Peace March starts on July 8: 100-kilometer journey to honor genocide victims

The Peace March is a hiking event, which will be held this year as part of the commemoration of the anniversary of the genocide against Bosniaks in Srebrenica and its surroundings, with the aim of honoring the victims of the genocide and recalling the horrific crimes committed by the forces of the Army and Police of Republika Srpska, supported by forces from Serbia, against Bosniaks in the "UN Safe Zone" - Srebrenica, in July 1995.

The march is called a protest march, because it aims to encourage all relevant actors, at the local and international level, to speed up the arrest and prosecution of persons responsible for the committed crimes, in order to satisfy justice as a prerequisite for building lasting peace and tolerance among the peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The column of participants, which numbers thousands of people from almost all parts of the planet and increases every year, starts from the local community of Nezuk (Sapna municipality) and over a period of three days covers a distance of about 100 kilometers, to reach Potočari (Srebrenica municipality). After the end of the March, participants have the opportunity to attend the commemoration and participate in the funeral prayer and burial of identified genocide victims, found in one of the mass graves from the sites they themselves passed through as part of the planned route.

The Peace March lasts three days, from July 8 to July 10, 2017, with the same number of stages. Each stage is between 25 and 30 kilometers long.

The column departs on Monday, July 8, 2017, between 8:45 AM and 9:00 AM from Nezuk, Sapna municipality. On the route from Nezuk - as the starting point, to Potočari - as the destination, participants pass through the following route: Nezuk - Baljkovica - Parlog - Crni Vrh - Snagovo - Liplje - Jošanica - Donja Kamenica - Bakrači - Glodi - Udrč - Cerska - Kaldrmica - Đugum - Mravinjci - Burnice - Kameničko Brdo - Ravni Buljim - Jaglići - Šušnjari - Budak - Potočari (Memorial Center).

The route includes difficult-to-pass hilly and mountainous areas (Udrč, 1,043 m), densely forested areas with streams, and also passes through a number of returnee settlements, whose hospitality in previous years was experienced by many participants of this march. At each of these locations, participants have the opportunity to see some of the significant places from the not-so-distant past: places where mass executions of captured Bosniaks took place, or places where primary or secondary mass graves were found.

An alternative route takes place on the Borak - Potočari stretch, lasting two days, with a significantly smaller number of participants. Both due to the terrain's passability and the duration, this route is recommended for participants who do not feel sufficiently prepared for the journey from Nezuk, but still have the will to participate.

During the March, short history lessons are held at certain sites, where testimonies of survivors of the "Death March" from 1995 can be heard, and you will have the opportunity to personally meet many of them in the column of participants.