Belgrade, Serbia: More than 30 people from the Women in Black Network from Serbia traveled to Srebrenica last week to mark the 13th anniversary of the brutal 1995 massacre committed by their countrymen.

Holding signs which said “Solidarity” and “Never Forget Srebrenica,” Women in Black joined the Women of Srebrenica Civic Association of Tuzla and more than 40,000 others to mourn the 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys killed and to rebury 307 recently-identified victims.

Janet Rabin, an Advocacy Project Peace Fellow volunteering with Women in Black this summer, traveled with the group to Potocari, Bosnia, for the ceremony and was struck by the warm relationship between the Serbian and Bosnian women. These friendships, and Women in Black’s efforts, are building blocks of trust and bold first steps toward reconciliation in a region deeply scarred by ethnic conflict.

“These two groups have been working together, and mourning together, for years,” Ms Rabin said. “In the midst of so much tragedy I could not comprehend, the small gestures of kindness and friendship between these women was a glimpse of something familiar, and more importantly, something hopeful.”

While many in Serbia remain in denial about the atrocities committed at Srebrenica, Women in Black has called for army commander Ratko Mladic, who ordered the massacre, to be brought to justice. Mladic and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic have both been indicted by a United Nations war crimes tribunal on charges of genocide for masterminding the slaughter. Both remain at large in the Balkans.

Last week, Women in Black held an event on the main square in Belgrade where they screened the film “Women of Srebrenica Speak.” The short film features the testimonies of women who lost family members in the Srebrenica massacre, and provided a way for the Srebrenica victims to address the Serbian public. Women in Black also held one of its trademark silent demonstrations in the square. Its members wore black, but carried white roses in honor of the massacre victims.

Read the blogs of AP Peace Fellow Janet Rabin.

Read more about events marking the Srebrenica anniversary.