Yesterday, on July 11th, Bosnia and Herzegovina commemorated [1] the 13th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre [2], which last year the International Court of Justice in The Hague referred to as genocide [3] against the Muslim population of the area.
(Do not [4] by Kitestramrt [5], used under a Creative Commons License)
As the blog Bosnia News reports [6], the remains of 307 newly identified genocide victims were buried during a ceremony held at the Potočari Memorial Center [7] near Srebrenica, next to more than 3,000 others others already buried there:
The remains of 307 genocide victims, aged between 15 and 84, were exhumed from mass graves after the end of the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia and identified by DNA analysis.
After leading mourners in prayer, Head of the Bosnian Islamic Community Reisu-l-ulema Mustafa Ef. Ceric called on the European Parliament to proclaim July 11 a day of mourning across the continent.
YakimaGulagLiteraryGazett wrote about the day [8] on her blog:
Hasan Nuhanović was on T.V. several times. As was a neighbor of mine she lives close enough to ride the same bus regularly. She lost a son and a husband in the massacre, her son's name was Nermin. I knew the lady's face was familiar. She was shown in ‘Cry from the Grave’ as well as another documentary shown last night.
Today is an official Day of Mourning for the victims of the massacre.
Several Facebook groups are devoted to remembering the Srebrenica genocide, such as Learn from History: Remember the Bosnian Genocide [9] (with over 6,600 members) or Never Forget Srebrenica 11.07.1995 [10] (with over 4,200 members). Yesterday, there was even an online remembrance [11] organized on the social networking website.
The first Facebook group linked to all 11 parts of the famous 1999 BBC documentary, A cry from the grave [12] (see part 1 here [13]). The blog Bosna Muslim – Media recommends [14] a follow-up film called Never Again, and also links to the videos to watch it:
This second film was commissioned as an attempt to judge what had happened since the massacre. Had any degree of reparation been made to those who had lost their families? Had it been possible to bring some of the offenders to justice? Did the world care to remember what had happened in the worst atrocity to be committed in Europe since 1945?
About a month ago the organization Mothers of Srebrenica, which represents 6,000 relatives of the victims, launched a civil suit against the Netherlands and the UN for failing to prevent Bosnian Serb forces from massacring some 8,000 Bosniaks. A day before the Srebrenica massacre anniversary, the Dutch court ruled that it has no jurisdiction [15] to hear the case since the UN is protected by immunity – even though, as stated [16] by Eric Gordy at East Ethnia, “the people the UN was obligated to protect were protected by nothing at all.” The hearings against the Dutch government, however, will proceed in September.
Commenting on the ruling, the blog Samaha wonders [17]:
If an organization such as the UN cannot be held accountable for failing to yield its own conventions then what is going to ensure that they do enforce them? If member states are able to use UN immunity as a scapegoat then what is going to ensure battalions will remain unbiased in conflicts? What is going to keep another genocide from occurring when examples are being set that the UN is either hopeless or unwilling in fulfilling their mandates?