Prof. dr. David Pettigrew, CSU Professor of Philosophy and Holocaust and Genocide Studies Southern Connecticut State University, Member, Advisory Committee, Yale University Genocide Studies Program addressed today in Prijedor at” Omarska 2026. Remembering the children who were victims of war crimes in “Republika Srpska,”1992-1995.”
“In May 1992, the Bosnian Serb Military and Police launched a brutal assault on Bosniak and other non-Serb villages in the Prijedor area, destroying homes and killing civilians, as well asdetaining them in concentration camps. In the course of these atrocities children were also victims. Among the villages attacked were Kozarac, Hambarine and Zecovi. In one day, Fikret Bačić lost 29 family members: 15 children and 14 women were killed. A total of 159 villagers were killed in his village. The youngest victim was two years old. Survivors continue to struggle to assert their human right to install memorials to remember the victims and preserve the truth about these atrocities. Survivors have attempted to gain approval of the Prijedor municipal assembly to install a memorial in the center of Prijedor in memory of the children who were murdered. However, this has not been permitted,” professor said.
“Attacks on children took place across Republika Srpska.Violence against women and girls in Foča led to a landmark ruling by the ICTY, in which the accused were found guilty of rape as a crime against humanity. Bosniak women and girls, as young as 12 years old were subjected to this horrific violence.No memorial has been permitted at “Partizan” sports hall where the crimes occurred, and the three convicted perpetrators have completed their prison sentences and have been released. In Višegrad, on two separate occasions, up to 70 women and children were forced into houses that were then set ablaze. There is a memorial panel in the reconstructed house on Pionirska street with the photos and names of the victims. For atwo-day old child, there was no photo, so it was labeled „nema slika“ [no photo]. In the Bikavac neighborhood in Višegrad, at another house where civilians were set on fire, a witness testified that: “There were many children in that house, it’s so sad”. The witness added that the youngest child was less than one year old and most of the people were younger women with children,” he added.
Professor explained that this systematic effort to erase the children, who were the promise of a next generation, is another indicator that there was genocidal intent in Prijedor and in Republika Srpska. Another indicator of genocidal intent in Prijedor was that Duško Tadić, the first person convicted by the ICTY, openly supported the genocidal plan for a Greater Serbia from which non-Serbs, were to be removed, including the children. Today we must also remember the children who were targeted in Sarajevo and elsewhere.
There is a level of cruelty to such a systemic targeting of children that must be thoroughly documented and forcefully condemned by the international community. In response to this cruelty, the right of the survivors to install memorials such as the memorial for the children killed in Prijedor, or the installation of a museum in the White House at Omarska, must be protected and supported by Human Rights Commissioners at the EU and the UN.
“It is an honor for me to stand with survivors and family members at Omarska in the struggle for a culture of remembrance. I also express solidarity today with the Srebrenica Memorial Center whose staff are being questioned by the Zvornik Police Administration. The attempt to persecute and intimidate those who are preserving and honoring the memory of victims of genocide represents an attack on all Bosniaks and genocide survivors. It is a new form of denial that is part of a systematic assault on the culture of remembrance. From Srebrenica to Prijedor the human right to truth and memorialization must be defended,” professor stated.
