April 6 1992 – April 6 2017
On April 6 2017, from 3:30pm to 4:30pm in Republic Square, Women in Black will mark the 25 year anniversary of the armed aggression on Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH) – crimes against peace and humanity. The street action will be held on April 6 2017 (3:30pm – 4:30pm) in Republic Square in Belgrade, in black clothing and in silence, and will be carried out by Women in Black together with the art collective Dah Theatre.
Following the declaration of BiH as an independent state on April 6 1992 was the siege of Sarajevo by Serbian armed forces. Although the UN declared Sarajevo an official safe area, the siege lasted 1475 days, during which more than 11 000 adults and 1600 children were killed, and over 480 000 missiles were fired.
The first victims in the multinational Sarajevo were women – among the fatalities were Suada Dilberović and Olga Sučić. Ratko Mladić, the Commander of Bosnian Serbs who was financed and directed by the Serbian regime, ordered not to choose targets in Sarajevo, which became a symbol for the savage destruction of cities in war...
The aggression on BiH was an integral part of the Milošević state policies. In the name of these policies and the criminal project of Greater Serbia, civilians were killed, expelled, or taken to concentration camps because of their ethnic or religious affiliations. The purpose for this was to take and appropriate the land by looting or taking homes/apartments, while wiping out the cultural and civilizational heritage.
In March 2017, the International Court of Justice rejected the revision of the judgment of genocide filed by BiH against Serbia. This, however, cannot be an excuse for Serbia to avoid the responsibility of dealing with its past, including the crimes committed by the Serbian Armed Forces in Sarajevo and throughout Bosnia. The rejection of the revision should not bring about humiliation for the victim, or accusations of victims who support them, in the form of them “only looking to the past”. This is a cynical and cruel stance, bearing in mind that they are ubiquitous and live the trauma and the consequences of the past, all because the state and society in Serbia refuse to deal with the burden of violence and atrocities that they committed in the past, especially the crimes that were committed in our names.
This is why we, Women in Black, pause to remember the suffering of the people of Sarajevo, the killing of the city, and we will not cease to express our solidarity and sympathy with the victims, for we have respect and reverence for them all. We will not cease to seek accountability from the state for the crimes committed in BiH. We have the right to continue to ask questions about the past, to disturb the political elite and society as a whole. We are convinced that without remembering the past, without accountability and responsibility for past actions, we cannot build a future based on the respect and dignity of the victims and those of human rights.
The public campaign “25 Years – 25 Mirrors” will take place in a public space, to bring light to what is being hidden, denied, minimized, of the atrocities and violence of the past – the crimes that were committed in our names. Society, in whose name the crimes were committed, should look into the mirrors of the victims – this is the first step of thinking about the victims, but also about themselves, in the restoration of the destroyed humanity. Serbia needs to look in the mirror and to face its own reflection – face the ugly face that tries to hide, suppress, deny...
With mirrors we will bring out solidarity and resistance to atrocities...
We Remember!
Women in Black
Belgrade, April 5 2017
