European Commission leaders have marked the 31st anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, commemorating more than 8,300 Bosniak men and boys killed in July 1995.
The EU officials their thoughts were with the victims’ families and with those still searching for missing relatives, adding that the EU continued to stand by survivors of the genocide, according to a joint statement by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos.
They described Srebrenica as “among the darkest episodes in Europe’s history”, and said remembrance should include preserving historical truth and the victims’ memory.
Kallas and Kos also referenced a United Nations General Assembly decision taken two years ago to designate 11 July as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica.
Call for accountability and regional cooperation
The EU officials said there was “no place in Europe” for genocide denial, revisionism or the glorification of convicted war criminals.
They urged leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina and elsewhere in the region to support efforts to find and identify remaining victims.
The EU remained committed to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s “European future” as a sovereign, united, multiethnic and democratic country, Kallas and Kos stated.
