UNITED NATIONS — A UN resolution sponsored by Germany and Rwanda to establish an annual day to commemorate the genocide of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims perpetrated by the Bosnian Serbs in 1995 sparked protests and a strong lobbying campaign against its adoption by Serbia’s president and leadership Bosnian Serb.
The UN General Assembly has scheduled a debate on the resolution for the morning of May 23, followed by a vote in the 193-member world body.
The final version of the resolution would designate July 11 as the “International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenca,” to be observed annually starting every two months. The massacres began on July 11, 1995.
The project asks the United Nations to prepare an outreach program and invites countries, organizations, civil society and others to mark the day with special celebrations and activities in memory and honor of the victims, as well as “appropriate public education and awareness activities ”. ”
The Srebrenica murders were the bloody crescendo of the 1992-95 Bosnian war, which occurred after the breakup of Yugoslavia unleashed nationalist passions and territorial ambitions that pitted the Bosnian Serbs against the country’s other two main ethnic populations, the Croats and the Bosnian Muslims.
On July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serbs invaded a UN-protected secure area in Srebrenica. They separated at least 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys from their wives, mothers and sisters and massacred them. Those who attempted to escape were pursued through the forest and mountains surrounding the ill-fated city.
The International Court of Justice, the UN’s highest court, ruled in 2007 that the acts committed in Srebrenica constituted genocide, and the court’s determination is included in the draft resolution. It was the first genocide in Europe since the Nazi Holocaust in World War II, which killed around 6 million Jews and people from other minorities.
Serbia’s populist president Aleksandar Vucic, as well as the Bosnian Serb leadership, vehemently opposed the adoption of the Srebrenica resolution, saying it classifies all Serbs as a “genocidal nation”, although the draft does not mention Serbs as guilty.
Vucic and his government have been campaigning both at the UN and among developing countries to gain support for a “No” vote. They say they have already obtained a majority against the resolution. Approval requires a majority of voters.
Vucic, as well as Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, have repeatedly mentioned the possibility of having to pay war reparations if the resolution is adopted. Local analysts say Serbian leaders, including Vukic, also fear being put on trial for active participation in the bloodshed.
The draft resolution condemns “without reservation any denial of the Srebrenica genocide as a historical event”. It also “unreservedly condemns actions that glorify those convicted of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide by international courts, including those responsible for the Srebrenica genocide.”
Wartime Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, Ratko Mladic, were both convicted of genocide in Srebrenica by a special UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. In total, the court and Balkan courts sentenced around 50 Bosnian Serb officials during the war to long prison terms.
However, most Serb and Bosnian authorities still celebrate Karadzic and Mladic as national heroes. They continue to minimize or even deny the Srebrenica murders, which deeply offended the families of the victims and survivors of the massacre.
In a meeting with Dodik in Budapest on Wednesday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said his country will vote against the resolution. He called the genocide the “tragedy of Srebrenica” and said the resolution would “intentionally or unintentionally demonize the entire Serbian nation” and inflame tensions in the surrounding region.
The upcoming vote was also raised at a regular UN Security Council meeting on political and economic developments in Bosnia on Wednesday.
US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood said: “Dodik’s dangerous actions and separatist rhetoric threaten peace and stability in the region” and “genocide denial also impedes reconciliation.”
“Celebrating historical truths and accepting the facts is important and moves the region forward on the path to reconciliation,” Wood said. “And honoring the victims of genocide reinforces the values reflected in the United Nations Charter.”
But Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, whose country has strong ties with Serbia and the Bosnian Serbs, said introducing the resolution without the consent of all Bosnian parties was a violation of the country’s constitution and the Bosnian peace agreement. Dayton of 1995, which ended the war.
“We see this provocative text as a threat to peace and security in the country and the region as a whole,” he said, accusing Germany and Rwanda of triggering protests instead of promoting reconciliation.
Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Geng Shuang reiterated Beijing’s call for sponsors to engage with major parties and member states to reach consensus on the draft resolution. He said there were still “huge differences” and “forcing it is inconsistent with the spirit of promoting reconciliation” in Bosnia and among countries in the region.
Germany and Rwanda said they would seriously consider Serbia’s proposals to change the text.
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Associated Press writers Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade and Justin Spike in Budapest, Hungary, contributed to this report.
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