(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Then followed a genocide Europe has not experienced unparalleled since World War II. Within days, the Bosnian Serb army, with the help of the military and paramilitary forces from Serbia, killed over 8000 Bosnjans aged 13 – 80 years – among them my brother and three of my cousins. All this happened before the world's eyes in the so-called "UN-declared safe zone". Srebrenica was all alone in the world and the world was in Srebrenica. They should help, but they didn't. Why? Someone knows the answer.
Where are the reactions? Would the world react differently today? I doubt it. After Auschwitz, the world community said "never again!", But it happened in Rwanda, and then in Srebrenica. The world repeats the same thing as a parrot – "never again!", And does nothing to prevent serious crimes from happening again. Unfortunately, we still see new genocides being committed elsewhere in the world. Why doesn't the world community learn from what has happened in Srebrenica? Why is the UN principle of "shared responsibility to protect" not used? Why doesn't it intervene – and when it first does, why is it made selectively and often too late?
Today's situation in Bosnia, 20 years after the Srebrenica genocide and the Dayton agreement, is beginning to resemble it in the 90s. People, especially Bosnians, live in fear and are worried about their future. Why is the world community silent when some Serbian leaders consistently refuse to acknowledge that Srebrenica was the scene of a genocide – even though both UN representatives saw it with their own eyes and that the war crimes tribunal in The Hague has confirmed this? Why is the EU High Commissioner in Bosnia unresponsive when Milorad Dodik, President of the Bosnian unit Republika Srpska, announces a referendum to make Republika Srpska an independent state? Or when he refuses to sign the reform agenda, or when his party votes against the resolution condemning the Srebrenica massacre? What is Switzerland doing these days after the arrest warrant from Serbia to arrest Srebrenica's war commander Naser Oric? Instead of apologizing to the victims, Serbia chooses to judge the man whom the Hague tribunal has acquitted. Many believe this is Serbia's response to the UK's initiative that July 11 will be the International Memorial Day for the victims of Srebrenica. It is expected that the UN Security Council will soon adopt the resolution on Srebrenica. Isn't this a Serbian attempt to equalize attackers and victims, as well as minimize and divert people's attention from the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide?
Would the world react differently today? I doubt it.
Conscious boggling. Why do the court proceedings in The Hague Court (ICTY) take so long, so long? Some defendants die before the verdict is dropped. Why has the Tribunal made a number of controversial, liberating judgments? Several war generals were acquitted. Is this green light for the new Srebrenica? What signals are being sent around the world when even Norway publishes the scandalous Brennpunkt documentary on Srebrenica Byen as could be sacrificed, or when the EU rewards the Nobel Peace Prize for contributions to "peace" in Bosnia – or awards the fascist flier Peter Handke the Ibsen Prize?
What did you actually learn from the Srebrenica slaughterhouse? Very little. Wake up!
Meholjic is an architect, cartoonist and survivor from Srebrenica.
