UK Government and Srebrenica Memorial Center Continue Cooperation Through New Project

(Patria) - Following the successfully completed three-year project "Truth, Dialogue, Future" implemented by the Srebrenica Memorial Center with the support of the UK Government, which was the basis for the development of this institution into a contemporary memorial with numerous partners, activities, and exhibits that follow the highest global standards of memorialization, the continuation of our cooperation through the new Srebrenica Memorial Center Sustainability Project has been confirmed today.

"I take this opportunity to thank the team of the British Embassy in Sarajevo and the UK Government for their exceptional cooperation. We have made significant strides, done what it takes for other donors to believe that we can conduct major programmatic activities independently, you have given us the space to grow and develop. Many thanks to the team led by Zlatan Hajlovac, who implemented excellent initiatives in the last three years thanks to this support. From this emerged an entire program of access to education for youth, international partnerships, exchange and knowledge transfer activities, established advanced procurement procedures, developed strategic documents, and created permanent exhibition displays. Now we are moving forward, with a one-year project towards sustainability, which will complete the process that I consider one of the most important tasks for our team – to ensure that this institution has mechanisms for permanent survival regardless of who leads it in the future," said the Director of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, Emir Suljagić.

The project will include the Eastern Bosnian Memory program, which will expand the memorialization activities of the ethnic cleansing of the Bosniak population of Eastern Bosnia, where the Memorial Center will be a support for associations and groups for commemoration, remembrance, and education about crimes throughout the region.

"We are developing new activities in the field of fundraising, which will focus on domestic forces – the private sector and individual citizens, to create a framework where this institution can rely on meaningful, transparent, and program-oriented support from our people. Our goal is to establish a Foundation that will bring together our friends in Europe, and which will enable us to develop an international organization capable of securing project funding in Srebrenica by accessing funds for which our institution is not eligible due to the fact that it is registered in BiH or because its nature does not fall under non-governmental organizations. This is something we discussed during recent visits to Italy and Germany, so we will revive it through this project. We also plan to work on researching European case law on the punishability of genocide denial," added Program Coordinator Amra Begović.

The Memorial Center will develop a Development Strategy until 2030, and will establish a systematization proposal for the development of the Genocide Research Department, in line with the new provisions of the Law on the Memorial Center imposed by High Representative Christian Schmidt, which expanded the institution's scope of work.

"We are upgrading the Srebrenica Volunteer Program, which we previously developed in cooperation with the UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, UNDP, and UNHCR, which will enable volunteering for the Memorial Center from all over the world. We are continuing with the Exchange Program activities with memorials from the rest of the world, as well as the activities of the Dialogue Committee. We will go a step further as an institution in the fight against genocide denial, about which we will speak more in the coming period. We will achieve all of this thanks to the cooperation with the UK Government," added Begović.

The British Embassy in Sarajevo states that the UK Government will continue to support the efforts of the Srebrenica Memorial Center.

"Through its activities in the last three years, the Memorial Center has proven to be an institution worthy of trust, with the capacity to grow and develop, which is why we proudly highlight the cooperation we have. The whole world, in accordance with the new Resolution, will remember and commemorate July 11th, but we will also work every other day. The UK Government continues to support the mission of this institution – building peace and trust based on truth and justice," concluded the British Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Julian Reilly.