In the summer of 1995 over 8,000 Bosnian men and boys were murdered in Srebrenica by Bosnian Serb forces as the international community stood impotent.

In the summer of 1995 over 8,000 Bosnian men and boys were murdered in Srebrenica by Bosnian Serb forces as the international community stood impotent. On Wednesday 22 April the mothers of some of those who perished were at the European Parliament in Strasbourg to meet with its President, Hans-Gert Pöttering. They were there to urge the Parliament to continue to press for those responsible to be brought to justice and help search for the truth about those terrible days.
As well as the death toll almost 25,000 women, children and the elderly were forcibly deported.
 
In a resolution adopted in January the European Parliament described the Srebrenica massacre as “the biggest war crime to take place in Europe since the end of the Second World War”.  It went on to say bluntly: “this tragedy...took place in a UN-proclaimed safe haven, and therefore stands as a symbol of the impotence of the international community to intervene in the conflict and protect the civilian population.”

The mothers groups - “Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa” and “Women victims of War” brought gifts of a hand-woven carpet and a giant coffee-pot featuring a church, a mosque and a synagogue, symbolising reconciliation and tolerance. They were accompanied by Grand Mufti of Bosnia, Dr. Mustafa Cerić.
 
“We can move on to the future only after we know all the truth about what happened,” said Mr Pöttering, who has focused his presidency on promotion of intercultural dialogue. The Parliament wants 11 July to be declared as a day of commemoration for the Srebrenica massacre.
 
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia has already declared the massacre an act of genocide. The man who commanded the Bosnian Serb forces - General Ratko Mladić - remains on the run, an indicted fugitive. The then President of the Serb Republic, Radovan Karadžić, is currently on trial in the Hague for war crimes.
 
The women are collectively suing the UN and the Dutch government for answers to the events of that summer. A battalion of soldiers from the Netherlands was supposed to be guarding the UN safe haven.