The Government of Sarajevo Canton made a decision today to declare May 5 – the Day of Remembrance of the Murdered Children of Sarajevo – as the Day of Mourning in the Canton.
The decision was made at the initiative of the Minister of Veteran Affairs, Omer Osmanović, who pointed out that it is necessary that this date, as one of the most painful for the inhabitants of Sarajevo, be permanently marked as a Day of Mourning.
“By adopting this initiative, i.e. passing the decision to declare May 5 as the Day of Mourning, the memory of the murdered children would be permanently preserved, and such evil would never be repeated anywhere,” said Osmanović.
The provisions of the Law on Proclamation of Mourning in the Canton of Sarajevo prescribe the conditions for the declaration of mourning, the procedure for declaring mourning, the duration and the manner of expressing mourning in the Canton of Sarajevo. The further procedure will be carried out by the Expert Service of the Cantonal Government, with the consultation of the cantonal prime minister, the chairman and deputy chairman of the Assembly of the Canton of Sarajevo, and in accordance with the provisions of the aforementioned Law on the Declaration of Mourning in CS.
During the siege of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1995, members of the Republika Srpska Army killed 1,601 children of the city.
In the past period, the Government of Sarajevo Canton made a decision to designate May 5 as the Day of Remembrance for the Murdered Children of Sarajevo, as well as to mark that date with special events and holding history classes in educational institutions.
