23 May 2024
The EU Day Against Impunity, commemorated every year on May 23, is an opportunity to reflect on past progress while looking ahead at challenges that remain in the fight against impunity. On this occasion, Impunity Watch would like to put the focus on a key debate currently: a draft resolution to designate a remembrance day for the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, and its importance in combatting denial and revisionism.
In early May 2024, 15 UN Member States – led by Germany and Rwanda – proposed an important draft resolution at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York to designate July 11 as the ‘International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide.’ It is important but disturbing at the same time that, after nearly thirty years, there is still a need for such a resolution.
The mass murder of over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys has been clearly designated in judicial statements, including by the International Court of Justice, as a genocide and a crime under international law. Yet, the resolution has been controversially opposed by Serbia, and backed by Russia and other allies, thus postponing the vote despite significant support from UN member states.
The rejection comes as no surprise. The region of the former Yugoslavia has been facing a stark increase in the last years of genocide denial and revisionism. Denial and revisionism are not just at the margins of society. It is in fact central to the narratives of leading politicians, intellectuals and community leaders in the region, starting with the Serbian President Alexander Vucic, who is looking to “fight [this resolution] until the last moment.”
Report: Addressing impunity in the Western Balkans“Only by promoting the understanding of the past and addressing the root causes and the continued impact of such violence on society, can sustainable peace be achieved.” – Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas
Impunity Watch, therefore, supports the adoption of the resolution to designate July 11 as the ‘International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide. This is a clear and important signal for the truth and against revisionism. Today, when the resolution is scheduled to be discussed at the UNGA, we hope for a strong political statement from the UN General Assembly that gives hope and signals that the international community is reacting to the latest attempts by ethno-nationalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and across the region of the Western Balkans to revise history and to glorify war criminals.
More is needed, however, to call on authorities in the region to constructively deal with the past, including in the context of EU accession. Countries in the region are in the waiting line to enter the EU. In this process, denial and revisionism of mass crimes should not be compromised upon and policies need to change. The bluff of those in power that use the language of denial should be called upon, while the will of many in the region to join the EU should be swiftly heard.
Read: Policy alternatives for TJ in Western Balkans
While the draft resolution to declare July 11 as the ‘International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide’ seems overdue, some might even say maybe a little too late, the real question is if it will result in tangible changes on the ground. Victims still do not feel that they are seeing justice, especially when widespread denial of the past results in revisionist history of the other side as perpetrators, and one’s own side as the eternal victim.
Furthermore, trying to bring attention to past atrocities today can also be dangerous. Persecution and harassment against human rights actors is commonplace. As the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe in a recent report highlights, hate speech and hate crimes that use the past as a weapon are on the rise. Protecting those that are fighting every day for the truth is a key priority.
It is also important to transform the driving forces and root causes that are behind this denial of historical facts. Here, it is crucial to ask the right questions: why is there an increase in support of right wing nationalistic groups? Why is it that gender-based violence and militarised masculinities that harm women and prevent access to justice are on the rise? We have seen what such structural issues can lead to – the horrors of conflict related sexual violence in the 1990s – which should make us pause to shift course and address the very structures that are undermining the fight against impunity.
To address these questions and to act upon them requires urgent action, by the international community but especially by the EU that aims to provide a future perspective for the region and its citizens through its accession process.
We also hope that the resolution at the UNGA will not remain a symbolic gesture. Putting down flowers for the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica by high level dignitaries every year on July 11 is important, but for meaningful and lasting change, supporting those in the community that work daily on justice and reconciliation is essential for success. We must continue to listen to victims and survivors, and include them directly in the implementation of the resolution. This will be key to live up to the promise of “never again.”
Find out more: Our work in the Western Balkans
Photos: Post Conflict Research Center