It is raining today, Friday. I'm sitting in my office waiting to finish my workday and for the weekend to start. Yesterday I was looking forward to this weekend because it is the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and you can feel the beauty of this holy month on every corner of Sarajevo. But, today, I am sad, because today is the anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica.
Nineteen years ago, just a few months before the end of Bosnia's 1992-1995 war, more than 8,000 people were killed in Srebrenica. The killing was perpetrated by units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the command of General Ratko Mladic. The Secretary-General of the United Nations described the mass murder as the worst crime on European soil since the Second World War.
The remains of the 175 victims—the total number of those identified since last year's anniversary—will be buried after a religious ceremony at the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial.
The youngest victim to be laid to rest during the service was 14 years old when he was killed. Among the others who will be buried are thirteen teenaged boys, aged between 15 and 17.
Today, even the sky is crying for all those innocent victims. I am sad, but at the same time I am also angry because Srebrenica was officially considered a “safe area” at the time, according to a United Nations Security Council resolution.
So I ask myself how whole of Europe and world can be so blind to this genocide? Why didn’t anyone react?!?
But then I check the news and see horrible scenes from Gaza on my screen. On a day when Bosnia is trying to send a message of peace with the hope that this will never happen again, another generation of innocent teenagers is dying in front of the whole world.
I ask once again: why?
Maybe answers can be found in Martin Niemöller's famous (paraphrased) quotation:
First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Muslims in Srebrenica, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Muslim in Srebrenica.
Then they came for the Palestinians, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Palestinian.
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.
It is time to ask ourselves who will speak for us if we don’t raise our voices for others.
Lejla Hasandedic is a URI Youth Ambassador from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
