Danka Savić
Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Kingdom of Spain
Today is 11th of July, the saddest day in the modern history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the day we pay tribute to the victims of the most horrific crime committed on European soil since World War II – the genocide in Srebrenica, a town in Bosnia and Herzegovina and a former UN protected zone. Genocide took place in a state that was a member of the United Nations, almost half a century since the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide, by which the civilized world defined its attitude and obligations towards this terrible evil.
Marble plaque is placed in the area of the memorial complex in Potocari, Srebrenica, as a permanent reminder of the scale of the crimes committed with a number 8,372 engraved. The genocide in Srebrenica was confirmed by international and courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. They convicted and sentenced almost 50 people to more than 700 years in prison for being perpetrators of the crimes committed.
Although court rulings confirm it, genocide is unfortunately still denied in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Therefore, 11th of July is important not only because of the remembrance of the victims, but also as a terrible warning of a lesson we all need to learn. Ivo Josipović, former Croatian president, warns on the eve of the 26th anniversary of Srebrenica, that those who deny the genocide, those who deny what happened and what evil was in Srebrenica, are sowing the seeds for a new evil in the future.
“Genocide is a crime against all of humanity, and that is exactly how it should be treated,” warns Josipovic.
From the devastating and terrifying wars that marked the last century, after the Second World War, a new, united Europe was born.
Bosnia and Herzegovina today, while still struggling with its past, sincerely wants to be a member and a part of a progressive, democratic, progressive Europe, to which it belongs culturally and geographically, even by the horrors it survived.
Today we mark 11th of July, with great sorrow and respect for the victims and in a constant struggle to build a society sensitised to every kind of evil, to recognize it and prevent it in time.
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