The High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Valentin Inzko, has again been urged to adopt a law banning genocide denial and glorification of war criminals.
The appeal was made by the Society for Endangered Nations, survivors’ associations and civil society organizations. They were supported by former High Representative Christian Schwarz-Schilling and the German Heinrich Böll Foundation.
“About a year ago, when Peter Handke was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, we strongly protested against his denial and reduction of Serb war crimes and genocide in Srebrenica. Together with the mothers of Srebrenica and the survivors of concentration camps in Bosnia, who do not allow war crimes and genocide are just denied and forgotten, we have expressed outrage over the denial of genocide, which is widespread in Republika Srpska and Serbia, and we have drawn attention to the fact that this denial has entered the discourse and mainstream at European level and can cause serious damage to post-war generations and young people around the world, “said the Society for Endangered Nations.
According to them, in a country where, 25 years after the end of the war, institutions are named after major convicted war criminals such as Radovan Karadzic, memorial plaques glorifying former General Ratko Mladic and provocative monuments are being erected in ethnically cleansed areas of RS”, there can be no reckoning with the past and reconciliation.
The RS’s constant threats to secede from Bosnia and Herzegovina are unbearable and unacceptable.
“The international community must oppose destabilization and secession and strongly condemn such efforts. Genocide denial must stop before Bosnia and Herzegovina joins the European Union and joins NATO.
“We are still convinced that peaceful coexistence between different peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina is possible. Before the war, Bosnia and Herzegovina was a ‘small Europe that, thanks to its multi-religious, multicultural and multiethnic composition, could be an example to many countries.’ Don’t disappoint us, “the appeal said.
