Srebrenica at 30: UN, Survivors Demand Justice, Truth

UN News/Hisae Kawamori A woman holds the photos of who her husband and two brothers who were murdered in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

At the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, survivors of the Srebrenica genocide joined top officials in marking 30 years since thousands of Bosnian Muslims were systematically killed in the worst atrocity on European soil since World War II. They affirmed the need to counter denial, support survivors, and promote lasting peace.

“I have survived a genocide,” said Munira Subašić, whose youngest son – her favourite – and 21 other family members were murdered in the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

“And the world and Europe were just watching in silence.”

Now president of the Mothers of Srebrenica and Žepa, Ms Subašić spoke at a special commemoration, urging global leaders not to forget the past and to deliver justice for the victims and survivors.

“When you kill a mother’s child, you have killed a part of her,” Ms Subašić said.

The 1995 genocide, perpetrated by the Bosnian Serb army, led to the killing of at least 8,372 men and boys, the displacement of thousands, and the destruction of entire communities in Srebrenica – which had been designated a “safe area” by the UN Security Council.

A small and lightly armed unit of Dutch peacekeepers under the UN flag was unable to resist the large Bosnian Serb force that overran the town of Srebrenica.

The massacre has been formally recognised as genocide by both the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Last year, the General Assembly designated 11 July as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration for the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica.

An exhibition marking the 30-year anniversary of the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica is being held at UN headquarters in New York.

Speaking on behalf of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Chef de Cabinet Courtenay Rattray paid tribute to those who lost their lives and to the courage of their families.

“Today we remember and honour the victims. We pay tribute to the strength, dignity, and resilience of the survivors,” he said.

Mr Guterres, in his message, said the international community must continue to stand against hatred, division, and denial.

“Only by recognising the suffering of all victims can we build mutual understanding, trust, and lasting peace,” he said. “We must ensure the voices of Srebrenica survivors continue to be heard – countering denial, distortion, and revisionism.”

UN officials expressed concern over ongoing efforts to deny the genocide and glorify those convicted of war crimes. They warned that such narratives can fuel division and hinder reconciliation.

“Education remains our strongest defence against the erosion of memory,” said Philémon Yang, President of the General Assembly. “We must not only remember history, but learn from it so that tragedies like Srebrenica are never repeated.”

Learning from the past is especially important today – the Secretary-General noted that the same “dangerous currents” which led to the genocide in Srebrenica are present again in the world today.

“After Srebrenica, the world said – once again – ‘Never Again.’ Yet, hate speech is on the rise again, fuelling discrimination, extremism, and violence,” Mr Guterres said.

Mirela Osmanović, a young professional at the Srebrenica Memorial Center, was born after the genocide but lives with its impact. Two of her brothers were killed. Some of their remains were found, but parts of their bodies are still missing. Their absence, she said, weighs on her family daily.

“My parents forbade themselves any joy while their sons, my brothers, lay somewhere in the ground, incomplete, scattered across mass graves – as if every smile would be betrayal, as if happiness might mean forgetting.”

The pain of this loss is always with her family, even as the world promised that Srebrenica would never happen again.

“We were given words, resolutions, statements, solemn promises of ‘never again,’” she said. “And yet, 30 years later, we are still asking what does ‘never again’ mean?”

Ms Osmanović speaks frequently with young people around the world who ask what happens when violence ends.

“What happens when the headlines fade, when the graves are found and facts are clear? Does justice follow?”

Her answer is that justice does not follow often enough.

“Justice, if it comes too late or only on paper, cannot restore trust. And peace without dignity is not peace at all.”