UN establishes Srebrenica genocide memorial day

The UN General Assembly on Thursday voted to create an annual day of remembrance for the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, in which Serb forces killed around 8,000 Muslim men and teenage boys.

The resolution designates July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance of the Srebrenica Genocide.

It also condemns "any denial" of the genocide and urges UN member countries to "preserve the established facts."

The resolution was written by Germany and Rwanda — two countries synonymous with 20th-century genocides — but it has faced fierce opposition from Serbia.

Although the draft resolution does not specifically mention Serbia as the perpetrator, some Serb leaders nevertheless fear it will brand them all as "genocidal" supporters of the mass killing.

In a letter to the rest of the United Nations, Germany and Rwanda said the vote was a "crucial opportunity to unite in honoring the victims and acknowledging the pivotal role played by international courts."

Serb leaders push back against 'stigma'

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had said he would be at the UN to "fight with all my strength and heart" to block the initiative.

Meanwhile, Serbia's Foreign Minister Marko Djuric promised to "protect our country and our people from a long-term stigma."

Hours before the vote, church bells rang out across Serbia in protest. The Serbian Orthodox Church said it hoped this demonstration would unite Serbs in "prayers, serenity, mutual solidarity and firmness in doing good, despite untrue and unjust accusations it faces at the UN."

The president of the Republika Srpska — the Serb entity that make up around half of Bosnia's territory — has also lobbied against the resolution.

"Bosnia and Herzegovina has reached its end, or to be more precise, it was brought to an end by those who swore to it," Milorad Dodik said on social media.

"All that remains is for us all to make an effort to be good neighbors and to part in peace."

Russia's UN ambassador, Vasily Nebenzia, also criticized the draft resolution, calling it "provocative" and a "threat to peace and security."

Nebenzia claimed that the draft resolution would "erase" the "shameful evidence" of NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia in 1995 and 1999 by "pinning all the blame on the Serbs."

What happened at Srebrenica?

The Srebrenica massacre took place toward the end of the Bosnian War in which around 100,000 people were killed.

On July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces captured the town of Srebrenica, which was a UN-protected enclave at the time.

In the days that followed, Serb troops separated 8,000 Muslim Bosniak men and teenage boys from their wives, mothers, and sisters, and then slaughtered them.

Victims who tried to escape were chased through the woods and over the mountains around the town.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Court of Justice both found this incident to be an act of genocide. It is also considered the single worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.

zc/rt (AFP, AP)