2015-07-09 12:45:00

Russia Vetoes UN's Genocide Resolution


(Vatican Radio) Russia has vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that would have condemned the 1995 massacre of thousands of Muslims in and around the Bosnian town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian war as a "crime of genocide." Moscow objected to what it views as singling out the Bosnian Serbs for a war crime. The resolution was meant to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Europe's worst massacre since World War Two.    

Listen to Stefan Bos' report

Two international courts have called the slaughter by Bosnian Serbs of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys who had sought refuge at what was supposed to be a U.N.-protected site genocide.

Yet Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin objected to focusing only on Srebrenica, calling the resolution "confrontational and politically motivated". 

RESPONSIBLE PARTY 

Speaking through an interpreter, he made clear he objected to singling out Bosnian Serbs for the atrocity. "The approach according to which you single out one responsible party for a war crime is not legitimate and can result in even greater division within the Bosnian society," he said during the meeting of the Security Council. 

Yet, America's U.N. ambassador Samantha Power, who was a 24-year-old journalist in Bosnia at the time of the Srebrenica massacre, condemned Russia's veto.

"Why would Russia vote to deny recognition of the Srebrenica genocide?", she wondered, speaking slowly and visibly upset. 

"Today's vote mattered. It mattered hugely to the families of the victims of the Srebrenica genocide. Russia's veto is heartbreaking for those families and it is a further stain on this Council's record. 

VICTIMS REACT

And a Srebrenica woman, Fadila Efendic, who lost her son and husband in the Srebrenica massacre, called the veto "another humiliation of the victims."

Survivors of the Srebrenica massacre set out with thousands of others Wednesday on a solemn 105-kilometre (65 miles) march ahead of the 20th anniversary of the killings. 

So far the remains of more than 6,000 Srebrenica victims have been found, painstakingly identified and reburied.

Yet, Russia still remains a close ally of Serbia, which strongly objects to using the term "genocide" to describe the mass murders in a U.N. resolution. However Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has pledged to attend the 20th anniversary commemoration of the Srebrenica massacre this weekend in a bid to forge reconciliation.  

During his visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina last month, Pope Pope Francis urged the divided nation's Muslims, Orthodox and Catholics to put the "deep wounds" of their past behind them and work together for a peaceful future.

 

 








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