The adoption of the UN Resolution marking July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance and Commemoration of the Genocide in Srebrenica in 1995 was a historic vote for remembering the victims, confirming the truth about the genocide and resisting denial - said the professor of philosophy and the study of Holocaust of Genocide at Southern Connecticut State University and member of the Board of Directors of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University, David Pettigrew, in an interview with Fena.

The American professor assesses that, although predictable, the reaction of Republika Srpska (RS) entity Milorad Dodik and the RS National Assembly to this resolution is reprehensible. The proposal to initiate a “peaceful separation” from BiH is a clear threat to peace, showing that the RS is continuing its secession from the 1990s in order to achieve ethnic homogeneity as part of “Greater Serbia”.

“Such a threat underpins Moscow's ongoing efforts to undermine the regional stability and prevent EU integration. Such threats require the strongest possible response from the international community”, professor Pettigrew said.

Now that May 31 is approaching and the marking of the “Day of the White Ribbons”, he believes it is important to stand in solidarity with those who demand the installation of a monument to the victims in Prijedor, where it was established that the concentration camps and other documented crimes were part of the plan to establish an ethnically homogeneous “Greater Serbia”.

He also assesses that the adoption of the Resolution on the genocide in Srebrenica further strengthened the role of BiH as a fully engaged member of the community of peoples of the world because it cooperated so effectively with a wide range of nations, including its neighbours in the European community, to achieve this historic diplomatic task. In the end, he stressed, the forces of denial, from the Russian Federation, through Serbia, to Hungary, failed to stop the UN Resolution.

“Finally, the Resolution on the Srebrenica genocide reminds us of the importance of human solidarity in the fight for truth and justice at a time when Palestinian civilians in Gaza are experiencing such catastrophic human suffering. We must do everything in our power to demand a ceasefire and humanitarian aid in order to prevent one of the worst humanitarian disasters of our time,” Prof. David Pettigrew said.