First Discussion of Resolution on Srebrenica Genocide at April 17 Closed U.N. Session

Srebrenica (BETAPHOTO/HINA/FENA/Almir RAZIC)

The draft resolution declaring July 11 the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Srebrenica Genocide will first be presented at a closed-door U.N. session on April 17, while the final version of the document that is still being edited, will be voted on by U.N. member-states at a General Assembly in early May, the Voice of America (VoA) has reported.

The current iteration of the resolution, which the VoA had access to, demands the unconditional condemnation of any denial of the Srebrenica genocide and encourages U.N. members to preserve the known facts and implement appropriate programs in their educational systems so as to prevent revisionism and future genocide.

All acts glorifying convicted war criminals – including those responsible for the genocide in Srebrenica, as well as crimes against humanity and genocide must also be unconditionally condemned, the document reads, according to the VoA.

The draft resolution further stresses the importance of completing the process of finding and identifying the remaining Srebrenica victims, and providing them with a dignified burial, and requests that the criminal proceedings against the perpetrators of the genocide be continued.

The proposed introduction of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Srebrenica Genocide is based on the 2004 U.N. General Assembly resolution instituting the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

The resolution was proposed by Germany and Rwanda, but, according to VoA’s unofficial sources, its wording will be the collaboration of multiple countries, including the United States, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Finland, Jordan, New Zealand and Turkey.