas of the human rights work of the GfbV. In Srebrenica itself the GfbV has an office.

The prize, to which no money is attached, will be given to Zülch on 10th July 2006 in Potocari, the memorial site of the 8,336 victims who have up to now been identified by name, in a solemn ceremony. The spiritual head of the Bosnian Muslims, Mufti Dr. Mustafa Ceric, will hold the laudation. He has said that the distinction "Srebrenica 1995" has the purpose of drawing attention to the principle: "The prevention of genocide is in the interest of the whole of humanity and those who work selflessly for the maintenance of peace must be supported in their efforts." The ceremony is to be held in the building of the former battery factory of Potocari.During the war the peace- keeping troops of the Netherlands were stationed there.

The distinction "Srebrenica 1995" was bestowed for the first time in 2005, the recipient being the former Polish Prime Minister and Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Commission for Bosnia 1992-1995, Tadeusz Mazowiecki.

On 11th July 2006, the 11th anniversary of the fall of the enclave of Srebrenica, in addition to the 1,937 already identified and buried victims of Srebrenica some 500 identified dead who have also been exhumed from mass graves will be given their last resting place. On 11th July 1995 Serb troops marched into the then UN protected zone of Srebrenica and carried out in the following days the worst massacre on the male residents of the town since the Second World War. There are still some victims, whose mortal remains have been recovered from mass graves, who have not been identified. The Serb leaders responsible for the crime, Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic, have still not been brought to justice. They are being sought with an international warrant for their arrest by the UN War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague.