Marking the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, Bosnian Embassy in London organised a dinner which was attended by British MPs, Remembering Srebrenica initiative representatives and many others.
Bosnian Ambassador Vanja Filipovic welcomed senior officials including former Bosnian Presidency member Haris Silajdzic, Viscount James Younger Leckie, British Minister of Communities and Religion, Lord Nick Bourne of Aberystwyth, Head of the Remembering Srebrenica initiative Baroness Nosheena Mobarik CBE, Remembering Srebrenica's patron Alicia Kearns MP, UNICEF Ambassador Martin Bell OBE, Former BBC War Reporter Andrew Page, Director for the Western Balkans at the Foreign Office Waqar Azmi OBE, Director of Remembering Srebrenica, representatives of Bosnian communities in the UK and friends of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Ambassador Filipovic thanked the guests for their continued work on preserving the memory of the Srebrenica genocide, on paying their respects to the victims and survivors of the genocide and for making sure that such atrocities never happen again.
Haris Silajdzic pointed to UK's common position to take the leading role in the promotion of true values in Bosnia and the world, while ministers James Younger and Page said that UK's interest for the Western Balkans will not diminish, regardless of the Brexit, UK Network reported.
In 2019, over 1,100 events took place in the UK regarding the Srebrenica genocide and war in Bosnia, which were attended by a great number of guests. In addition to organising commemorations, the Remembering Srebrenica initiative works in schools across the UK, teaching lessons learned from the Srebrenica genocide. Through these and other educational activities, they worked with over 95,000 children.
Every year, the initiative chooses a topic which reflects one of the aspects of the genocide and marks it that year. Last year's topic was ‘Bridging the Divide: Confronting Hate.’ it inspired people to confront those who aim to divide the community and to recognise those building bridges between communities.
