Prime Minister Spajic’s stance that Montenegro will vote for the UN resolution on memorializing the genocide in Srebrenica but will not promote it through co-sponsorship is a step backward in Montenegro’s democratic development. The only correct and humane approach is to seize every opportunity to condemn this crime and not hide the facts about it.
A strong civic initiative – with 100 NGOs and over 320 prominent citizens of Montenegro – has still achieved some effect; we have contributed to the Prime Minister publicly announcing support for the resolution.
We call on the members of the Government to carefully reconsider the historical significance of this decision. The magnitude of the Srebrenica tragedy requires Montenegro to co-sponsor the resolution along with Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and other countries.
We regret that the UN resolution on Srebrenica is even a dilemma for the government in Montenegro today. However, for EU membership, the government must prove that there are universal values beyond any political calculation.
Credible and progressive authorities must not compromise with nationalists. There are absolute issues where there is no calculation, only one correct answer. In October 1991, the only correct answer was to be against the siege of Dubrovnik, in April 1992, to be against the siege of Sarajevo, in May 1992, not to hand over refugees to Mladic and Karadzic, in July 1995, to prevent the genocide in Srebrenica, in April 1999, to prevent the tragedy in Murino, and today the only right thing is to co-sponsor the Resolution on the genocide in Srebrenica and thus pay tribute to the victims, condemn the perpetrators, and advocate that such a tragedy never happens again to anyone.
We do not accept the government’s argument that “the past should be forgotten” while at the same time ruling political parties participate in negative historical revisionism by memorializing symbols of the aggressor wars of the 1990s, as evidenced by the examples of changing street names in Pljevlja and Podgorica.
The citizens of Montenegro recognize this as a matter of values about which there should be no doubt, and that is why we have protested against relativization. Support for the initiative continues, and we invite everyone to join.
We demand that the Government of Montenegro not succumb to retrograde forces but, through correct action and facing the difficult past, contribute to democratization in the region, for the benefit of all.