Appeal to the UN General Assembly

In a letter to the UN General Assembly, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) asked – together with the Memorial to the Srebrenica Genocide, Jews Against Genocide, and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia (HCHRS) – all UN member states to support the resolution on a memorial day for the genocide in Srebrenica. “The resolution is an important step towards a moral renewal in the Western Balkans and a possible means to weaken the toxic influence of extremist nationalists on the younger generation,” stated Jasna Causevic, STP expert on genocide prevention and the responsibility to protect.

“The current reaction in the Republika Srpska ist frightening. The escalating nationalist rhetoric, the hysteria, and the hate speech are to be seen as an attempt to prevent the UN resolution. The member states must not allow this to happen!” The Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, and the president of the Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, are fueling the ongoing tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “Vučić and Dodik are trying to radicalize the younger generation, to prevent the right to truth and justice, political, social and judicial reforms, as well as a dignified and appropriate remembrance, processing of the past, and reconciliation. The resolution would be an important sign that genocide-denial is not accepted internationally,” Causevic stated. According to Dr. Sharon Silber, President of Jews Against Genocide, the fact that the governments of Serbia and Republika Srpska are still denying the genocide is “deeply alarming”. 

The UN General Assembly will discuss the resolution (Title: “International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica”) on May 2. One of the goals is to make July 11 a day of remembrance. A majority of two thirds of the 193 member states is required for the resolution to be passed. The draft was submitted by Germany and Rwanda – and it is already supported by the United States, Slovenia, and Turkey. In 2015, a similar resolution had failed in the UN Security Council due to a Russian veto.

In July, the massacre of Srebrenica will mark its 29th anniversary. In July of 1995, soldiers of the Bosnian Serb Army had killed more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys. Women, children, and elderly people were – by order of former general Ratko Mladić – deported with trucks and buses. Despite its status as a safe zone and the complete disarmament of its soldiers, the stationed Dutch peacekeeping forces and the UN simply left the city to its fate. Several judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have classified the massacre as a genocide.

The appeal in English.

The appeal in German.

The appeal in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian.

For further questions or interview requests, please contact:  

Jasna Causevic, expert on genocide prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), email: j.causevic@gfbv.de, phone:  +49 551 4990616
Emir Suljagić, Head of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, email: suljagicemir@gmail.com, phone: +387 56 991-940
Sonja Biserko, President of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, email: biserkos@gmail.com, phone: +311 3349170
Dr. Sharon Silber, President of Jews Against Genocide, New York, email: sharonsilber@aol.co