Remembering Srebrenica genocide commemorative walk

Fifty years after the world said “Never Again” to the horrors of the Holocaust, genocide took place on European soil.

The name Srebrenica has become synonymous with those dark days in July 1995 when, in the first ever United Nations declared safe area, thousands of men and boys were systematically murdered and buried in mass graves. The victims, who were Muslim, were selected for death on the basis of their identity. This was the worst atrocity on European soil since the Second World War.

Every year, Remembering Srebrenica selects a theme that reflects an aspect of the genocide that needs to be commemorated, but also speaks to communities here in the UK.

The theme for 2024 is ‘I Am Because You Are’.

The inspiration comes from the philosophy of ‘Ubuntu’, a South African term which is often translated as “I am because you are”. The anti—apartheid and human rights activist, Archbishop Desmond Tutu summarised it in the following way: “Ubuntu speaks about the fact that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness … We are all connected. What unites us is our common humanity… We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas what you do, what I do, affects the whole world. Taking that a step further, when you do good, it spreads that goodness; it is for the whole of humanity.”

The genocide at Srebrenica is a stark symbol of man’s inhumanity against man. Prior to the breakup of Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina encapsulated the interconnectedness of humanity. It was renowned for being a melting pot of cultures in which Muslims, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Jews, and those of other faiths and no faith lived side by side and in peace. Sarajevo, the capital, was known for being the “Jerusalem of Europe” as the only European city to have a Mosque, Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, and Synagogue in the same neighbourhood.

Remembering Srebrenica - Remembering the Bosnian Genocide