For survivors and victims’ families, memorials have a profound significance, but this meaning often does not extend beyond individual communities. Although this form of commemoration is important, experts warn that alone, it is insufficient for dealing with the past.
Public memorialization, which includes the erection of monuments and memorials, is an integral component of transitional justice and dealing with the past.
As early as 1992, the world had become aware of and alarmed by the sexual violence being committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, and sought to establish a tribunal that would bring perpetrators to justice.
A guide has been realeased by the Post-Conflict Research Center, the Sarajevo Canton Memorial Fund, and the Mechanism Information Programme for Affected Communities (MIP) for history teachers on how to utilize archival material from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts (Mechanism), as well as video production by MIP. The main objective of this manual is to enhance knowledge and skills in using archives and informing the public about judicially established facts.
The Sarajevo Canton Memorial Fund and the Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC) recently released a scientific report entitled “The Siege of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1995,” based upon the relevant court judgements. It documents the sniping and shelling of the city as well as the war crimes committed in eight municipalities, with the aim of promoting greater acceptance of judicially established facts and countering the denial of the crimes carried out against Sarajevo civilians.