Thursday, December 27, 2007

BOSNIAN PRESIDENCY MEMBER HARIS SILAJDŽIĆ MET WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF MOTHERS OF SREBRENICA AND ŽEPA ASSOCIATION

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 27,2007) – A member of the Bosnian Presidency Dr Haris Silajdžić met with representatives of the Mothers of Srebrenica and Žepa Association.

During the meeting, the Association’s representatives informed Dr Silajdžić about their current activities, especially about the procedure concerning the lawsuit of the genocide survivors from Srebrenica against the government of the Netherlands and the United Nations.

They emphasized that 2008 is crucial for the lawsuit; what primarily should be determined is the responsibility of the accused side, and then to ensure compensation for the genocide survivors.

In July 1995, a Dutch battalion assigned to protect Srebrenica (a U.N.-declared "safe haven" in eastern Bosnia) did absolutely nothing and stood by as the genocidal Serbian aggressor mass murdered thousands of Bosnian civilians.

The genocide survivors have sued the Dutch government for a billion dollars in damages for participating in the genocide in Bosnia by failing to prevent it.

Also,a court in the Hague ruled recently the case against the United Nations could proceed, dismissing pleas by the Dutch prosecutors that it should be dropped after the United Nations invoked its legal immunity.

The representatives of the Mothers of Srebrenica and Žepa Enclaves Association also stressed out the problem of helping the returnees to the eastern Bosnian region of Podrinje, considering that many returnees that live in this area do not have basic living conditions, or adequate access to resources such as schools, health care and social services, and they believe that the competent ministries and other institutions are not considering it enough.

Bosnian Presidency member Dr Haris Silajdžić supported the Association’s efforts to ensure help to the returnees primarily trough concrete projects for sustainable return to that area of Bosnia, as well as to help the families with the social need status and are unable to work.

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