Home About Services Partners Fellows Blogs Resources Take Action

A Voice For the Voiceless

MISSION

The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice

Resources > Global Issues > Bosnia – War an... > Srebrenica – Ba... > Reburial in Srebr...

Reburial in Srebrenica

Each July, thousands of Bosnian Muslims, mainly women, travel to Srebrenica for a ceremony to commemorate and bury their dead. They are the grieving relatives, revisiting the scene of their loss.

This July marks the 10th anniversary of the massacre that took 8,000 to 10,000 lives in the town of Srebrenica. 



Identifying the Victims

UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, on the fifth anniversary of the massacre:  'As we mark the anniversary of the death of thousands of disarmed and defenseless men and boys, I wish to express once again to their families and friends my deepest regret and remorse. Their grief cannot be assuaged and must not be forgotten.'

Hope now lies in the science of DNA analysis, which can match DNA profiles taken from remains with others taken from living relatives. However, this work is both painstaking and heartbreaking. As a pathologist working on the exhumations said, “I can stand the discoveries in the graves, I can even stand the stench. The worst part is meeting families and people in despair.”

Compounding the tragedy is the fact that to date only 1,424 out of more than 8,000 to 10,000 victims have been positively identified by the International Commission on Missing Persons in Tuzla . Up to now, identification has been extremely difficult because the Serb forces, in an attempt to cover up their crimes, returned to the graves several months after the massacre, dug up the bodies and scattered the remains. 

Punishing The Perpetrators

The massacre at Srebrenica is generally viewed as the most comprehensive war crime committed during the Balkans wars. In spite of this, the international community has generally failed to bring those responsible to justice.  

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who masterminded the war, is currently on trial before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He faces 66 charges, including crimes against humanity and genocide. 



Morgue in Tuzla : The majority of remains have yet to be identified.

However, hundreds -- perhaps even thousands -- of those who participated in the 1995 massacres have yet to be held to account for their actions.

The Tribunal has indicted 13 individuals in connection with Srebrenica, but six are still at large. They include General Ratko Mladic, the former leader of the Bosnian Serb Army, and Radovan Karadzic, the former civilian leader of the Bosnian Serbs.

The two were indicted in November 1995 for directing the Srebrenica massacres. The charges against them include genocide, crimes against humanity, and “violations of the laws and customs of war.” The 20-count indictment lists violations of the UN-established safe areas, looting and burning of houses, mistreatment of prisoners of war and summary executions. 


©http://www.paixbalkans.org 

Caption: Radovan Karadzic, (above left), and Ratko Mladic(above right) are largely responsible for the Srebenica massacre.

AP has joined with the Center for Balkan Development, Physicians for Human Rights, and the Congress of North American Bosniaks in launching an international appeal calling for the arrest of Karadzic and Mladic by no later than December 14, 2005 - the tenth anniversary of the Dayton Agreement. The petition also calls on the United States and European governments to share intelligence and coordinate efforts in locating and arresting the two men. The signatures will be delivered to President George Bush and other world leaders this July 11.

The petition drew over 1,000 signatures, from 45 countries, in just two weeks– with over half from Bosnia. The signatures will be delivered to President George Bush and other world leaders this July 11.

• Sign the petition calling for the arrest of the two men.

Back