In the former Omarska camp near Prijedor, organized by the Association of Camp Inmates in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Regional Association of Camp Inmates Associations of the Banja Luka Region, the Association of Camp Inmates “Prijedor `92.”, the Association of Camp Inmates Kozarac and the Citizens’ Association Sedra, the 33rd anniversary of the beginning of the dissolution, or closure, of this concentration camp was marked.
“On this day, we commemorate the crimes that took place in the area of the Omarska camp, one of 657 camps throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. Yesterday, the crime at Hrastova Glavica was also commemorated, and after that, a Night of Remembrance for Dr. Esad Sadiković, a doctor-camp inmate of Omarska, was organized in Prijedor,” said Seid Omerović, president of the Association of Camp Inmates in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Hrastova Glavica mass grave is located in the Sanski Most area, near the village of Podvidača, and is the place of execution of 124 camp inmates, of Bosniak and Croat ethnicity, from the Prijedor camps Omarska and Keraterm. The prisoners were shot, and then they would fall into the abyss of this natural pit. Omarska camp, known for the torture of prisoners with burning truck tires, the heartless bets of the guards on individual executions of prisoners who had previously stood for hours without water and food on the training ground during that summer period, and then the bodies of the killed would be left lying on the training ground of the camp for days.
“The connection between these two places is also known through Dr. Esad Sadiković, a doctor-camp prisoner from Omarska who sews up the wounds of tortured prisoners in the camp with strands of human hair, a member of “Medecins sans frontieres” and a holder of a UN passport, who was shot right above the Hrastova Glavica pit,” said Omerović.
The President of the Association of Camp Inmates in Bosnia and Herzegovina once again reminded of the importance of passing the Law on the Protection of Victims of War Torture, which would address the status of camp inmates in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The task of the Association of Camp Inmates in BiH, with today’s commemoration, as well as the other 56 commemorations that we carry out independently with our members and other partners throughout BiH, is to remind, but also to remember and draw conclusions,” said Omerović.
The commemoration was also attended by Prof. Dr. David Pettigrew, Professor of Philosophy and Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Southern Connecticut State University, member of the Board of Directors of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University.
As Bosnia and Herzegovina recently marked the 30th “anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, attention has again turned to the broader context of the war and the unfinished work of justice. The genocide in July 1995 was the culmination of more than three years of aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina by Serbia and Croatia. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) established that Joint Criminal Enterprises sought to create ethnically homogeneous “Greater Serbia” and “Greater Croatia” through war crimes, including atrocities committed at Omarska in 1992,” professor said.
He added that observers warn that ultranationalist ideologies from the 1990s remain active today. Genocide denial, glorification of war criminals, and recent public threats made by a convicted war criminal against Bosnian citizens illustrate ongoing attempts to advance divisive nationalist projects. Analysts note that these efforts have been fueled in part by the shortcomings of international justice. Few genocide convictions were issued, sentences were often lenient, and many prisoners were released early.
Although the ICTY consistently found evidence of a genocidal plan to permanently remove non-Serbs from Bosnian Serb-controlled areas, it ultimately did not convict Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić of genocide for crimes in Prijedor or at Omarska. Critics argue that this inconsistency weakened accountability and contributed to today’s climate of denial, professor explained.
Beyond the courts, Bosnia has lacked broader transitional justice initiatives. Survivors and civil society organizations emphasize the need for commemorations, memorials, museums, and education programs to build a culture of remembrance and prevent a repeat of atrocities. Yet survivors are still barred from installing memorials at massacre sites such as the Pilica Cultural Center, and murals glorifying war criminals, like the one of Ratko Mladić in Kalinovik, remain visible across Republika Srpska, he added.
The Office of the High Representative (OHR) has so far declined to use its Bonn Powers to establish protected national memorial sites similar to the Srebrenica Memorial Center. Critics warn that continued inaction risks complicity in denial and emboldens extremist narratives. Proposals such as a permanent memorial center at Omarska—initially pledged by ArcelorMittal in 2005 but blocked by Prijedor Municipality in 2006 – still provide a legal and moral basis for international intervention.
Standing with survivors at Omarska, community leaders and advocates stressed that remembrance is both an act of resistance against nationalist ideologies and a cornerstone of rebuilding a post-genocide society. Survivors’ courage, their insistence on truth, and their demand for recognition of victims remain vital to Bosnia’s democratic future and to the protection of human rights, including the right to memorialization, he concluded.
