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 Rebuilds – Letters 2002-2003

Peter Lippman wrote these letters to describe the activist work, and other events, that he witnessed in 2002 and 2003. During that time, refugee return to Srebrenica was peaking. The Advocacy Project was working to support two key grassroots organizations for return and recovery, BOSFAM and the Forum of Srebrenica NGOs, in their advocacy. The letters describe the work of these organizations and the atmosphere in Srebrenica during that period.

The Pains of Recovery
By late 2002 around a thousand displaced people had returned to the Srebrenica town and the surrounding villages, and more were to come. Srebrenica 99 and Drina were still active, and more than a handful of other return and reconstruction organizations had formed, both in Srebrenica and in towns such as Tuzla and Sarajevo, where many displaced Srebrenicans lived.

Remembrances; Naser Oric
By spring of 2003 the memorial cemetery at Potocari had been constructed and the first 600 remains of identified massacre victims had been reburied there. In the courts, Momir Nikolic admitted his participation in the massacre in exchange for the dropping of his genocide charge. Naser Oric, war-time Bosniak commander in Srebrenica, was arrested and taken to The Hague.

Activism and Reconstruction
Due to the international community's imposition of property laws, local housing authorities in Srebrenica, as throughout Bosnia, were finally forced to evict people squatting in the homes of displaced Bosniaks. This freed up space for return to increase. Meanwhile, the UNDP initiated a multi-million dollar program of reconstruction in Srebrenica and nearby municipalities. The Forum of Srebrenica NGOs worked to assist return and recovery.

War Criminals and a Summer Festival
In mid-2003 Srebrenica was still an unhappy place where return was very difficult, and the Serbs' post-war extreme nationalist infrastructure was not entirely removed. But local Bosniak returnees, with the encouragement of their Bosniak mayor, organized a cultural festival in Srebrenica.

Difficulties of Recovery; More Criminals
A third reburial, bringing the number of remains in the new memorial cemetery to over a thousand, was prepared for the eighth anniversary of the massacre, in 2003. But Serb authorities in the Republika Srpska continued to deny responsibility for the massacre, and continued to obstruct return and recovery in Srebrenica.

Zulfo's Story
The story of Zulfo Salihovic, Srebrenica survivor and leader of the NGO Drina, one of the leading organizations for return and recovery.