Thousands of people have gathered in Srebrenica to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the genocide Stories of the Srebrenica massacre

Ten newly identified people were laid to rest as more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were remembered.

Thousands of people have gathered in Bosnia and Herzegovina to celebrate the 31st anniversary Srebrenica genocideas leaders and activists around the world use this day to call on people to fight against human rights abuses.

On Saturday, mourners, survivors, foreign dignitaries and religious leaders gathered at the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial Center to remember those killed in 1995. People took part in the annual peace procession before the 10 newly identified people were buried.

Bosnian Serb forces overran the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995, killing more than 8,000 Bosnian men and boys over several days. Srebrenica had been declared a “protected area” by the United Nations Security Council two years earlier.

Mr. Denis Becirovic, Chairman of the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that honoring those who were killed is necessary to maintain peace.

He said: “If we fail to preserve the truth of the past, we will not have a future or a present.”

The Dutch Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Henk van den Dool, said that education is important to prevent the recurrence of such atrocities.

“One of the goals we share with the Srebrenica Memorial Center, with the women, and with the survivors is to translate this eternal warning into something useful. One of the most effective and efficient ways to do this is through education,” he said.

Seeking justice

Every year on July 11, the newly identified victims are buried at the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial Center, while researchers continue to search for the remains of people buried in mass graves in the surrounding area.

More than 1,000 people are still missing following the genocide, which has been described as the worst atrocity in Europe since the war. The Holocaust during World War II.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the killing a “crime against humanity”, while London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted that he was “deeply moved” during his visit to Srebrenica last week.

“Today, as we remember the victims and their families who are shining, we must also commit to fighting violence and blasphemy wherever we encounter it and stop hate from happening,” Khan said.

More than 100,000 people were killed during the war The Bosnian War between 1992 and 1995. The war followed the breakup of Yugoslavia, which led to various conflicts and wars for independence among the former Balkan states.

In recent days, campaigners have compared the Srebrenica genocide to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Kenneth Roth, former director of Human Rights Watch, criticized the Israeli authorities for their crimes.

“The United Nations this week commemorated the genocide in Bosnia – the 8,000+ Muslim men and boys killed in Srebrenica in July 1995. The leaders of the massacre were convicted. The Israeli killers in Gaza are still at large,” Roth said. said on X.