The United Nations General Assembly voted to create an international day of commemoration for the 1995 genocide of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serbs.
The 193-nation assembly on Thursday approved the resolution on a 84-19 vote with 68 nations abstaining, exposing deep divisions over continuing tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The resolution sponsored by Germany and Rwanda reflects an effort to remember the lessons of 20th century genocides. It designates an “International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica” to be observed each year on July 11.
The final draft emphasizes U.N. member nations' “unwavering commitment to maintaining stability and fostering unity in diversity in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” A 2020 NATO index described it as the country in the western Balkans that is most "vulnerable to hostile influence."
U.N. member nations, in the resolution, condemn "without reservation any denial of the Srebrenica genocide as a historical event," and call for the preservation of historical facts through education and other programs.
"It is my hope that commemoration will bring genuine reconciliation, reaffirm our solidarity with the survivors and further contribute to the prevention of genocide, anywhere in the world," said the assembly's president, Dennis Francis, an ambassador to the U.N. from Trinidad and Tobago.
Some nations, such as Brazil and Russia, described the resolution as a source of conflict. "We have witnessed today a sad chapter in the history of the U.N. General Assembly," said Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya, explaining that Moscow opposed the resolution as an effort by nations "whose goal is to demonize" Serbian citizens.
"All of this is cynical and hypocritical," he said, calling the resolution a threat to regional security. "If the goal was to divide the general assembly, then they've succeeded brilliantly."
Genocides recognized by U.N. courts
Europe's worst atrocity since World War II started on July 11, 1995, towards the end of the war in the former Yugoslavia, when Bosnian Serb forces overran what was supposed to be a U.N-protected safe haven at Srebrenica and systematically murdered 8,000 Muslim men and boys. It lasted for nearly two weeks.
They ignored a 1993 U.N. Security Council resolution labeling the besieged town as a sanctuary that "should be free from any armed attacks or any other hostile act" against persecuted people from Srebrenica or nearby villages.
Two U.N. courts have since described the massacres of 1995 in Srebrenica and of 1994 in Rwanda – when 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by the majority Hutu population over 100 days – as genocides. The two mass killings represent the U.N.'s greatest failures to date.
There's already an official U.N. commemoration each year of World War II's Nazi Holocaust on Jan. 27 and the 1994 Rwanda genocide on April 7, so the resolution would "close the gap” by creating a U.N. day for the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, Germany’s U.N. Ambassador Antje Leendertse said.
The top U.N. court, the International Court of Justice, determined in 2007 that what happened in Srebrenica amounted to genocide, the first in Europe’s since the Holocaust that killed an estimated 6 million Jewish people.
A threatened secession
During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995, some 100,000 people died and millions were uprooted. U.N.-authorized international tribunals have tried to deliver justice:
- Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević, whose nationalism incited the war, died in a U.N. cell in 2006 before tribunal judges reached verdicts.
- Former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladić was convicted on one count of genocide and handed a life sentence in 2017 for leading the troops.
- Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić's was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
While Mladić is considered "the Butcher of Srebrenica," many Serbs view his trial and those of other former Serbian leaders as payback for the nation's longstanding ties to Russia, which liberated the Serbian capital Belgrade from Nazi Germany's occupation. They also share an Orthodox Christian faith.
In Serbia, however, Karadžić is still regarded as an inspiration and a hero among many Serbs who are too young to remember the genocide. Karadžić also was seen as an inpiration by perpetrators of some of the 21st century’s worst terrorist attacks so far at a Norwegian camp in 2011 and at a New Zealand mosque in 2019.
Victims' relatives anticipated the 193-nation assembly's designation would help ensure that people won't forget what happened. Bosniaks, mostly Muslims from Bosnia, also have supported the resolution.
But Milorad Dodik, leader of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb-majority entity, threatened to secede from the Balkan nation ahead of the U.N. vote on the Srebrenica resolution.
Aleksandar Vučić, the populist president of neighboring Serbia, also opposed the resolution out of fear it would promote the impression that all Serbs are genocidal.
Serbia and Bosnian Serbs have both denied that genocide happened in Srebrenica, while Bosnia criminalized genocide denial in 2021. Several dozen nations, including Germany and Rwanda, have laws on genocide denial, according to research by Swiss-based TRIAL International.
This story has been updated with additional details.
