On the occasion on 11 July – Day of Remembrance of the Srebrenica genocide, Centre for Civic Education (CCE), on behalf of the Coalition for RECOM, honors the victims and notes that even after 19 years of this terrible crime justice was not served.
The CCE activists, on behalf of the Coalition for RECOM, marked the Day of Remembrance of the Srebrenica Genocide, yesterday by distributing hundreds of leaflets in Podgorica and reminding citizens about the importance of the RECOM establishment (Regional Commission to establish the facts about war crimes and other serious human rights violations committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001). Additionally, the CCE will today, from 19h00, in the CCE Hall, screen the movie “Halima’s Path” by Arsen Ostojic, which had its Montenegro premiere at the Fast Forward Human Rights Film Festival 2013. The CCE especially thanks to the director, who has for this opportunity provided the rights of screening a movie. The movie is in a different manner putting into focus the subject of war crimes victims, and also represents a valuable contribution to the process of dealing with the past. Screening of the film will be followed by a panel discussion with representatives of the Coalition for RECOM in Montenegro, during which all interested citizens will have the opportunity to hear more about the importance of the establishment of RECOM.
There are many unresolved issues from our recent and turbulent past, which indicates that the region needs to work continuously to effectively face with the past. War crimes do not expire, and the duty of all stakeholders, and especially the decision makers, is to persist in establishing of the mechanisms to ensure justice for the victims. Only with the justice served to the victims a society can build culture of reconciliation, tolerance and peace. This goal can be reached by fair procedures for war crimes cases, individualization of guilt and establishment of facts about all the victims. This is also, for years, the focus of the work of civil society organisations in Montenegro and the region, which have formed so far the widest regional coalition advocating for the establishment of RECOM. RECOM initiative gathers 2,050 non-governmental human rights organization, the associations of detainees, refugees, families, artists, writers, lawyers and other individuals who share the opinion that only a regional approach can provide a comprehensive historical record of what happened in the past. After three years long consultative process with 128 national and regional debates and 9 international forums, Coalition for RECOM adopted a draft RECOM Statute. This document is currently in the process of harmonization of the governments of the region that need to undertake the establishment of RECOM.
CCE will by its continuous actions, individually or as a reference organization of the Coalition for RECOM for Montenegro, through various types of civic activism contribute to the termination of the culture of denial and competition numbers, and building of respect, recognition and empathy for all the victims, that the crimes would not be forgotten and to influence that they never occur again.
By its resolution, European Parliament declared 11 July a Day of remembrance of the Srebrenica genocide in 2009. With the parliamentary declaration, Montenegro condemned the crime in Srebrenica and establish 11 July a Memorial day for the victims of the wars of the 1990s in Yugoslavia.
Tamara Milaš, Programme associate