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

Srebrenica – Background and the Beginning of Return

Photo credit: Peter Lippman
Srebrenica 2002

July 11, 2002 marked the seventh anniversary of the murder of over 7,000 Muslim men and boys in and around the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. The massacre was the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II. Its repercussions continue to impede the return of refugees to the Bosnian Serb Republic and the reconstruction of eastern Bosnia.

After seven years, the deadlock may finally be breaking. Refugees are starting to return and aid is starting to flow to the region. Srebrenica is no longer the bastion of extreme Serb nationalism that it once was.

These encouraging developments are largely due to the persistence of refugee advocates, who suffered terribly during the war but have never given up their dream of returning home. In 2001, eight leading advocacy groups formed a new network, the Forum of Srebrenica NGOs, in an effort to make their voices heard and to create a unified lobby for Srebrenica's reconstruction. They are clear that reconstruction will be seriously hampered until those responsible for the crimes of 1995 have been brought to account. The process must also respect the rights of Serbs currently living in Srebrenica.

The Forum has asked The Advocacy Project to support their work, and as a first step we present this illustrated profile of their efforts. The material was collected in the spring of 2002 by AP Associate Peter Lippman. Two years ago, Lippman visited the Srebrenica region and met with the first group to return to the village of Suceska. (Read his reports). Lippman also wrote a diary of his recent visit to the region, extracts of which are reprinted on some of the following pages.

In the fall of 2002, The Advocacy Project initiated a new phase in support of the NGOs of Srebrenica. It is presently assisting the Forum in developing a website for the local network of NGOs. This website, due to open in the spring of 2003, will serve as a lobbying tool for the Forum, helping Srebrenica's activists to promote their projects, advocate for their constituencies, and inform donors and policy makers about unfolding conditions in the municipality.

At the same time, The Advocacy Project is working with BOSFAM, a Tuzla- and Srebrenica-based women's support organization, to improve the promotion and sale of goods made by their handicrafts cooperative. As part of this work, The Advocacy Project is helping BOSFAM renovate its website. We are also preparing to promote kilims (flat-weave rugs) made by BOSFAM's weavers -- most of whom are widows from Srebrenica -- in the United States.

The Advocacy Project hopes to publish regular reports on the reconstruction of Srebrenica, as seen from the perspective of civil society, in the months ahead. If you would like to receive these reports and join an informal network of friends of Srebrenica, please contact us at info@advocacynet.org. The Advocacy Project would also welcome suggestions from anyone interested in helping the Forum to promote its message, in the region itself or abroad.

• About this campaign site: Principal author - Peter Lippman. Additional research - Aspen Brinton and Andrew McPherson. Reporting on the Hague tribunal - Corinne Packer.