Bosniak American Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina Commemorates the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Bosniak American Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina
815 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 200, Washington DC 20006
(202) 291-7080; board@baacbh.org; www.baacbh.org
For Immediate Release Contact: Elmina Kulasic
December 9, 2008 Executive Director
Washington, D.C. Direct: 202-291-7080
BAACBH Commemorates the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Bosniak-American Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BAACBH) would like to
commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the 60th
anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
BAACBH holds true the principles outlined in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of
the Crime of Genocide and condemns any act committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a
national, ethnical, racial or religious group. The disregard for human rights led to genocide and
ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) that eliminated the historical pattern of tolerance
and shared experiences from a plurality of religious and cultural groups from which BiH profited
and flourished as a multi-ethnic nation in Europe. Although the Dayton Peace Agreement ended the
aggression on BiH, it lacks the core principles of democratic governance needed for a stable BiH. In
fact, the Agreement has institutionalized ethno-territorial divisions overshadowing human rights and
enabling nationalistic sentiments to prevail.
In order to embrace the Declaration’s mission, BAACBH strongly believes that justice is the closure
for victims and the only foundation for peace in BiH. Therefore, advocating on behalf of Bosnian-
Americans, people who have survived the Bosnian genocide and escaped human rights abuses by
immigrating to the United States in search of a better and peaceful future, BAACBH strongly
believes a constitutional reform is needed that will accentuate equal rights and democratic
governance for all of its citizens.
Therefore, we can not forget about the victims of the Bosnian genocide and ethnic cleansing as well
as the Holocaust, Rwanda, Darfur, and other betrayed countries and regions who saw “never again”
happen after World War II, for their memories are our voices for the future.
Guided by the principles for justice, freedom, democracy, and equality for all, BAACBH is
committed and dedicated to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedoms.

Must-Read Post at "Srebrenica Genocide Blog"

If you are not yet a reader of Daniel's excellent Srebrenica Genocide Blog, right now would be a good time to change that habit.

His latest post details the documented torture and forcible displacement of Bosniaks in the Sanjak (Sandzak) region. It is not pleasant reading, and the photographs are not pretty. But this is an under-reported story which demands wider notice.

I must confess that I am guilty of remaining somewhat ignorant of what was clearly a concerted campaign of state terror against the Bosniaks in Sanjak, to the point where I believe I may have even noted the absence of a genocidal campaign against the Muslim population of Serbia proper as proof that the war in Bosnia was fought for geopolitical ends rather than being an outbreak of spontaneous ethnic hatred. In fact, while I cannot remember which past post(s) made this claim, I am all but certain that I have done so.

In a sense, I still stand by those sentiments--it seems to me that the campaign against Serbia's Slavic Muslims was intended to deprive Bosniaks from Bosnia proper of any logistical support just across the river, as well as demonizing Bosniaks among ethnic Serbs in Serbia by creating violence and instability in the region.

But that does not excuse my lazy, unthinking acceptance that not much happened (as I essentially implied) in the Sanjak during the 1990s. Clearly, the campaign of terror the Belgrade regime waged in Bosnia was supported and furthered by a parallel campaign within its own borders, against its own citizens. This is a story which needs to be told. I strongly urge my readers to read the above-linked story.

Let the Dutch Government Know How You Feel

Any readers of this blog should already know the depressing news--that a Dutch civil court sided with the Dutch state and dismissed the case against the Netherlands for their failure to prevent Srebrenica genocide in 1995 (see this article from Srebrenica Genocide Blog).

I urge any and all readers of this blog to contact the Dutch embassy in your country to express your dismay at this terrible, cowardly decision. For my readers in the United States and Canada, here is the link for Dutch embassys and consulates in both countries.

Websites for embassys are part of a state's presence in a foreign country--what a state chooses to include, highlight--and yes, exclude--in its embassy website reflects very careful and deliberate decisions in terms of public relations and diplomacy. In case you're wondering if the Dutch acknowledged this issue in their "virtual embassy"; well, the answer is no. However, the issue of human rights was not completely absent from the day's headlines: The very day the court handed down its decision, the embassy's website proudly announced that the Dutch Foreign Minister had just (the day before--September 9) created a new award for "Human Rights Defenders". No, I'm not making that up.

The award--a small statue of a tulip, with a cash prize as well--will be awarded annually to "an individual who has shown exceptional moral courage in protecting and promoting the rights of his or her fellow citizens." Perhaps the soldiers of Dutchbat should be nominated, since they pulled out all stops in their single-minded determination to preserve the lives of their fellow Dutch soldiers, most notably by meeting every demand, explicit and implicit, Mladic's troops made of them.

The first "Human Rights Tulip" will be presented later this year:

"‘The award will honour people who fight a difficult battle, often at great personal risk, and will lift them out of anonymity,’ said Mr Verhagen. The Human Rights Defenders Tulip has been created to highlight the prominence of human rights in Dutch foreign policy. It will be presented for the first time on 10 December this year, at a ceremony in the Ridderzaal (‘Knights’ Hall’) in The Hague."

I have no doubt that it will be a very touching ceremony. I doubt it will receive much coverage in Bosnia, however.