The Government of Kosovo has announced July 11 as the Memorial Day of the Genocide in Srebrenica of Bosnia and Herzegovina, based on the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly from May 23.

Speaking at a meeting of his Government on Wednesday, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said that this is “a noble and proper action on behalf of Kosovo”.

“It is an action… of our human universal and of our desire for peace, so that the genocide is not forgotten or repeated again, neither in Bosnia, nor in Kosovo, nor anywhere else in our region and in the world”, Kurti said.

In 2021, the Assembly of Kosovo adopted a resolution condemning the genocide in Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In May of this year, the General Assembly of the United Nations declared July 11 the International Day of Remembrance of the Genocide in Srebrenica.

In Srebrenica and surrounding areas, Bosnian Serb forces killed more than 8,300 Bosniaks in July 1995.

“Let this day be a permanent reminder of our common suffering and sorrow, our strength to build a brighter future and our dedication to preserving truth, peace, justice and human rights,” said the Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Emilija Rexhepi, who comes from the Bosnian community.

Nenad Rashić, Minister for Communities and Return in the Government of Kosovo from the Serbian community, who supported this decision, said that it is important to say that “criminals and genocide have their own names and surnames and should not be generalized for a people of certain place, or a certain place, but on the individual perpetrators who did it, thinking neither of the victims nor of their people”.

In 2007, the International Court of Justice in The Hague issued a verdict stating that the Army of Republika Srpska committed genocide in Srebrenica in July 1995. Back then, Srebrenica was a UN protected area.

The same court found Serbia guilty of not preventing the genocide. The court also said that Serbia has violated the obligation to punish the perpetrators of the genocide.

Before this decision, several courts have sentenced more than 50 people to over 700 years in prison for genocide and war crimes in Srebrenica.

Among them are the former president of the Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić, and the commander-in-chief of the then Serbian army, Ratko Mladić. Both have been sentenced to life imprisonment.