Stellungnahme von Volker Türk, UN-Hochkommissar für Menschenrechte, 11.7.2025
Thirty years have gone by since unspeakable crimes were perpetrated in and around Srebrenica.
8,327 Bosnian Muslims were systematically slaughtered by Serb forces under the control of Ratko Mladić. The vast majority of the victims were civilian men and boys, although women and girls were also killed – some, after they had been subjected to sexual violence.
Entire families of several generations were decimated.
At the same time, over 25,000 women, children and older people were rounded up and forcibly transported out of Serb-controlled territory.
Nine years later, in 2004, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia determined that a genocide was perpetrated in Srebrenica, targeting Bosnian Muslims solely on the basis of their identity, with intention to destroy them as a group.
This was followed by other judgements by the ICTY and its successor, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, which together convicted 18 individuals for crimes connected to the genocide. The International Court of Justice ruled, in 2007, that there had been breach of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide regarding events in Srebrenica.
Domestic courts have also convicted some individuals for genocide.
And in May 2024, the United Nations General Assembly emphasised the need to hold to account those responsible for the atrocious crimes that were perpetrated in Srebrenica, in order to deter their recurrence and to foster a lasting peace.
To mark the world's sorrow and horror, the General Assembly designated 11 July as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica.
As we mark this thirtieth anniversary, I want, above all, to pay tribute to the people who suffered such agonising and grave violations of their fundamental human rights.
I express my heartfelt solidarity with the families and friends of those who were killed. Many of them have been essential to the quest for justice, truth and efforts to ensure that such events can never happen again.
Prosecutors and others have done essential work to document the genocide, and to bring those responsible to justice.
It is vital that domestic institutions at all levels acknowledge and promote the truth about the genocide and all other atrocity crimes perpetrated across Bosnia and Herzegovina during the conflict.
The international community has accepted a share of responsibility for what happened in Srebrenica.
But within the region, revisionist narratives are denying the reality of the genocide, and even glorifying war criminals.
Politicians and others are using rhetoric that vilifies and dehumanises survivors – exacerbating their trauma, deepening divisions and re-opening wounds.
I call on political leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and elsewhere in the region, to address the legacy of the past, openly and honestly, and to foster a society free from discrimination, violence and fear.
Thirty years after the end of the armed conflict, there is still much to be done to overcome discord and achieve a truly sustainable peace.
We must remember the genocide of Srebrenica, and honour the memory of its victims by ensuring that it can never happen again.
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