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Join the Call for Justice for the 8,000 Murdered in Srebrenica

Friday, July 13, 2007
Posted in Human Rights | Tagged Human Rights

Twelve years ago, on July 11, 2005, Bosnian Serb forces massacred 8,000 in the UN designated�”safe haven” of Srebrenica. The two men largely responsible for this heinous crime still remain free. Radovan Karadzic, the former President of the Bosnian Serb Republic, masterminded the campaign of “ethnic cleansing” in Bosnia. Ratko Mladic, the former head of the Bosnian Serb Army, personally supervised the onset of the Srebrenica massacre. Both men have been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, but have evaded arrest.

PHR has joined with the Center for Balkan Development, The Advocacy Project, the Congress of North American Bosniaks, and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Serbia to launch a new international appeal to President Bush and other world leaders calling for the immediate arrest of these two men.

We urge you to add your name to this call.

Two years ago, on the 10th anniversary of Srebrenica, a petition signed by PHR members and thousands of others worldwide was delivered to NATO and to members of the Bush Administration. PHR was assured then by officials that the arrests of Karadzic and Mladic were imminent, but today they remain at large. There is talk now that Serbia will use the arrest of Mladic as a bargaining chip for concessions on the future status of Kosovo. This cannot be allowed to occur.

Karadzic and Mladic will not be arrested unless there is a demand by concerned people around the world who want to see perpetrators of genocide brought to justice. Long-term peace and stability in the Balkans hinges on accountability for this crime.

In 1996, under the leadership of International Forensic Program Director William Haglund (now Senior Forensic Consultant), PHR conducted investigations of mass grave sites in Bosnia at Kraviza, Pilica Farm, Cersca, and Lazete that contained almost 500 bodies from the Srebrenica massacre. We also collected information from thousands of families with missing persons. These investigations constituted the first scientific proof that Bosnian Serb forces had systematically murdered thousands of fleeing Bosnian Muslim men and boys, leading to the conviction in 2001 of General Radislav Krstic for genocide and other crimes related to Srebrenica. However, that verdict is partial justice as long as those who are most responsible continue to avoid arrest.

Please help us make certain that Mladic and Karadzic are arrested before the end of 2007.

For more information, visit the PHR Action Center.

Sincerely,

Susannah Sirkin
Deputy Director for International Policy and Advocacy