Memorial days are actually decided unanimously at the UN. However, there is resistance to a decision negotiated by Germany. Serbia’s president accuses Berlin of “moral lessons”.
The 1995 Srebrenica genocide will be commemorated worldwide on July 11th. The United Nations General Assembly voted on Thursday in New York, despite a number of votes against and abstentions, for a corresponding draft resolution on a “day of reflection and remembrance”.
The text, which was largely drawn up 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 “convicted by international courts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.” The day will be officially celebrated for the first time in 2025.
Result remained below expectations
84 UN members voted for the text, including almost all Balkan states. The result was below expectations. The vote was unusually unanimous for decisions on commemoration days, with 19 votes against. In addition to Serbia, China and Russia, Hungary also voted against the text. 68 countries abstained. The Serbian government had expressed dissatisfaction with the text and argued 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 everyone who disagrees.” He accused Berlin of having “kept” the work on the resolution “secret.” The decision is opening wounds and will cause chaos in the Balkans. “Why haven’t these people started talking about the genocide that their country committed?” Vucic asked, 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.”
8,000 people fell victim to the massacre
On July 11 and the following days, 8,000 Bosnian Muslims, mostly men and male youths, fell victim to the Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian war. Women, girls and children were deported in buses to the front line in the area controlled by the Bosnian army. Judgments by the International Criminal 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 in prison 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 would collectively condemn the “Serbian people” – but it does not even mention Serbia by name.