Bosnia

Background information

After the break-up of the former Yugoslavia in 1992, the newly declared republic became the subject of irredentist claims by neighbouring Serbia and Croatia.

The subsequent war left an estimated 100,000 people killed and saw unspeakable atrocities including the re-emergence of concentration camps in Europe for the first time since World War Two.

At the height of the bloodletting, over 8000 unarmed men and boys seeking refuge in the UN protected “safe-haven” of Srebrenica were massacred in cold blood by Serb soldiers.

The gruesome episode remains a salutary reminder of the evil depths to which humanity can sink in the name of ethnocentric nationalism. It is also a grim warning of the precarious status of Muslim minorities in Europe, even those that appear to be well integrated.

As the passage of time makes the tragedy more and more distant, IHRC strives to keep the memory of the Bosnia War alive in a number of ways including remembering Bosnia in our Genocide Memorial Day that takes place every year and supplying resources to schools to help them teach students about Bosnia.