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Among the visitors to the exhibition were members of the Mothers of Srebrenica, an association that brings together thousands of people, mothers, sisters and wives, who lost loved ones in the massacre in their city.
Munira Subašić does not need photographs to remember the tragedy that claimed the lives of her husband, her son and 20 other close relatives.
“I represent all the mothers who lost their children in the genocide, all those whose dreams were shattered by this tragedy,” he told UN News on the occasion of Srebrenica Remembrance Day, which falls on July 11.
A sample in the exhibition Stories of Survival and Remembrance at the UN headquarters. The “Sarajevo” pointe shoes belonged to Mela, who lived through the Bosnian war.
The darkest page of the war
The war that followed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia claimed more than 100,000 lives in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995, mostly Bosnian Muslims, and displaced more than two million people.
The population was arrested and confined in concentration camps, and thousands of Bosnian women were systematically raped. The list of atrocities is endless, but Srebrenica became the darkest page of the war.
In July 1995, the Bosnian Serb army seized Srebrenica, previously declared a “security zone” by the UN, brutally murdering some 8,000 men and teenagers there, and expelling 20,000 people from the city.
The International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia recognized the massacre of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica by the Republika Srpska army as an act of genocide.
The UN was unable to prevent this genocide because the small and lightly armed contingent of Dutch peacekeepers was unable to resist the Bosnian Serb units.
in search of justice
Founded in 2002, the Mothers of Srebrenica Association has been searching for missing persons and mass graves, supporting survivors and seeking justice.
“We want the whole world to know that we have survived,” said Munira Subašić. “We have not forgotten anything. We will do our best so that all criminals receive what they deserve.”
In 2017, the Court sentenced Ratko Mladić, a former commander of the Bosnian Serb army, to life imprisonment for crimes of genocide, violations of the laws and customs of war, and crimes against humanity, including the Srebrenica massacres, committed between 1992 and 1995 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The crimes committed are among the most heinous acts known to mankind,” said Tribunal Judge Alphons Orie in announcing the verdict. “They include genocide and extermination, which is a crime against humanity.”
The Mothers of Srebrenica won a lawsuit filed against the Dutch government and the Ministry of Defense for failing to protect the residents, Munira Subašić explained.
“The Dutch government recognized the court’s decision, assumed its responsibility and took an active role in financially supporting the survivors of the genocide,” he said. “The lives of our children are priceless. No one can give them back to us, but we worked to ensure that justice was done.”
Ratko Mladic, former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, before the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
identification of remains
Kada Hotić, a member of the Mothers of Srebrenica, has dedicated her life to finding those who are still missing and identifying their remains.
“It took us years to find just two bones from my son’s remains,” he added.
The vast majority of those reported missing were later found dead in huge mass graves, he said.
The last time she saw her husband was in July 1995. They were trying to board a bus together during deportation when a uniformed man led him out of line with a gun to his throat.
“He had our belongings in his hands, everything we had managed to take with us, and I never saw him again,” he said.
“They took us, women and children, by bus to Tuzla, but on the way the bus stopped and soldiers broke in,” he explained. “They exposed their genitals and yelled at us that these were their weapons against us. We tried to somehow protect the children so they wouldn’t see this horror.”
Items recovered from a warehouse in the former Yugoslavia where men and boys were being held were used as evidence in ICTY trials.
Psychological trauma
Genocide also inflicts profound psychological trauma on the survivors. According to Munira Subašić, the Srebrenica genocide left some 5,500 minors without one or both parents.
In front of many of these children, their families and loved ones were raped and killed, he said.
“The members of our association actively participated in the upbringing of these children, and many of them have become successful people despite their experiences,” said the head of the association. “We wanted them to grow in love, to feel that love, and I hope we’ve achieved that.”
Munira Subašić, director of the Mothers of Srebrenica Association, and UN Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Nderitu, at the exhibition at the UN headquarters in New York.
Lessons from Srebrenica
“The Mothers of Srebrenica are here, and their presence is a reminder of what should never happen again,” said UN Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Nderitu, at the Stories of Survival and Remembrance exhibition.
“No genocide has occurred without accompanying hate speech before and even after a genocide,” he stressed.
Touring the exhibition with the special adviser, Munira Subašić expressed the hope of the association “that with our mission we would make sure that no one else would have to go through the horrors of Srebrenica, through the genocide.”
“But unfortunately, as I speak to you about this, a similar situation is developing in the Ukraine, Somalia and other places, and people are being killed again there,” he concluded.
