Naučna istraživanja
Australija
Mr Safet Alispahic, Bosnian Community Council NSW
Mr Greg Stone, Universal Peace Federation Oceania
H.E. Kemal Muftic, Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Australia and New Zealand
The Hon. Ed Husic MP, Government Representative
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is my honor to address International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica as the Chairman of the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada. In my address, I would like to talk about the significance of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution on the Srebrenica Genocide.
I would especially like to share with you the experiences of the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada in the process of lobbying and adopting the resolution.
Ladies and gentlemen,
On May 23, 2024, in the majestic yet often deaf hall of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, a sentence was finally spoken—one that had been awaited for decades:
“The UN General Assembly declares July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance and Commemoration of the Srebrenica Genocide.”
The resolution was passed with 84 votes in favor, 19 against, and 68 abstentions. It was a historic day—not because the world had just learned of Srebrenica, but because, for the first time, it said: We will no longer be silent.
This act was not merely symbolic. Nor was it a diplomatic gesture. It was—and remains—an ethical turning point, a legal sign of the times, and a global moral imperative. It was the moment when civilization acknowledged its vulnerability, but also its strength: to inscribe the truth into the official history of the world, even if belatedly.
This date, this incision, comes 15 years after the first major European recognition of the genocide—the European Parliament Resolution of January 15, 2009. That was when July 11 was first declared a day of remembrance in a region that, until recently, viewed the Balkan war as an “internal matter,” an incomprehensible explosion of distant history. That first European resolution was the beginning of dismantling collective indifference.
But the 2024 UN resolution is something more. It is a universal code of memory.
Legal Power Against Oblivion
Legally, this resolution represents the building of an international normative culture of accountability. Declaring July 11 as a day of remembrance for the Srebrenica genocide sets a new precedent: that no genocide—not even one committed before the eyes of the United Nations, in the presence of its blue helmets—can be erased or relativized.
In a time when terms like “alternative facts” and “historical revisionism” have infiltrated the public discourse of powerful nations, this resolution restores international law to its original calling: to protect the victims, not the perpetrators. To remember facts, not political interests.
It is not a verdict—but it is a message. A message that truth is stronger than politics, that memory is a force greater than denial. And that, though symbolic, a legal norm can be a bridge between pain and justice.
A Message to Serbia: Truth Knows No Borders
For Serbia, this resolution is a bitter mirror. Not because it targets the nation, but because it exposes the ongoing resistance to confronting its own crime. Since the resolution was first proposed, the Serbian political elite led an international campaign to block it—employing rhetoric of collective victimhood, false pride, and geopolitical defiance.
But the world voted. The truth was spoken.
The message to Serbia is not: You are a genocidal people. The message is: You cannot move forward until you pass through the truth. And that truth is not only about the past—but the future. Because a people that cannot name its own crime will repeat it. If not with weapons, then with words, in schools, laws, and maps.
The resolution offers Serbia a chance, not revenge. A chance to be part of a world that does not stay silent in the face of injustice. To bow, sincerely and humanely, before the coffins—not as the guilty, but as human beings.
A Message to the Victims: Your Pain Was Not in Vain
The Mothers of Srebrenica, who have walked for three decades between graves, courtrooms, and the hallways of international institutions, have finally lived to see a day when their words are no longer just testimony—but a global fact.
This resolution is recognition that their children existed. That they did not vanish. That the world remembers them.
The message to the victims is: Your pain is no longer yours alone. It is ours.
Srebrenica is now a name that belongs not just to Bosnia—but to all of humanity. And no one, ever again, can say they didn’t know.
A Message to the World: Genocide Cannot Be Livestreamed
In a time when new crimes unfold before the eyes of the world—in Palestine, Ukraine, Congo, Sudan—this resolution arrives as a warning. Not as a reminder of the past, but as a mirror of the present.
Srebrenica is not the only genocide—but it is the only one committed under the watch of those who had promised to prevent it.
That is why the resolution’s message to the world is:
If Srebrenica becomes only a symbol, and not a commitment—it will happen again.
If July 11 becomes only a day of ceremony, and not a day of action—then the world has learned nothing.
The Day Humanity Spoke
On May 23, 2024, the United Nations, if only for a moment, became what its founders had envisioned: the conscience of the world.
And so today, on the first anniversary of that resolution, we do not only remember the past. We promise the future.
We promise to remember—not to hate, but to prevent repetition.
To speak the truth—not to judge, but to heal.
And to never again allow any people to become invisible while they disappear.
Because a world that remembers—is not lost.
Finally, on behalf of our institute, I would like to thank ? Mr Safet Alispahic and Bosnian Community Council NSW for everything they have done, are doing, and will do for truth, justice, the culture of remembrance, and the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Australia.
Vijesti: