On 2 May, the UN General Assembly is expected to discuss a draft resolution recalling the genocide in Srebrenica in 1995 and condemning the atrocity once again. The expected debate has led to new tensions between Belgrade and Sarajevo as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On 2 May, the UN General Assembly will discuss a report by the UN Secretary-General focusing on promoting the culture of peace and interreligious and intercultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation.

Under this agenda item, a resolution commemorating the 29th anniversary of the atrocities in Srebrenica, where members of the Bosnian Serb army killed more than 8,000 Bosnian men and boys in July 1995 after occupying this UN protected zone, will be discussed.

The massacre was categorised as genocide in a series of judgements by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Court of Justice.

The content of the resolution is still being negotiated

According to available information, Germany and Rwanda have agreed to support the resolution. It is now available in the form of a draft, the content of which is still being negotiated in UN diplomatic circles.

The media in Bosnia and Herzegovina have adopted parts of the working version of the resolution, which recalls the facts of the Srebrenica genocide, but also calls for strict compliance with international judgements and the condemnation of attempts to deny the genocide, as well as the introduction of an International Day of Remembrance for the victims of Srebrenica.

The BiH Mission to the United Nations, led by Zlatko Lagumdzija, actively participated in the preparations for the discussion and adoption of the resolution. The Chairman of the BiH Presidency, Denis Becirovic, is expected to arrive at the United Nations on 17 April to lobby UN member states to support the document.

The Srebrenica Memorial has also joined the active lobbying by sending an appeal to the offices of all international organisations and foreign countries in BiH.

All of this has caused anger and discontent among Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik. in 2015, they succeeded in preventing the adoption of a similar resolution introduced by the UK due to the Russian veto in the Security Council.

Vucic and Dodik: events in Srebrenica are not genocide

Vucic has said that he will be travelling to New York this month to see what can be done to prevent the resolution from being passed, admitting that this is not very likely as the General Assembly votes by simple majority. He is counting on votes from African countries in particular, as he knows that most Western and Muslim majority countries are willing to support the resolution.

The Serbian president believes that the resolution is only a prelude to renewed pressure on Serbia, which the BiH authorities will demand to agree to the abolition of the Serbian entity BiH and to pay war reparations.

Both Vucic and Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik insist that the events in Srebrenica are not genocide, but a serious crime.

Dodik, who has faced “tacit” sanctions from Germany, says that by supporting the resolution, Berlin is trying to “whitewash its criminal past”

“By pushing for the resolution on Srebrenica in the UN General Assembly, Bosnian politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina are undermining any possibility of a final settlement with the Serbs,” Dodik said on X, adding that the crime in Srebrenica was not genocide for the Serbs.