News item | 11-07-2022 | 15:15
“The events of July 1995 have caused deep human suffering. Suffering that can be felt here to this day. We cannot take this suffering away from you. But what we can do is look history straight in the eye.” Minister Kajsa Ollongren said this today during the Srebrenica commemoration in Potočari.
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She mentioned the deep fear and insecurity of all those people who desperately sought protection at the time. Ollongren also spoke of the great powerlessness of the UN soldiers of Dutchbat III who had been so eager to protect them.
“This is your memory. It is our memory. A reminder of the terrible genocide, which must not disappear in history. For your deep sorrow and your loss, forever present, they are here and now. And we share it with you – every 11 July again,” said the minister. According to her, this happens in the confrontational realization that more than 8,000 beloved people lost their lives and their voices.
Apologies
She emphasized that only one party is to blame for the genocide: the Bosnian Serb army. Important persons responsible have now been tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
“The international community failed to protect the people of Srebrenica. As part of this community, the Dutch government shares political responsibility for the situation in which this failure could happen. For that, we offer our deepest apologies.”
joint voice
According to the minister, the memory of July 1995 links Bosnia and the Netherlands forever. “Together we lived through the darkest days of this place. And that experience has given us a common voice. A voice to be heard when a war rages elsewhere in Europe, where innocent people die – and we keep saying: never again. A voice that we must make heard when other voices deny the genocide – or deliberately stir up polarization in our societies.
This place teaches us where that can lead.”