Statement on the Failure of the UN Resolution on the Srebrenica Genocide

The U.S. Embassy strongly echoes the sentiments expressed by Ambassador Power on the floor of the United Nations yesterday, voices throughout the U.S. Government, and members of the international community who were equally disheartened by Russia’s decision to veto the Security Council resolution commemorating the 20^th Anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide.  As Ambassador Power noted, “So long as the truth is denied, whether here in this council or in the region, there can be no meaningful reconciliation.”

As Ambassador Cormack noted in remarks to press prior to this morning’s coffin procession, the failure of the resolution in no way diminishes the resolve of the United States to honor the victims of the Srebrenica Genocide and their families.   The U.S. Congress did just that yesterday in unanimously adopting a resolution reiterating that genocide was committed in Srebrenica, condemning those who would deny that, and paying tribute to the victims.   Several individual states have passed similar resolutions in recent weeks, reflecting that in the United States, we fully respect the verdict of the International Court of Justice and the rulings by ICTY that what happened in Srebrenica twenty years ago was genocide, and our belief that not enough was done to prevent it.

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