The Bill designating July 11 as the Day of Remembrance of the Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina was unanimously adopted Tuesday night in the House of Representatives and in the Senate of the State of Connecticut. Thus it will become law in this US state. The Governor is expected to sign it in due time.

“The Governor shall proclaim the month of March of each year to be Peace Corps Month, in recognition of the service provided by the volunteers of the Peace Corps in supporting the global community. Suitable exercises may be held in the State Capitol and elsewhere as the Governor designates for the observance of the month,” the decision states.

When the overall bill was introduced both Senators and Representatives expressed their deep gratitude to survivors of the Srebrenica genocide and other atrocities who provided courageous testimony in support of the bill. The Senators and Representatives emphasized that they took the stories of the survivors to heart and learned the importance of not forgetting the victims and of ensuring that the atrocities will not be repeated genocide prevention.

The main sponsor of the bill Senator Saud Anwar also spoke in support of the bill before the vote and thanked especially his intern, Bekir Hodzic, a young student who is named after his uncle who was murdered on the Srebrenica death march.

David Pettigrew, a professor of Philosophy, Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Southern Connecticut State University spoke in support of this initiative:

“This Bill would support the human right to the truth and to memorialization for survivors of the Bosnian genocide and their descendants,” Pettigrew said, noting that two International Courts have judged the atrocities committed in Bosnia to be genocide and other war crimes.

“The genocide conviction of Radovan Karadzic, for example, found, significantly, that he was part of a Joint Criminal Enterprise that sought to permanently remove all Bosnian Muslims from Bosnian Serb claimed territory through atrocities that took place in towns across Bosnia such as Foca, Kalinovik, Prijedor, and Visegrad; places where even today survivors are discouraged or prohibited from installing memorials for the victims, but where convicted perpetrators are glorified and the atrocities are denied,” he said.

Pettigrew concluded that the Bill would provide crucial support for the members of our Bosnian-American community in Connecticut “as they–and we– commemorate the genocide and remember their loved ones.”