The commemoration regarding the 27th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica was held Wednesday night at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom where BiH Presidency Chairman Sefik Dzaferovic, and the UK Minister for Europe, Graham Stuart, spoke.

Alicia Kearns, the President of the All-Party Group for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the British Parliament, Fabian Hamilton, director of the Memorial Center, Emir Suljagic, and Waqar Azmi, president of the Remembering Srebrenica Foundation, also spoke.

Dzaferovic said that the genocide against Bosniaks in Srebrenica was the work of an institutional structure.

“Genocide was not committed by individuals, but by the dark system of the Republika Srpska government, which forbade individuals to do good and save human lives. The duty that that system placed before individuals was to help commit genocide and persecution, and if they refused, they were punished,” Dzaferovic said.

He added that “it is a sacred duty to never again allow the regime that committed genocide to be the master of human destinies in BiH.”

Minister Graham Stuart emphasised that the United Kingdom remembers the genocide and sympathizes with the victims’ families.
– We stand with the victims’ families in their fight for justice – he said.

He added that the United Kingdom sanctioned RS officials Milorad Dodik and Zeljka Cvijanovic for their attempts to undermine the state and its functionality, and for their dangerous nationalist rhetoric and genocide denial.

Alicia Kearns recalled her first visit to Srebrenica in 2016 and said that anyone who visits Potocari must experience a profound change.

“The mothers of Srebrenica faced the worst in man, yet they show the best in man. The absence of vindictiveness, regardless of so much pain, and their persistence in seeking justice result in the endurance and constant optimism of the survivors of the war in BiH,” she said.

She added that British MPs will continue to raise their voices in the name of support for the victims.