Srebrenica Flower unveiled at UN headquarters: A permanent testament to the genocide against Bosniaks

(Patria) - The "Srebrenica Flower", a monument to the victims of the genocide against Bosniaks committed in the summer of 1995 in Srebrenica, was unveiled tonight in the park in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York, reports N1.

Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, António Guterres, said during the unveiling of the monument that the United Nations had failed the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Srebrenica, and that is why it is logical for the "Srebrenica Flower" to be in front of the organization's headquarters.

Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denis Bećirović, stated that humanity must never again allow genocide to happen.

- This monument is a permanent testament to the genocide against Bosniaks, but also a warning to humanity that such evil must never happen to anyone, anywhere. The "Srebrenica Flower" will forever remain in front of the UN headquarters - said Bećirović.

Chaloka Beyani, Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, said that the "Srebrenica Flower" is dedicated to the victims of genocide.

- We should look at this monument as a way to remember all our loved ones we lost in the genocide. We should understand this as a plea to children around the world to fight for peace.

It has been a long journey, but we have arrived - in this way of opening the monument, we are preparing to mark the day of remembrance of the genocide in Srebrenica.

That is why we have this flower that will always remind us of it. It has never been more important to prevent genocide than today, when violence is spreading around the world - Beyani conveyed.



The representative of the Mothers of Srebrenica, Munira Subašić, said that 22 members of her immediate family were killed in the genocide, including her husband and son, whom she loved the most.

- This monument will remind us that our children were innocently killed while under UN protection. The monument is white because white is the color of innocence, just like our murdered children were. And the monument is also green, which is the color that symbolizes life.

Our children would have loved to be alive, but they were killed simply because they had different names and were Muslims. Thank God, we are still here, and we will continue to be - said Subašić.

She added that the mothers of Srebrenica have been fighting for 30 years to find the bones of the murdered and for the perpetrators to face justice.

The "Srebrenica Flower", by artist Adin Hebib, is located in the UN garden near the monument to Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, the Berlin Wall, and Augustinčić's "Horseman", which the lifelong president of SFR Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, donated to the UN almost 60 years ago.

The erection of the monument was preceded by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly adopted in 2024, in which the world organization recognizes that genocide against Bosniaks was committed in Srebrenica in July 1995.

Also, at the end of October, the "Srebrenica Flower" monument was ceremonially unveiled in Vienna's UN Square, in front of the UN building.