Resistance from several countries
UN introduces Srebrenica Genocide Remembrance Day
May 23, 2024, 8:55 p.m
The United Nations usually decides on commemoration days unanimously. But there are numerous dissenting votes and abstentions when it comes to a decision on the Srebrenica genocide. The Serbian president in particular is angry and makes serious accusations against Germany.
The 1995 Srebrenica genocide will be commemorated worldwide on July 11th. Despite a number of votes against and abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly voted in New York for a draft resolution on a “day of reflection and remembrance”. The text, which was largely drafted by Germany and Rwanda, is intended to help remember the genocide of over 8,000 Bosnian Muslims. “Our initiative is about honoring the memory of the victims and supporting the survivors who continue to live with the scars of this fateful time,” said German UN Ambassador Antje Leendertse.
The resolution condemns “unreservedly any denial of the Srebrenica genocide as a historical event” and actions that glorify those “who have been convicted by international courts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide”. The day will be officially celebrated for the first time in 2025. 84 UN members voted in favor of the text, including almost all Balkan states. The result fell short of expectations. In the vote – unusually for decisions on commemoration days that are usually unanimous – there were 19 votes against. In addition to Serbia, China and Russia, Hungary also voted against the text. 68 countries abstained.
Accusations against Germany
The Serbian government had expressed dissatisfaction with the text, arguing that the resolution would divide the region and create a hierarchy among the victims of the war. President Aleksandar Vucic took the microphone before the vote: “It is difficult to speak to Germany, which represents the most powerful country in Europe and feels unequivocally entitled to give moral lessons to all who disagree.” He accused Berlin of having “kept the work on the resolution secret.” The decision would open up wounds and cause chaos in the Balkans. “Why didn’t these people start talking about the genocide that their country committed?” asked Vucic, referring to the Holocaust.
In her speech, Ambassador Leendertse addressed “false allegations”: “This resolution is not directed against anyone – not against Serbia, a valued member of this organization. If anything, it is directed against perpetrators of genocide.”
The Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian war on July 11th and the following days killed 8,000 Bosnian Muslims, the majority of them men and young males. Women, girls and children were deported in buses to the front lines in the area controlled by the Bosnian army. Judgments by the War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have legally established the genocidal nature of the Srebrenica massacre.
The then political leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadzic, and the commander of the so-called Bosnian Serb Army (BSA), Ratko Mladic, were sentenced to life imprisonment by the ICTY. In Serbia under President Vucic and in the Serbian part of Bosnia, the Republika Srpska, under its President Milorad Dodik, the denial of the Srebrenica genocide and the heroization of the perpetrators is, to a certain extent, state policy. Vucic argues that the UN resolution condemns the “Serbian people” collectively – but it does not even mention Serbia by name.