Forto, Jurišić, Ćudić and Kojović addressed Varhelyi: Genocide denial undermines peace, security, reconciliation

(Patria) - Edin Forto, Minister of Communications and Transport of BiH, Duška Jurišić, Deputy Minister of Human Rights and Refugees, and state parliamentarians Sabina Ćudić and Predrag Kojović addressed Oliver Varhelyi, European Commissioner for Enlargement, regarding his statement made in Belgrade about the Resolution on the Genocide in Srebrenica.

“We are aware that there is still much work ahead of us on the path to full membership in the European Union, and one of the tasks is to take concrete steps to improve an environment conducive to reconciliation in order to overcome the legacy of war. In the European Commission's opinion, it was stated at the time that ‘the political environment still does not contribute to reconciliation and overcoming past events. High-ranking political leaders often challenge established facts about wartime events and cast doubt on the independence and impartiality of international courts. All actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina must show that they fully cooperate with international courts by recognizing and respecting their decisions. Revisionism and genocide denial are contrary to the most basic European values.’

The denial of genocide in Srebrenica, primarily by the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, has recently become a daily occurrence. Therefore, the adoption of the Resolution on the Genocide in Srebrenica is necessary at this very moment, in the United Nations General Assembly, whose Security Council declared Srebrenica a UN protected zone by Resolution 819 on April 16, 1993.

In your statement in Belgrade, you said that ‘collective punishment has never been and can never be part of our values,’ and that you do not believe that ‘stigmatizing the Serbian people with collective guilt is a viable option.’

The proposed Resolution declares the International Day of Remembrance of the Genocide in Srebrenica, condemns any denial of genocide, calls on member states to develop appropriate programs through educational systems to prevent genocide denial, condemns actions that glorify those convicted of war crimes, calls for the completion of the process of finding and identifying victims of genocide, and calls for the continuation of criminal prosecution of perpetrators of genocide. In no part, not with a single word, neither directly nor indirectly, is guilt for the crime of genocide attributed to an entire people. On the contrary, by referring to the judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, it is clear that guilt is individualized to those who have been found guilty and convicted of the crime of genocide.

The fight, in line with the most basic European values, against revisionism and genocide denial will be our permanent commitment.

Genocide denial undermines peace, security, and reconciliation, but also the European perspective of both Bosnia and Herzegovina and the entire region.”