17 August 2018•Update: 17 August 2018
By Umar Farooq
WASHINGTON
The UN on Thursday raised concern over a vote by Bosnian Serb lawmakers to ask for an annulment of a 2004 report on the Srebrenica genocide which said Bosnian Serb forces killed thousands of Muslims in and around Srebrenica during the Bosnian War.
In a written statement, Adama Dieng, UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, said the “rejection of the [Srebrenica] Commission’s findings is a step for Bosnia and Herzegovina. It undermines the rule of law and national and international efforts to achieve justice for victims of crimes committed against people of all ethnicities during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war."
Lawmakers in Republika Srpska, Bosnia’s autonomous Serb-dominated region, asked the regional government to overturn the report, which was created to promote the truth about what happened in Srebrenica.
The vote was initiated by Serb Republic nationalist President Milorad Dodik and was criticized by Bosniak lawmakers.
Dieng further stated that the move could aggravate tensions in the run-up to general elections on Oct. 7.
The UN adviser took a trip to the Balkans in February and said that mistrust and hostility between political leaders preventing progress on reconciliation efforts.
Over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed by Bosnian Serb forces after they attacked the UN "safe area" of Srebrenica in July 1995, despite the presence of Dutch troops tasked with acting as international peacekeepers.
Srebrenica was besieged by Serb forces who were trying to capture territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats in an attempt to create their own state.
Hundreds of Bosnian families are still searching for missing loved ones, as a large number of victims were thrown into mass graves throughout the country during the Bosnian War, which spanned from 1992-1995.
