<nettime> Srebrenica Declaration

["Ivo Skoric" <ivo@balkansnet.org>]

Open Letter by Eight Serbian NGOs to the Serbian Parliament
Calling for a Srebrenica Declaration

Eight Serbian NGOs send an open letter to the President of the Serbian
Parliament, calling upon the Serbian Parliament to pass a Declaration on
the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre

Center for Cultural Decontamination (Centar za kulturnu dekontaminaciju)
Belgrade Circle (Beogradski krug) Lawyers Committee for Human Rights
(Komitet pravnika za ljudska prava - YUCOM) Humanitarian Law Center
(Fond za Humanitarno pravo) Youth Initiative for Human Rights
(Inicijativa mladih za ljudska prava ) Women in Black (Zene u crnom)
Civic Initiatives (Gradjanske inicijative) Helsinki Committee for Human
Rights in Serbia (Helsinski odbor za ljudska prava u Srbiji)

  April 20, 2004

Mr. Predrag Markovic, President of the People's Assembly of the Republic
of Serbia

Dear Mr. Markovic,

In July 2005, it will be ten years since the biggest crime committed in
the post-WWII Europe and the most heinous one that marked ex-Yugoslav
wars - the genocide of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica. Nowadays, the
Srebrenica massacre, systematically conducted in the period July 10 -
19, 2005, is fully documented and recognized as such. So far, General
Radoslav Krstic and Drazen Erdemovic have been convicted in The Hague
Tribunal for the crimes in Srebrenica, on the grounds of their own
confessions.  General Krstic was sentenced for assisting and inciting
genocide. Thus the notion of genocide was once again - along with Nazis'
pogrom of Jews - included in the most shameful chapters of Europe's
history.

Almost the entire world will mark the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica
massacre this July. Should it adopt a Srebrenica declaration, the
Serbian Assembly would join the democratic world that will evoke the
memory of this crime so as to manifest that it has made up its mind that
the history of mankind would never again witness such horror of
organized and massive murder of people just because of their identity.

We assume you know that the Appeal Chamber of The Hague Tribunal
asserted that some members of the Serbian Army Headquarters have had
genocidal plans against Bosnian Muslims who had sought refuge in the
Srebrenica enclave, and had acted with the intention to perform a
massive massacre of Muslims in Srebrenica.

We are also sure that you are well aware that the Commission of
Republika Srpska government that has investigated into the 1995 crimes
in Srebrenica and its surround, found out and publicized that
7,000-8,000 Bosniaks had been killed at that time. The information
derives from documents, statements and other evidence the Commission has
gathered itself. In June 2004, the Commission came public with 32 new
locations of mass graves, detected exclusively thanks to the sources
from Republika Srpska (governmental agencies and eyewitnesses).
Furthermore, the Commission asserted that military and police units,
including special units of the Ministry of the Interior of Republika
Srpska, were involved in the massacre and reconstructed their
deployment.

Last but not least, it was because of the Srebrenica massacre that the
Netherlands' government resigned in 2002. The government as a whole
accepted the responsibility for its troops within the UN force that had
done nothing to prevent genocide in Srebrenica.

By adopting a Srebrenica declaration the Serbian Assembly would not only
legitimize Serbia as a democratic and accountable state, but would also
demonstrate that this country and her public accept moral responsibility
for the fate of Srebrenica victims. We believe that a gesture as such
would foster the cooperation with neighborly countries -
Bosnia-Herzegovina in the first place - and strongly recommend Serbia's
integration into Europe.

Cc:
President of the Republic of Serbia Boris Tadic
Premier of Serbia Vojislav Kostunica
Embassies of the EU member-states
Embassies of the US, Canada and Russia
Delegation of the Council of Europe
Delegation of the European Commission
Delegation of the OSCE


---------------------------------------------------------
Ivo Skoric
19 Baxter Street
Rutland VT 05701
802.775.7257
ivo@balkansnet.org
balkansnet.org


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