UN rights chief says all efforts to ensure justice for Srebrenica genocide survivors must be backed

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The UN human rights chief on Thursday commemorated the Srebrenica genocide, which took place in 1995 in eastern Bosnia, saying all efforts to ensure justice for survivors must be supported.

"The recognition of today as Srebrenica genocide day is crucial to honouring the 8,000 Bosniaks killed in 1995, but more is needed," Volker Turk said on X.

"We must support all efforts to ensure truth and justice for survivors and their families," Turk urged.

Every year on July 11, newly identified victims of the 1995 genocide are buried in a memorial cemetery in Potocari in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

- Newly identified victims laid to rest

This May, with overwhelming support, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution designating July 11 as Srebrenica Genocide Remembrance Day.

The resolution, spearheaded by Germany and co-sponsored by more than 40 countries, calls for July 11 to be declared International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica.

The youngest victim to be buried this year is Beriz Mujic, 17, born in 1978 in Zvornik.

His remains were found 28 years after he was killed and were exhumed in May 2023.

He was killed in July 1995 in the Suceska area near Bratunac, and his remains were discovered and exhumed in the Srebrenica municipality area.

Mujic will be buried next to his brother Hazim, whose remains were laid to rest in 2013.

The body of their father, Omer Mujic, has yet to be found.

The oldest victim to be buried Thursday is Hamed Salic, born in 1927. He was 68 when he went missing in the summer of 1995 in the town of Zepa. His remains were exhumed in May 2014 and recently identified.

Thousands of people from various countries will attend the funerals and burials. Following this year's funeral, the number of victims buried at the cemetery will reach 6,765.

- Srebrenica genocide

In the spring of 1993, the UN Security Council declared the city of Srebrenica a "safe area." However, Serb troops led by Gen. Ratko Mladic, who was later found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, overran the zone.

Dutch troops responsible for safeguarding people in the UN zone failed to act when Serb forces occupied it on July 11, killing 2,000 men and boys in a single day.

Approximately 15,000 Bosniaks fled to the surrounding mountains, but Serb troops hunted them down, killing an additional 6,000 people.

Serb forces allowed women and children to reach Bosnian-controlled regions but massacred at least 8,372 Bosnian men in forests, factories, and warehouses. The murdered Bosnians were buried in mass graves, with bodies discovered in 570 different locations across the country, including 77 mass graves.

In 2007, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that genocide had been committed in Srebrenica.

Efforts to locate the missing victims of the genocide have continued, with identified remains buried at the Potocari Memorial Cemetery.

On June 8, 2021, UN tribunal judges upheld a life sentence for Mladic for genocide, persecution, crimes against humanity, extermination, and other war crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina.