The Srebrenica Flower Monument was officially unveiled on Monday in front of the UN headquarters in New York. The monument will be a permanent reminder of the most serious war crime – genocide – committed in the UN protected enclave in July 1995. This is a continuation of the implementation of the Resolution on the Permanent Commemoration of the Day of Remembrance of the Greatest Crime on European Soil after World War II.
The unveiling of the monument, which bears witness to the greatest crime committed on the soil of modern Europe, has been long awaited. The monument was unveiled on the United Nations Square in New York.
The foundations of the monument, which are underground, are a five-ton structure, while above ground, the monument with a stone and steel structure weighs three tons. The symbolism is also heavy: 8,372 victims of genocide.
“This monument is a permanent testimony and a warning and a signpost, a testimony to the genocide committed against Bosniaks, which was finally adjudicated in the UN courts,” said Denis Bećirović, member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SDP).
“Today we remember and pay tribute to every family and life that was broken and to every survivor who was brave enough to fight for the truth and the mothers of Srebrenica, who face the criminals in the courtrooms and do not allow the world to forget. They raise new generations with love, not hate. That is what justice demands,” said Melissa Fleming, UN Deputy Secretary-General.
This is the result of a multi-year struggle for justice and truth that the world has looked into the eyes of. First and foremost, the United Nations, under whose flag and protection members of the then Army of Republika Srpska killed more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in 1995. For the genocide committed, more than 50 people have been sentenced to a total of 780 years in prison before domestic and international courts.
“Finally, justice has been served to the victims and this is what this monument represents, and that is why we should see this monument as a way to remember our loved ones lost in the genocide. We should not just watch it from a distance, but understand it as a plea for children, their children’s children – not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but in the world to fight for peace,” said Caloka Beyani, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide.
“This monument will speak of the past and how our children were killed under the auspices of the UN, and it will be a warning for the future. The color white is the color of innocence because our innocent children were killed,” emphasized Munira Subasic, president of the Association of Mothers of the Enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa.
The unveiling of the monument is part of the continuation of the implementation of the Resolution adopted by the United Nations more than a year ago, which was a kind of act to mark the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Srebrenica Genocide worldwide, but also to show that justice is slow but achievable, Federalna writes.
