Emir Suljagic, the head of the Srebrenica Memorial Centre, said they have received as many as 1,900 threatening messages and other provocations over the past seven days.
“Srebrenica Memorial Centre received at least 1,900 messages of threats, denial of victims, provocations and glorification of war criminals, in the last seven days both from fake and real profiles on Twitter (X), Facebook and Instagram. We responded to all of this by talking about the victims, focusing on the families’ stories, and working to prevent hate speech and populism on this important issue,” Suljagic said.
The information comes amidst ongoing discussion on the vote on the Srebrenica genocide resolution that is set to be on the UN General Assembly's session in the upcoming period. It sparked strong reactions in the neighbouring Serbia, whose leadership claims that the document is targeting Serbia and the Serb people. But, the final draft resolution proved them wrong.
Suljagic stressed that the most important thing that the Srebrenica Memorial Centre is working on is the education of the generations to come.
“On this path, there is no ‘competition’ of great world tragedies, genocides and crimes, we have no fear of talking about history in its entirety. That is what others are afraid of. In fact, perhaps the most important thing for me to share with you is what do we teach children when we teach them about Srebrenica? What do we explain to them when they come from a bus for one-day trip to this town?,” he said.
The main thing the visitors are taught, he added, is what hatred could produce.
“We teach them that words have consequences. We teach them that the existence of a political and military apparatus of power can very quickly and very efficiently destroy entire communities. It interrupts lives, plans, families, destroys homes, stops stories, interrupts memories. We teach them that the silent consent of the majority is enough for that, and that from that moment on, things happen very quickly and almost unstoppably. We tell them about how Bosniak returnees live today in Srebrenica, Bratunac, eastern Bosnia. We tell them how their peers manage in an educational system that denies their identity, history and tradition. We tell them about the courage of women in our society, we explain to them how important it is to build a society of equality, tolerance and peace,” Suljagic stressed.
Then he added:
“We work with them to be brave, strong and loud. That they know how to point out injustice, that they know how to recognise the first signs of hatred – which can result in the new ‘Srebrenica’ tomorrow. We want to convey that to the whole world. We want to share the lessons from the nineties with the communities in other places, at least where it is not too late”.
He concluded by saying that this is not just a story about Srebrenica, but about proving the truth.
“We proved the facts in the courts. What we are talking about before the UN is an effort to make Srebrenica an example and a warning for others. I know you are tired. I know that the story of Srebrenica has been filling the front pages for almost two months now. But we are not the ones making the covers. This has been made a topic by those who do not want children and generations to come to learn something from our examples. Let's close this chapter together,” he underlined.
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