Several thousand people gathered in the town of Srebrenica, in eastern Bosnia, to mark the 30th anniversary of the only genocide recognized by Europe after the Holocaust.

In July 1995, more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were surrounded and executed by Serb forces within just a few days after the fall of Srebrenica, which had been declared a UN safe zone and was supposedly protected by the presence of international peacekeepers.

At least seven newly identified victims, including two 19-year-old boys, were buried on Friday in the collective cemetery in the village of Potočari, alongside more than 6,000 other victims already laid to rest there.

Burials are held every year for victims still being exhumed from mass graves in eastern Bosnia. In some cases, survivors can only bury partial remains of their loved ones.

In her statement, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen paid tribute to the men and boys of Srebrenica and to their mothers, who, she said, have carried the weight of loss for decades.

“We must remember and protect the truth so that future generations clearly understand what happened in Srebrenica,” said von der Leyen.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, whose country was tasked with protecting Srebrenica, addressed the gathering in a recorded message.

“We will never forget the horror of those dark days, and our thoughts are with those affected by this tragedy,” said Rutte.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and several courts in Serbia have convicted 54 individuals with a total of 781 years in prison and several life sentences for the crimes committed in Srebrenica, including the charge of genocide.

The then-President of Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić, and the commander of the Serb forces, Ratko Mladić, were among those sentenced to life in prison.