Bećirović: White Ribbon Day is a Reminder of Committed War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity

(Patria) - On the occasion of marking May 31 – White Ribbon Day, the Chairperson of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denis Bećirović, issued a message to the public:

“Today, May 31, 2026, we remember yet another sad date in our history. We mark White Ribbon Day and pay tribute to 3,176 killed residents of Prijedor, among whom are 102 children. These innocent human lives were extinguished in the most brutal way possible. We must spread the truth about the committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The authorities of Prijedor ordered the Bosniak and Croat population to mark their houses with white sheets, and when moving through the city, to wear white ribbons around their arms. Such discriminatory and criminal policy has not been recorded in the history of Europe after the Second World War.

All democratic societies are obliged to cultivate a culture of remembrance and resolutely oppose any attempt to deny, relativize, or justify war crimes. It is our duty to build a society in which truth, justice, and human dignity will be respected. We must leave a clear message to future generations that war crimes and crimes against humanity must never and nowhere be repeated.

Remembering the victims of Prijedor is our moral obligation towards the killed, their families, and the surviving victims. It is also a civilizational duty of all who believe in human rights, human dignity, and the universal values of freedom and equality. The truth about the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Prijedor has been established before international and domestic courts, and it cannot be subject to political manipulation.

I express my deepest condolences to the families of the victims, and to the killed, I wish a light Bosnian soil and eternal mercy.”