Munira Subasic: I survived genocide, but the world has learned nothing

“I am Munira Subasic. I survived genocide. Twenty-two members of my immediate family were killed, among them my husband and my youngest son, the one I loved most in the world,” she began, addressing guests gathered from across the globe.

“For thirty years, we have carried pain in our hearts. We’ve listened to lies, watched hatred grow, and witnessed the glorification of war criminals. Our children were murdered because of their names, because they were Muslim. And the world, and Europe, watched in silence,” Subasic said.

She reminded the audience that the aftermath of the genocide left 5,500 children orphaned, children who saw their fathers die, mothers being raped, and entire communities expelled in bloodshed.

“Some children were born after their fathers had been killed. They don’t even have a photo to know what their fathers looked like. They ask us: ‘Do I look like him? Does my hair look like his?’ The murderers didn’t just kill our children, they tried to kill our memories,” she said.

Subasic offered sharp criticism of the international community and drew painful parallels with contemporary conflicts.

“Today, many mothers in Ukraine and Palestine are living what we went through in 1995. Europe is still telling stories. If you love us, why haven’t you accepted us into NATO? Why haven’t you welcomed us into the EU? We belong there, we don’t belong in the dark,” she stated.

Her address served as a testimony, a warning, and a plea for justice.

“There is no justice. Instead, fascism is awakening. It’s the 21st century, how far are we going to let this go?” she asked, before delivering her final, searing message: “Dead children cannot come back. But the killers must be punished. If my son had a name, then so must the man who killed him.”

Today, seven more victims of the Srebrenica genocide will be laid to rest at the Memorial Centre. Their coffins arrived yesterday in the solemn “convoy of silence.” Over 6,000 people took part in this year’s Peace March, retracing the harrowing 100-kilometre path through forests and mountains that survivors followed in 1995.

According to official records, at least 8,372 Bosniak men and boys were killed during the July 1995 genocide. Among those convicted for the crime are former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic and political leader Radovan Karadzic, both serving life sentences handed down by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.