Remembering Srebrenica – Foreign Secretary commemorates the 24th anniversary of the genocide
The Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has marked the 24th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide by honouring its more than 8,000 victims.
Today (11 July) is twenty four years since the Srebrenica massacre – one of the worst atrocities in Europe since the end of World War Two. More than 8,000 mostly men and boys were claimed in a brutal act of genocide in and around the town of Srebrenica.
On today’s anniversary, the Foreign Secretary has emphasised the importance of addressing the legacy of Srebrenica by ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable.
He also welcomed the powerful message sent by this year’s historic Karadžić Appeal Judgment that confirmed that justice cannot be outrun. The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) ruled that former Bosnian-Serb leader Radovan Karadžić’s sentence should be upgraded from 40 years imprisonment to life.
On the 24th anniversary, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said:
On this day, 24 years since the Srebrenica massacre, we must honour those who died, their families and their communities, whose lives were cruelly and irreversibly changed.
It is vital that we continue to counter and condemn any efforts to negate the atrocity which took place in Srebrenica.
The UK remains committed to helping the region overcome the legacy of past conflict and to build a more peaceful, prosperous and stable future for all. That must include striving for justice for the victims.
The UK fully supports the work of the IRMCT and other organisations in seeking justice, supporting survivors, and aiming to find and identify those still missing as a result of conflict in the region. This year’s historic judgment to strengthen the sentence handed to Karadžić is a just and important reminder that there will be no impunity for those who commit such horrific crimes.
At last week’s Western Balkans Summit in Poznań, Prime Minister Theresa May and Minister of State for Europe and the Americas, Sir Alan Duncan, reminded Western Balkans and European leaders of the collective responsibility to adhere to the values and implement the commitments set out in the Joint Declarations on War Crimes and on Missing Persons signed at the London Western Balkans Summit in 2018.
Further Information
At the London-hosted Berlin Process Summit in 2018, Heads of Government or their representatives from Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, UK signedJoint Declarations on Good Neighbourly Relations, Missing Persons and War Crimes in the Framework of the Berlin Process
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