Initiators of Srebrenica Resolution: Document is Not Targeting Serbia or Implying Collective Guilt

Srebrenica/BETAPHOTO/HINA/FENA/Harun Muminovic

The initiators of a draft resolution to declare July 11 the International Day of Reflection and Remembrance of the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide, Germany and Rwanda, responded to a letter by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Serbia to the United Nations in which the Mission requested that the draft be withdrawn, stating that the proposed document neither targeted Serbia nor implied collective guilt.

In the letter to the global organization, the Mission asked for the withdrawal, explaining that Serbia had not been consulted regarding its content, and that the proposed document was creating tensions in the region and divisions among U.N. members.

In the response the Voice of America had access to on May 15, the permanent representatives of Germany and Rwanda to the U.N. said that "Serbia has been repeatedly urged to engage" and that "any Serbian proposal Serbia to amend the wording of the draft would have been taken very seriously".

The German and Rwandan representatives also said that the draft had been built on a solid foundation and used consistent terminology. "In the draft resolution, the term 'genocide' is used in a strictly legal context, in accordance with the judgments rendered by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice. It does not target Serbia, a respected member state of this organization, nor does it imply any collective guilt towards states, entities, or groups," the permanent representatives of Germany and Rwanda underlined in their response.