The open wound of the Srebrenica genocide: without justice there can be no peace.

Thirty years, 10,957 days ago, the existence of 8,372 Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) aged 12 and over was erased. Hunted like beasts through the woods during attempted escapes, or deported from Srebrenica under the watchful eye of Dutch UN peacekeepers, they were killed. Their bodies were hidden in mass graves, scattered dozens of kilometers from the UN base, and in the months that followed, broken up into secondary and tertiary graves.

Today, July 11, the skeletons – most of them incomplete – of seven victims of the genocide, including a woman, will be buried. They will be added to the remains of the 6,765 buried in past years at the Potočari Memorial , as their identities were gradually confirmed through DNA analysis at the Tuzla center.

The commemoration is expected to draw 30,000 people, including national representatives— excluding those from the Republika Srpska of BiH, led by Milorad Dodik, which does not recognize and denies the genocide —and international representatives, alongside victims' families, survivors, and other citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, individuals, and associations from European and non-European countries. Unlike the twentieth anniversary commemoration, which was attended by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, other officials, and the ambassador, Italy is represented by the Italian Ambassador to Sarajevo, Sarah Eti Castellani. She is joined by the internationally renowned Italian flutist Andrea Griminelli, who will perform alongside Bosnian artists during the commemoration.

Like every year, there will be many women: mothers, sisters, daughters, grandmothers, aunts, often left completely alone, who suffered family losses in the conflict, deportation to internment camps, and wartime rape; and who in the difficult postwar period showed unceasing commitment and resilience in the pursuit of truth and justice. "After the war, I was among the first to return to Srebrenica. We experienced everything... in those days in July I lost two children, five grandchildren, my sister burned alive with other women inside a house... 11 close relatives alone." This was the story of Šuhra Malić , whom I met two days ago at the " Dom za starija lica Hatidža Mehmedović " a few hundred meters from the Memorial, along with the young people who came here for the Summer School dedicated to genocide studies. "But we survived," she added, "and therefore we fought for those who were taken from us."

After her, who will turn ninety next year, other women spoke at the meeting, survivors of the war years and the arrival in Srebrenica of Ratko Mladić's Bosnian Serb troops. This operation, which the courts have defined as genocide , was perpetrated despite the enclave having been declared a "safe zone" in 1993 under United Nations Security Council Resolution 819.

Šuhra was also among the first to be welcomed into this center, in October 2022. It opened thanks to the support of local and international donors and is dedicated to Hatidža Mehmedović , a courageous woman who, until her death in 2018, served as president of the "Association of Mothers of Srebrenica" (Udruženja Majke Srebrenice). "I don't know what to say; it's difficult to speak for every survivor..." Šuhra added with a sigh. Then she let herself go and, at times, with unexpected irony, almost as if to break the painful atmosphere that hung in the room, she spoke of the years she and Hatidža fought for justice: finding the bodies of the missing and keeping the memory of the crime they suffered alive.

Women from the association “Udruženje Pokret Majke enklava Srebrenica i Žepa” (Association of the Women's Movement of Srebrenica and Žepa) also gave their testimony at the United Nations in New York on July 8, at the commemoration of the “Day of Reflection and Commemoration on the Srebrenica Genocide,” established in May 2024 by a UN General Assembly Resolution.

Among them was Munira Subašić of the "Mothers of Srebrenica" association, who, after thanking the countries that supported the resolution, denounced: "It is difficult to live with pain in your soul, listening to the denial of the genocide. Our children were killed because they had different names, because they were Muslims. Europe and the world stood by in silence. Mothers did not wait, they stood up to seek justice (...) and raised their children, left orphans, teaching them not to hate and not to seek revenge." She then pointed out that as she spoke, the killing of defenseless civilians—including women and children—was taking place in Ukraine and Palestine: "Please, join the fight to stop all these crimes."

Women from various associations in Srebrenica, Žepa, Bratunac, and Podrinje, representing hundreds of others whose loved ones were murdered in July 1995, opened yesterday's panel at the international conference organized by the Memorial "Education and Research on Genocide." Munira Subašić, Fadila Efendić, Šuhra Sinanović, and Nura Begović shared with the international audience their thirty-year struggle.

Yesterday, the six thousand marchers of the " Marš mira " (Peace March) also arrived at the Memorial, having walked approximately 100 km through the woods, a stretch in the opposite direction to the (death) march of the thousands who attempted to escape that July 1995. In addition to them, the many participants in the 227 km Vukovar-Srebrenica Ultramarathon, dozens of Bosnian and foreign motorcyclists, and several delegations of European citizens, including a large group of Italians. They are all here today. Surrounded by the endless expanse of white stelae of the Potočari Memorial Cemetery, located a few kilometers from Srebrenica—across from the former base of the Dutch UN battalion that in 1995 was supposed to defend the protected area and instead abandoned the civilians to their fate—we will share the grief of the families and survivors.

In an attempt to heal—at least for a day—the unhealed wound caused by the many missing people still missing. And to finally be able to grieve.

Source of the article and images: Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa .