Two events dedicated to remembrance, transitional justice and the lessons of Bosnia and Herzegovina for contemporary Europe were held this week in Stockholm, bringing together Swedish parliamentarians, diplomats, scholars and representatives of the Bosnian and Herzegovinian diaspora.
The events, organized by the Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Stockholm in cooperation with members of the Swedish Parliament, focused on the legacy of the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the importance of historical truth and the challenges posed by genocide denial, historical revisionism and the weakening of international law.
The first event, held on 26 May at the Swedish Parliament – the Riksdag – marked White Armband Day, commemorating the persecution of non-Serb civilians in Prijedor in 1992. Hosted by Member of Parliament Azra Muranović and organized together with the Western Balkans Friendship Group of the Riksdag, the commemoration included addresses by Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Sweden Bojan Šošić, Professor David Pettigrew, Professor Goran Šimić and Swedish parliamentarian and former Minister of Justice Morgan Johansson.
In his opening remarks, Ambassador Šošić emphasized that the crimes committed in Prijedor were not spontaneous acts of violence but part of a broader organized project of persecution, detention, expulsion and destruction directed against civilians.
Referring to the White Armband decree issued on 31 May 1992, he noted that the forced marking of Bosniak and Croat civilians with white armbands and white flags represented one of the most recognizable symbols of exclusion and dehumanization during the war.
Šošić also presented diagrams and maps from the work of former Croatian Defence Minister General Martin Špegelj, illustrating the restructuring and centralization of the Yugoslav People’s Army during the late 1980s, arguing that these developments weakened the constitutional position of the Yugoslav republics and laid institutional foundations later used in the wars against Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Professor David Pettigrew focused on the issue of memorialization and the rights of victims and survivors, calling on members of the Swedish Parliament and the diplomatic community to support the construction of a memorial in Prijedor dedicated to the 102 children killed during the war.
Pettigrew warned about the continued glorification of convicted war criminals, genocide denial and the obstruction of memorial initiatives in several municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, arguing that the absence of a serious culture of remembrance undermines democratic development and reconciliation.
Professor Goran Šimić emphasized that postwar societies cannot overcome divisions without establishing objective facts about wartime events. He argued that final and authoritative determinations regarding genocide and war crimes can only be made by courts, whose verdicts establish facts beyond reasonable doubt regardless of whether societies are willing to accept them politically.
The closing remarks were delivered by Morgan Johansson, former Swedish Minister of Justice and Vice Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Swedish Parliament, who drew parallels between the failures of the international community during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and contemporary global crises.
Johansson warned that international law is currently facing profound challenges, pointing to Ukraine, Palestine and Sudan as examples of ongoing failures to prevent atrocities and protect civilians. He stressed that defending institutions such as the International Criminal Court and the United Nations remains one of the key political and moral tasks of the present time.
The second event was held on 28 May at the Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Stockholm under the title “Truth, Memory, and Democracy: Lessons from Bosnia for Europe,” featuring presentations by Professor Santino Sanimir Rešić, Professor Goran Šimić and Professor David Pettigrew.
Opening the seminar, Ambassador Šošić stated that Bosnia and Herzegovina is too often viewed internationally primarily through the language of crisis and intervention, rather than as a country whose historical experience may offer important lessons to Europe and the wider international community.
He argued that questions Bosnians and Herzegovinians faced during the 1990s — including aggression, propaganda, democratic erosion, dehumanization and the failure of international law — have once again become central European questions in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing instability in the international order.
Professor Santino Sanimir Rešić addressed what he described as the powerful “culture of history” in the post-Yugoslav region, warning that the obsessive political use of the past continues to produce division and conflict throughout the Western Balkans.
“The future has become hostage to the past,” Rešić said, emphasizing that serious historiography must rely on scholarly standards, objective methodology and critical distance, rather than political instrumentalization.
Professor Šimić expanded on the issue of postwar trust and judicial truth, stressing that societies which reject established judicial facts inevitably remain trapped in competing myths and incompatible interpretations of history.
Professor Pettigrew, meanwhile, warned that the escalation of genocide denial and the glorification of war criminals in Bosnia and Herzegovina reflects the failure of more comprehensive transitional justice initiatives after the war. He called on European institutions and the Office of the High Representative to more actively support memorialization initiatives and the protection of victims’ rights.
The event at the Riksdag also included artistic components dedicated to the culture of remembrance, including works by Adis Elias and Danis Lan Fejzić, Elma Čaušević-Mujezinović and selected pieces from Mensur Bešlagić’s drawing cycle “1992,” reflecting on the suffering of civilians in the Prijedorregion and the enduring questions of memory, empathy and human responsibility after mass violence.
Participants from Swedish institutions, academia and the diplomatic corps emphasized during discussions that the experience of Bosnia and Herzegovina remains highly relevant today, particularly in understanding the consequences of nationalism, propaganda, institutional paralysis and delayed international response to mass atrocities.
