PURPOSE: The Date of July 11th as International Day Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly by the Resolution 78/282. In July 1995, the Bosnian Serb army overran Srebrenica - previously declared a safe area under UN Security Council Resolution 819 - and brutally murdered thousands of men and teenagers there. The remainder of the Bosnian Muslim population present in Srebrenica – approximately 25,000 women, children and elderly - were forcibly transferred out of the enclave. This was the largest massacre in Europe since the Holocaust. To date, only a few events have been determined by competent judicial bodies to constitute genocide. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) recognized the massacre of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica by the army of Republika Srpska as an act of genocide.
FORUM: “Remembering the victims.’’ 2024 International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica. Srebrenica marks one of the darkest chapters in modern human history. The war that followed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia claimed more than 100,000 lives in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995, mostly of Bosnian Muslims, and displaced more than two million others. The list of atrocities committed during that time is overwhelming, but Srebrenica, without a doubt, became its darkest chapter. Previously declared as the UN "safe area," 8,372 women, men, and children were systematically executed in July 1995 in and around the town of Srebrenica, the largest atrocity on European soil since the Second World War. The people of Srebrenica will gather yet again around silent tombstones in Potočari to mark the 29th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide. This year, they will add 14 more to the 6751 already standing in the Memorial Centre Potočari. 14 families will finally have closure. Pain, however, will remain forever.
EVENTS: On July 11th at UNHQ; To mark the 2024 International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica, a minute of silence will be observed. we will add our voice in remembering their names and commemorating all innocent lives lost. But we will also send a strong message of hope, the resilience of the human spirit, and the power of justice. Organized by the Permanent Mission of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the UN and cosponsored by the Permanent Missions of Albania, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Rwanda, Slovenia, Sweden, Türkiye to the UN. Explore the agenda programme!
STATEMENTS: Read the statement of the United Nations Secretary-General and the remarks of the United Nations General Assembly president during the high-level commermorative ceremony to mark 2024 International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica.