The protest letter of the IRGC to the President of the of the University of British Columbia

Institute for the Research of Genocide Canada
Published: February 17, 2011  

The protest letter of the Institute for Research of Genocide of Canada {IRGC } to the President of the of the University of British Columbia

February 17, 2011.

Office of the President
The University of British Columbia
6328 Memorial Road [map]
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z2

Fax: 604.822.5055
E-mail: [email protected]

Dear Professor Stephen J. Toope

The Institute for Research of Genocide of Canada {IRGC} was informed that Srdja Trifkovic, a Serbian-American ‘scholar’, will be holding a lecture on Thursday February 24th at 5pm at the University of British Columbia. It is organized by the Serbian Students Association.

IRGC is shocked that the University of British Columbia would allow Srdjan Trifkovic, who has repeatedly and openly denied the Srebrenica genocide to speak at this respectable academic institution. A historical revisionist like Trifkovic should not be allowed to lecture in an academic context. His version of events in the Balkans is inaccurate (as proven by his denial of the Srebrenica genocide) and the Serbian Students’ Association should not be allowed to pass him off as a reliable source.

Denial of genocide is widely considered to constitute a form of racist hate propaganda that is incompatible with Canadian values. Recently, the Parliament of Canada has recognized the Bosnian Genocide that took place in the enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995.

In 2004, Holocaust survivor, Judge Theodor Meron, presided over the appellate judgement of Radislav Krstic when the International Criminal Tribunal unanimously ruled that:

“By seeking to eliminate a part of the Bosnian Muslims, the Bosnian Serb forces committed genocide. They targeted for extinction the 40,000 Bosnian Muslims living in Srebrenica, a group which was emblematic of the Bosnian Muslims in general. They stripped all the male Muslim prisoners, military and civilian, elderly and young, of their personal belongings and identification, and deliberately and methodically killed them solely on the basis of their identity. The Bosnian Serb forces were aware, when they embarked on this genocidal venture, that the harm they caused would continue to plague the Bosnian Muslims. The Appeals Chamber states unequivocally that the law condemns, in appropriate terms, the deep and lasting injury inflicted, and calls the massacre at Srebrenica by its proper name: genocide. Those responsible will bear this stigma, and it will serve as a warning to those who may in future contemplate the commission of such a heinous act.”

The Srebrenica Genocide is not a matter of opinion; it is a judicial fact recognized first by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and subsequently by the International Court of Justice.

IRGC calls on all Canadians, friends of truth and justice to protest against Trifkovic’s lecture at the University of British Columbia.

IRGC will send a request to the Canadian Parliament and Government to ban Trifkovic’s lecture.

On behalf of more than 50.000 Canadians of Bosnian origin, some of whom are victims of the Bosnian genocide and almost all of whom are victims of the war, the IRGC implores you to prevent this lecture from taking place at your University.

Professor Emir Ramic

President of the Congress of North American Bosniaks, Canadian Branch
Director of the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada
[email protected]

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