Women of Srebrenica protest. Flickr/ The Advocacy Project. Some rights reserved.The Srebrenica genocide is one of the vilest episodes of Europe’s contemporary history. In just a few days in July 1995, around 8,300 boys and men were executed while 30,000 women, children and elderly persons were forcibly displaced. Twenty years on, the victims of that genocide are still haunted by the political failures which have left them without redress.
Some progress has been achieved in establishing accountability and bringing war criminals to trial. The work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has been instrumental in this sense, in spite of initial strong resistance. This process must continue because justice represents a crucial element in coming to terms with the past, but as we commemorate the victims of the Srebrenica genocide, we must not forget about their other needs.
When I first went to Srebrenica two years ago for a commemoration of the victims of the genocide, I was able to observe just how badly the survivors and the victims’ relatives were lacking full access to social and economic rights as well as the necessary recognition required to begin rebuilding their lives. That situation rendered them more vulnerable and cultivated feelings of insecurity and despair. Regrettably, little has improved since then, and a stalemate has prolonged and deepened the suffering of the victims. Worse still, in Serbia and in the Republika Srpska, political discourse which demeans or blatantly denies the Srebrenica genocide twists the knife and hinders the process of much needed reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in the Balkans in general.
