The Green Party: July 11 - Srebrenica Remembrance Day in Canada

Institute for the Research of Genocide Canada
Published: June 12, 2009  

OTTAWA — The Green Party of Canada urges the Government of Canada to declare July 11th as Srebrenica Remembrance Day in recognition of the 14th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina in July of 1995.

Elizabeth May, Leader of Canada’s Greens, said, “We must remember and grieve the 7,000 Muslim men who were forcefully removed from the U.N. sanctuary at Srebrenica and murdered during the last Balkan War. We must also remember how and why the international community failed to protect them in order to understand why the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) - properly applied rather than misused - can save many lives and avoid much heartbreak.”

On January 15, 2009, the European Parliament adopted a resolution commemorating the victims and declared July 11th as Srebrenica Remembrance Day throughout the European Union. The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives also adopted resolutions in 2005 commemorating the victims.

Joe Foster, Human Rights Critic for the Greens, stated, ”It is hoped that this act of remembrance will lead to greater efforts being made through diplomatic sources to avoid confrontations of this nature that always result in innocent people being victimized leaving scars on all sides of the conflict which take generations to heal.”