BOSNIA/FILE: Internet initiaive creates map of genocide to remember Srebrenica massacre

Record ID: 788693

  • Title: BOSNIA/FILE: Internet initiaive creates map of genocide to remember Srebrenica massacre
  • Date: 15th July 2011
  • Summary: SARAJEVO, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (JULY 15, 2011) (REUTERS) DIRECTOR OF YOUTH INITIATIVE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, ALMA MASIC, WORKING IN HER OFFICE MASIC WORKING AT HER DESK
  • Embargoed: 30th July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Topics: Conflict,Technology
  • Reuters ID: LVAS4HGLE0NF5SJ86LH1XB88B5I
  • Story Text: In July 1995 Europe's worst massacre since World War II took place in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. Bosnian Serb troops overran the UN Safe Area and slaughtered 8,000 Muslim men and boys, burying their bodies in mass graves.
    Sixteen years later, with former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic finally on trial in the Hague, a group of young activists have created an interactive map of the Srebrenica massacre.
    The web-based maps and audio-visual presentations show facts about the massacre verified by at least three independent sources, the war-crimes tribunal in the Hague, UN reports and the Serb Republic's commission on Srebrenica.
    Launched by advocacy group, Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina (YiHR), the 'Srebrenica, mapping genocide' wants to contribute to a better understanding of what happened in an effort to prevent similar atrocities in the future.
    "When you look at the map of Srebrenica you will see that the first phases of genocide were totally public, they were very visible until the last phase, the hiding of the evidence, which was the most monstrous. So we believe that this is our contribution to the recognition of possible crimes that can occur anywhere in the world so that people can do something about it," said Alma Masic, director of YiHR.
    Since the launch of the website activists have organised many presentations in the region and many towns in neighbouring Serbia.
    "In order to build peace, stability and prosperity, not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but in the whole region it is our duty to face the past, to build a culture of remembrance of the past for the sake of the future, and to build new relations on that basis, especially among the young people in the region," Masic said.
    The initiative says that the site has already garnered interest from people in Rwanda which also suffered a genocide in 1994.
    Activists from all over the Balkans took part in the project.
    "This is something that happened to us, don't let it happen to you. These are the things which people of Srebrenica and some others in Bosnia and Herzegovina went through and they now tell that story to the world in order to contribute to the global peace and stabilization, and to try to stop bloodshed somewhere else," Masic said.
    In Srebrenica, the memories of July 1995 are still raw. On Monday (July 11) thousands of grieving Bosnian Muslims buried hundreds of newly-identified victims.
    Hundreds of men then passed green-draped coffins from hand to hand towards the graves. The coffins contained only bones, painstakingly identified by DNA analysis over years as many of the bodies were dug up by Bosnian Serbs and reburied in an effort to cover up the crime.
    The International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP) has so far identified 6,598 Srebrenica victims and 4,524 of them have been buried in a memorial graveyard after being unearthed.
    Most Bosnian Serbs, who now live in a loose union with the Muslims and Croats, deny the massacre. They say the deaths were a part of the conflict and still view Mladic as a hero, refusing to observe the day of national mourning. In Serbia, ultranationalists have launched a campaign to mark what they call "The day of liberation of Srebrenica."
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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