The Genocide Research Institute of Canada has sent a letter of protest to Judson University President Dr. Grene Crume regarding the awarding of the Leadership and Democracy Award to Milorad Dodik.
The letter specifically states that Milorad Dodik has repeatedly undermined democratic principles and institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, calling for secession, violating the Dayton Peace Agreement, attacking the rule of law, and denying the genocide in Srebrenica.
Honoring a figure whose political career has been defined by anti-democratic actions is deeply at odds with the very values that this award claims to uphold, the Institute said.
In the letter of protest, the Genocide Research Institute of Canada expresses its serious concerns regarding Judson University’s decision to host Milorad Dodik, former President of Republika Srpska, as the keynote speaker at the 2026 World Leaders Forum entitled “Advocating for Democracy.”
“We are equally disturbed by this institution’s plan to present Dodik with its inaugural “Leadership and Commitment to Democracy” award. Dodik served as the eighth President of the Republika Srpska from 2022 until his removal from office in 2025. During his term and throughout his political career, he systematically undermined the foundations of peace, stability and the rule of law in BiH and the Western Balkans. Dodik has repeatedly and publicly called for the secession of the Republika Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina. These actions constitute a direct and flagrant violation of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in BiH (the Dayton Peace Agreement), which preserves the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political unity of BiH as a single state. By advocating for disintegration and ethnic division, Dodik is actively working to undo the hard-won country that ended the war and genocide of 1992-1995. His actions included threats of secession of the Republika Srpska entity, attacks on state institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and incitement of separatism at every turn, the Institute stated in the letter.
They pointed out that Dodik has consistently obstructed the authority of state institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including its Constitutional Court, Presidency, and judiciary. He has denied the genocide in Srebrenica, glorified convicted war criminals, and used his position to promote a destabilizing, ethno-nationalist agenda that threatens the rights and security of all citizens, especially genocide survivors and their descendants. Until recently, Dodik was primarily sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom for precisely these actions: destabilizing Bosnia and Herzegovina, undermining the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, and widespread corruption.
“Most troubling is the stark contradiction between Milorad Dodik’s record and the democratic values that Judson University is supposed to uphold. The United States was built on enduring principles of inalienable rights, a federal system designed to unite, not divide, and the supremacy of a constitutional order that binds all its constituent parts into a single, indivisible union. Within that tradition, democratic leadership is measured not by the ability to fragment political communities, but by an enduring commitment to preserving unity under the rule of law. By this standard, Mr. Dodik’s open advocacy of secession is not a defense of democracy, but its antithesis: a policy of fragmentation, ethnic exclusion, and the erosion of shared civic institutions, they stressed.
“The United States has long presented itself as a champion of accountability for atrocity crimes, the primacy of international law, and the protection of minority rights as the foundations of democratic governance. It is therefore deeply contradictory that the State of Illinois is hosting Milorad Dodik – widely recognized as one of the most prominent deniers of the Srebrenica genocide. Dodik’s denial of the Srebrenica genocide – the worst mass crime on European soil since the Holocaust – is not a marginal or insignificant political position. It represents a direct attack on truth, on collective memory, and on the very foundations of justice, the Institute said.
“By awarding this award, Judson University supports the work of a genocide denier who supports Serbian extremism aimed at creating a “Greater Serbia” at the expense of the destruction of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dodik is a genocide denier and a sympathizer of the Greater Serbian nationalist policies, ideology, and practices embodied by the indicted war criminal Slobodan Milošević. To award such a figure an award is an attack on truth, justice, the culture of remembrance, the United Nations and its international courts, and the legal order. Most inexcusably, this award directly affects the victims – not only of the Srebrenica genocide, but of all terrible crimes in human history, including the Holocaust. Honoring a man who denies genocide, advocates secession, attacks the rule of law, and sympathizes with convicted war criminals sends a chilling message that those who undermine democratic institutions, threaten peace, deny genocide, and engage in corruption can be celebrated, not condemned,” the letter said.
The Institute emphasized that by granting Dodik a platform and an award named in defense of democracy, Judson University is providing moral legitimacy to a person who was recently sanctioned by the United States and other Western nations precisely for his anti-democratic, destabilizing actions.
“This decision confuses regional and international observers, deeply wounds the victims of the Bosnian genocide, and mocks the very principles of the rule of law, unity, and human dignity that American democracy supposedly defends. “Please reconsider Dodik’s appearance, reconsider the decision to award this award, and consider whether the forum’s mission is aligned with true democratic leadership,” the letter from the Genocide Research Institute of Canada states.
