Amnesty International’s calling the 1995 Srebrenica genocide a “massacre” is not a linguistic slip, but a dangerous, dehumanizing denial of the only genocide on European soil since the Holocaust. At the same time, it is an insult to the victims of genocide and a humiliation of international law and justice, a humiliation of the United Nations, which established the two international courts that ruled on the Srebrenica genocide.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice have ruled that the crimes committed in Srebrenica constitute an act of genocide.
In 2024, the UN General Assembly designated July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance and Commemoration of the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide. This day is dedicated to honoring the victims and raising awareness of the genocide in order to prevent the denial and distortion of historical and judicial facts.
In 2015, the Canadian Parliament unanimously adopted a historic resolution recognizing April as the Month of Remembrance, Condemnation and Prevention of Genocide, recognizing several genocides, including the Srebrenica genocide. In 2010, the Canadian Parliament unanimously adopted resolution M-416, which recognized the Srebrenica genocide and established Srebrenica Genocide Remembrance Day in Canada.
In its statement, Amnesty International acknowledged these verdicts but continued to call the crime a “massacre”. This dangerous, dehumanizing, offensive contradiction encourages the denial of genocide that Amnesty International warns against
It is very important to use the judicial facts about the genocide in Srebrenica and to call it as it was judged in the courts of the United Nations. Especially when the victims of genocide are still fighting for recognition, justice, truth and a culture of remembrance.
If you claim to oppose the denial of genocide, then call Srebrenica what it is, which is a historical and judicial fact: genocide. Otherwise, you are siding with the genocide deniers, revisionists of historical and judicial facts and glorifiers of convicted war criminals.
The International Expert Team of the Genocide Research Institute of Canada demands that Amnesty International use the word genocide in the above text and in all future texts, analyses and statements.
