IGC has again this year sent a proposal to all levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) that January 9th be declared a day of mourning. This is the third year in a row that the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada (IGC) has submitted its proposal, bearing in mind the continuity of unconstitutional, anti-Bosnian, anti-state, and anti-civilizational actions in the Republika Srpska (RS) entity.
In the text of the proposal, IGC states, among other things:
January 9th is an insult to victims, the international order, and international justice. January 9th represents the popularization of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, rape, ethnic cleansing, and torture in death camps. To the planners and executors of this policy, the Hague Tribunal, national courts of states, and courts in BiH have handed down more than a thousand years of prison sentences. For genocide and other crimes in Srebrenica alone, dozens of masterminds and perpetrators have so far been sentenced to more than 550 years in prison.
The judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) have established two joint criminal enterprises aimed at creating ethnically pure territories in BiH and destroying the internationally recognized state of BiH.
The implementation of the joint criminal enterprise began on January 9th, 1992, with the proclamation of the “state of the Serb people” in BiH, which was an introduction to plans to break up BiH, accompanied by crimes unseen since the Second World War.
The ICTY judgments confirmed the existence of an international conflict in BiH, since the aim was to create other states on the territory of BiH, contrary to the internationally recognized state of BiH. Serious violations of international humanitarian law across the entire territory of BiH were established as a consequence of the joint criminal enterprises.
According to ICTY judgments, the first criminal plan, which triggered a spiral of crimes in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, focused on BiH and Croatia, was initiated by Slobodan Milosevic and his associates, including Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic, convicted before the ICTY/IRMCT, as well as his associates and aides in BiH, led by Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
United Nations (UN) judgments confirmed all international crimes, including the crime of genocide in Srebrenica and Eastern Bosnia. Slobodan Milosevic, an ICTY indictee, negotiated the joint criminal enterprise with the political leadership of the Serbs in BiH. Key figures of the Serb political leadership, such as Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic, Momcilo Krajisnik, Biljana Plavsic, Mico Stanisic, and others, were convicted before the ICTY/IRMCT for serious violations of international humanitarian law and participation in the joint criminal enterprise as a form of individual criminal responsibility.
All citizens of BiH on January 9th, 1992, regardless of any affiliation, became victims of such a policy, and January 9th symbolizes the darkest memories of the victims. The legacy of January 9th is visible through the actions of the UN and European Union (EU) courts and institutions, which established the ICTY due to the threat to peace in the world.
Through its decisions and resolutions at the federal level and at the level of provinces, territories, and cities, Canada clearly emphasizes the scale of crimes and responsibility for crimes in BiH. The UN Resolution on Srebrenica, one of whose sponsors is Canada, represents the latest and most important example of Canada’s and the international community’s actions.
The Government of Canada most strongly condemns the marking of January 9th and calls for the implementation of the decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH, which determined that the Law on Holidays of the RS entity is not in accordance with the Constitution of BiH and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
By declaring January 9th a day of mourning, we would pay tribute to the victims of crimes in BiH and send a clear message that we will not tolerate historical revisionism, the glorification of criminals, the denial of genocide, and the denial of judgments of international and domestic courts.
