17th Anniversary of Srebrenica Genocide Marked

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The 17th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica was marked last Wednesday, July 11, 2012, with a burial of 520 newly-identified victims exhumed from the mass graves in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Memorial Cemetery in Potočari.

Aida Šehović prepared coffee for "those who are not here" in Skopje (photo Klix.ba)

The citizens of Srebrenica booed the official guests at the ceremony – in particular the U.S. Ambassador Patrick Moon and the chairman of the Organizing Committee Ćamil Duraković, to protest the fact that voter registration for the coming Local Elections, scheduled for October 7, will not be done according to the 1991 Population Census. Duraković, who is also running in the election for Mayor of Srebrenica was hit in the head with a plastic bottle.

More than 40,000 people gathered, friends, relatives and neighbours to pay respect, with a prayer or a minute of silence, or say the last goodbye to the victims of the Srebrenica genocide,.

One day earlier, on July 10, the Fatma association and Behar Female choir threw flowers into the Vrbar river, from the bridge in Gornji Šeher neighbouhood of Banja Luka, in memorz of the victims of Srebrenica and all citizens of Banja Luka killed in the war.

In Belgrade, the Women in Black NGO organized a public gathering titled „We shall never forget the genocide in Srebrenica“.

"We believe that it is our responsibility, as civil society, to never stop seeking justice for the victims, to show that we shall continute to construct the memorials to the victims. We shall continue the initiative to declare July 11 the Genocide memorial day and we shall continue to work to ensure that the scope, horrors and injustices done to the victims and their families are understood by all“, Staša Zajović, president of Women in Black said.

The anniversary was marked on the Stone Bridge in Skopje, Macedonia, with the installation “For those who are not here” by Aida Šehović who cooked coffee for the victims of the genocide. The participants also threw flowers in Vardar river and expressed their gratitude to the Macedonian people and to the Parliament of Macedonia for the adoption of the Resolution on Srebrenica two years ago.

The Council of the Bosniak National Minority in Rijeka, Croatia, with the procession „Srebrenica walks through Rijeka“. The participants wore white t-shirts with the slogan „Srebrenica – Never Forget“. The white colour of the t-shirts symbolized the white gravestones at Potočari Memorial Cemetary and the shirts were adorned with white roses, made by the mothers and women of Srebrenica.

On the 17th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica, under the auspices of the Human Rights Day of the Sarajevo Film Festival, the Cinema for Peace Foundation presented its Video Archive of the Genocide in BiH project, at the Children of Sarajevo Square.

„The Video Archive will serve as a historical source for future generations, and for scientific research. Once the recording of 10,000 life stories is completed, those testimonies will be available at the Potočari Memorial Centre and in numerous Holocaust museums all over the world“, Naida Balić, production director at Cinema for Peace Foundation told Fena news agency. (Source: Klix.ba/Fena news agency)