PUBLISHED: PROCEEDINGS “SREBRENICA 30 YEARS AFTER THE GENOCIDE: MEMORY, RESPONSIBILITY AND THE CHALLENGES OF DENIAL”

The University of Sarajevo – Institute for Research of Crimes against Humanity and International Law has published the proceedings Srebrenica 30 Years After the Genocide: Memory, Responsibility and the Challenges of Denial.

The proceedings are the result of an international scientific conference held from 1 to 3 July 2025 in Sarajevo and Srebrenica, organized by the University of Sarajevo to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the genocide against Bosniaks in Srebrenica and the surrounding area.

The publication brings together Bosnian and international authors working in the fields of history, law, sociology, political science, anthropology, genocide studies, and memory culture. Their contributions offer a range of research and analytical approaches to the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with particular emphasis on the genocide in Srebrenica, its causes and consequences, judicially established and adjudicated facts, contemporary forms of denial, memory politics, survivors’ experiences, and genocide education.

In their joint foreword, Rector of the University of Sarajevo Prof. Dr. Tarik Zaimović and Director of the Institute Dr. sc. Muamer Džananović emphasize that Srebrenica is not merely a subject of historical research, but also a site of contemporary responsibility and a Bosnian, European, and global question concerning attitudes toward genocide, justice, truth, and human dignity. They particularly warn that, despite final judgments of international and domestic courts, forensic evidence, mass graves, and survivors’ testimonies, the genocide in Srebrenica continues to be challenged, relativized, and politically instrumentalized.

The editor of the proceedings, Dr. sc. Zilha Mastalić Košuta, points out that the volume is more than a collection of original scholarly research. It brings together academic and professional papers, essays, analytical reflections, and testimonies, connecting research into the past with contemporary questions of responsibility, memorialization, education, and efforts to counter genocide denial.

The proceedings contain 16 papers organized into four thematic sections.

The first section, “Conceptual, Historical and Historiographical Foundations of the Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” features contributions by Ben Kiernan, Marko Attila Hoare, Norman M. Naimark, and Zilha Mastalić Košuta. The authors examine the historical and ideological context of the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the genocide in Srebrenica as the culmination of a broader genocidal policy, changes in historiographical interpretations, and the political, military, humanitarian, and institutional mechanisms that preceded the genocide in Srebrenica.

The second section, “Law, Evidence and the Shaping of Judicial Truth,” includes contributions by Muamer Džananović, Jasmin Medić, Mujo Begić, Rose Aloisi, and Jayden Salter. This section examines the Cultural Centre in Pilica as a site of detention and the killing of civilians in 1992 and 1995; the significance of guilty pleas before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia; the concealment of crimes through the relocation of mass graves in Srebrenica and Prijedor; and the relationship between memorialization, judicially established facts, and resistance to their acceptance.

The third section, “Denial, Memory Politics and International Responses,” features contributions by Edina Bećirević, Hikmet Karčić, Ben Gerstein, and Benjamin Valentino. The authors analyze the connection between genocide denial and contemporary security and geopolitical processes, the relationship between institutionalized remembrance and institutionalized denial, the political implications of United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/78/282, and the international lessons—both learned and unlearned—from the genocide in Srebrenica.

The fourth section, “Memory, Testimony and Cultural Representations,” brings together contributions by Hariz Halilovich, Sarina Bakić, Hasan Nuhanović, Kim Sadique, and Rafiki Ubaldo. The papers address the ethics of testimony, the role of culture in preserving collective memory, experiences of place and journeys to Srebrenica, genocide education as a means of preventing future crimes, and possibilities for the recovery of societies following genocide.

According to the editor, the particular value of the proceedings lies in bringing together domestic and international research perspectives and establishing a dialogue among historiographical, legal, social, and memory-based approaches to the study of genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The contributions are published in Bosnian or English, while all abstracts have been translated to make the publication more accessible to both domestic and international audiences.

The proceedings are intended for scholars, researchers, educators, students, institutions, civil society organizations, and the wider public interested in understanding the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, its long-term consequences, the culture of remembrance, and contemporary challenges related to genocide denial.

The proceedings Srebrenica 30 Years After the Genocide: Memory, Responsibility and the Challenges of Denial are indexed in the Central and Eastern European Online Library (CEEOL), while the electronic PDF edition can be downloaded free of charge from the Institute’s website.