The pursuit of justice for survivors of sexual violence committed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) offers valuable lessons for international and non-governmental organizations as well as other actors now working with the survivors of war crimes being committed in Ukraine more than 25 years later.
On July 14th, 1995, Bosnian Serb soldiers shot Mevludin Orić at the Orahovac execution site in Zvornik Municipality – one of several locations where mass executions were carried out during the genocide in and around Srebrenica.
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.
The documentary film “Kapija ‘95” premiered in Tuzla, where on the evening of May 25th, 1995, the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS) fired a grenade into the center of the city, killing 71 young people and wounding 150 more. The film underscored compassion for the victims, persistence on the path of the truth, and the necessity of prosecuting those responsible for this terrible crime.
British photographer Paul Lowe’s black and white photo exhibition, “Opsada/Siege” depicts daily life, culture, survival, death, and childhood in besieged Sarajevo, and will be displayed annually starting on April 5th in the Sarajevo City Hall. The exhibition will serve to commemorate the beginning of the longest siege of a capital city in modern history.
The exhibition “Scarves of Remembrance” was opened at the Srebrenica Memorial Center on July 9th, as part of the commemoration of the 27th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica.