21st anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre (July 11, 1995)

On occasion of the 21st anniversary of the mass execution of over 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia (July 11, 1994), the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) calls for more commitment for Bosnia and Herzegovina. “The war-torn and ethnically divided country must be able to join the European Union – quickly!”, said Tilman Zülch, President of the STP International and honorary citizen of Sarajevo, in Göttingen on Friday. “It is scandalous that Bosnia cannot count on more support from the West. In the years of 1992-1995, the European governments stood by and watched the first war in Europe since 1945 and the genocide crimes. Also, there was support for the Serbian war criminals. Bosnia suffered the most from the disintegration of Yugoslavia: about two million people were displaced, 150,000 lost their lives, and at least 20,000 women were raped. The Serbian troops set up concentration camps and rape camps, they destroyed important Islamic and Catholic cultural centers.”

A total number of 6,377 victims of the Srebrenica massacre have so far been buried on the cemetery of Poto?ari. A further 127 bodies will be buried on Monday, increasing the total number to 6,504. To date, the remains of about 7,100 Srebrenica victims were exhumed. Usually, only parts of the skeleton are found, which is why 6,950 of them had to be identified based on DNA samples. There are currently skeletal parts of about 500 identified victims at the identification center in Tuzla. The families are still hoping that more human remains can be found, before burying their relatives. 

According to estimates, there are about 4,000 Bosniak returnees living in Srebrenica – and about the same number of Serbs. Only some of the returnees are officially registered there, as many don’t want to lose their health insurance and pensions from the Bosnian Federation. Only few of the Bosniak returnees are employed in the city’s public institutions. The courts and other public institutions have employed many Serbs from Serbia, who commute to Srebrenica every day. Before the war, Srebrenica had 37,211 inhabitants – 74.8 percent Bosniaks and 25.2 percent Bosnian Serbs.

According to the STP’s representative in Srebrenica, Hatidža Mehmedovi?, the current security situation for the returnees in Srebrenica is tense – as for the entire Republika Srpska. “Hundreds of perpetrators are still free, many have prestigious positions in the public services. Some of the condemned perpetrators of Srebrenica have already been released from prison and have been officially welcomed into Srebrenica. The returnees are harassed, threatened and intimidated – and many of them see no other way out than to leave Srebrenica,” says Hatidža. All her family members were killed in the Srebrenica massacre.

The European Parliament has officially condemned the genocide crimes in Srebrenica, declaring July 11 a day of remembrance throughout Europe. Nonetheless, the surviving victims still need help – with a special status for Srebrenica, for example, similar to the Bosnian District Br?ko and a possibility to join the EU immediately. Bosnia and Herzegovina is not even a EU candidate.

Header Photo: tamasvarga67 via Flickr