Six proofs that the genocide in Srebrenica has not ended to this day

In recent years, ahead of and during July 11, Bosniaks and their political representatives have increasingly agreed to be drawn into a debate about whether genocide was committed in Srebrenica 19 years ago, or whether it was a massacre or a war crime of large proportions.

This shameful attempt to relativize genocide is not only a consequence of constant propaganda from Belgrade and Banja Luka. It is, on the contrary, the result of the fact that Bosniak politics has for several years ceased to impose a different debate.

There is no dispute that the genocide happened; the only thing that can be debated, analyzed and discussed is the extent to which this genocide still continues.

And there are many reasons confirming that the expulsion, killing, humiliation, looting and genocide against the people of Srebrenica and other Bosniaks from Podrinje, who were herded like sheep for slaughter into two enclaves, Srebrenica and Žepa, never stopped.

The Bosnian news agency Patria (NAP) lists six proofs that the genocide in Srebrenica has still not ended:

1. Kidnapping and hiding of mortal remains – After killing more than 10,000 people in Srebrenica, the aggressors buried the bodies of the victims in dozens of mass graves. Even 19 years after the crime, almost a third of the mortal remains have not been found. Many will never be found, and exhumations are fewer each year. Thousands of witnesses, soldiers and the Serbian population who could and must have seen where the bodies were hidden remain silent to this day. Mothers had their sons killed, wives their husbands, and sisters their brothers, and then they also stole their bodies, hid the mortal remains, and robbed them of the last shred of peace.
2. Obstruction of return – In recent years, Bosniaks return to Srebrenica only in coffins. Every July 11, several hundred or tens of them. More have returned to this town in this way than have returned to their rebuilt homes and stayed there. More Bosniaks "reside" in Srebrenica at the Memorial Center in Potočari than in Srebrenica and the surrounding villages.
3. Political discrimination – Bosniaks in Srebrenica have the position of mayor, but this is only an exception that confirms the rule that they are second-class citizens in the Republika Srpska and are exposed to the continuation of genocidal policy. This is supported by devastating statistical data according to which, in the government of the BiH entity RS, 15 ministries, 25 administrative organizations, six administrations and the General Secretariat, only 134 or 2.66 percent of employees are Bosniaks. In all municipalities in the BiH entity RS, 250 or 4.7 percent of Bosniaks are employed, out of a total of 5,264 employees. In primary schools, only 534, or 4.57 percent of teaching and non-teaching staff are Bosniaks, out of a total of 11,671 employees. In the secondary school education system, 91 Bosniaks are employed, which is 1.8 percent of the total of 4,969 employees.
4. Denial of genocide and verbal harassment – Victims of genocide are almost daily, especially during election campaigns, subjected to harassment by RS leaders, particularly President Milorad Dodik, who denies the genocide. Dodik's lies cannot change the past or the facts, but his denial of genocide is cementing the results of ethnic cleansing, a continuation of the policy of genocide, and an announcement of a new wave of physical removal of Bosniaks.
5. Economic pogrom – The small number of returnees to Srebrenica and surrounding areas live extremely difficult lives, just like other returnees in the smaller BiH entity. There is no employment or investment, nor the reconstruction of destroyed companies. One of the few companies in Srebrenica that gave returnees hope for employment, "Cimos," is in constant financial trouble. The authorities from Banja Luka deliberately and calculatedly redirect investments to areas that have been ethnically cleansed, thus preventing returnees from staying. Also, returnees have no rights in the RS, so many are forced to live in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) to have at least health care. The recent decision of the FBiH government that these rights can be exercised in the FBiH is an attempt to correct this injustice.
6. Passing laws that prevent the retention of property ownership – The recent adoption of the law on residence and a series of regulations on property and cadastre is a continuation of the same policy aimed at physically removing Bosniaks from Podrinje. The RS government passes regulations in such a way that Bosniaks who do not have conditions for return lose their property, thus severing every legal and property connection with the homeland from which they were expelled. The goal of such regulations is to ensure that the results of the genocide are not changed, but only confirmed.