YouSaid · the spoken record

Korjenie

lines on the record

15

first

2019-11-05

most recent

2019-11-05

sittings or episodes

1

sources

un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

1. “Ms. Korjenie: There were no questions directed at me, but I would like to say that I agree with what the High Representative just said. I would like to add, very briefly, that the rule of law is the only way towards justice and a peaceful future. It is critical that the country's elected political leaders start defining an environment of dignity and mutual respect for everyone, especially for all of the survivors and victims of genocide and war crimes.”

   2019-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8658 (2019) · source

2. “There are many wonderful people here, from multiple sectors of civil society, including many human rights activists who fight on a daily basis to make their country a better place. Our civil society needs the trust of the Security Council. We need it to help and support the initiatives aimed at rebuilding bridges and delivering justice and reconciliation.”

   2019-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8658 (2019) · source

3. “The international community should not be afraid to engage with Bosnia and Herzegovina on stricter terms. It should not be afraid to demand respect for the verdicts rendered by international and local courts. It should make sure that denying, minimizing or justifying any crime, regardless of its target, should be forbidden. It should demand that victims can see their right to justice, truth and reparations fully implemented. Only these kinds of conditions will enable us to move ahead as a nation and reconcile with one another. Secondly, please do not despair of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a young Bosnian woman, I will not despair of my country. I want to leave it to my children free of the poison of hatred.”

   2019-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8658 (2019) · source

4. “Clearly, ordinary citizens are not the ones preventing peace, but without the support of the State and a comprehensive institutional approach, reconciliation cannot have long-lasting effects. Without a concerted effort to fight the denial ofpast crimes and to combat nationalistic rhetoric, Bosnia and Herzegovina will continue to be a ticking time bomb. Next Saturday we will be commemorating the destruction of the famous Mostar Bridge. The old bridge was destroyed on 9 November 1993. It has since been rebuilt, but Bosnia and Herzegovina still needs the support of the international community to rebuild numerous bridges between people and communities. For that, I would humbly like to propose two paths for the Council's consideration. First, do not let denial and hate take stronger root.”

   2019-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8658 (2019) · source

5. “This long-term involvement, coupled with a constant engagement with authorities to call for upholding international standards and for guaranteeing the basic human rights of victims, has made justice processes a little more efficient, fair and inclusive. Those results, combined with successes from other sectors of society, show that the initiatives taken by human rights activists, local civil society organizations, war victims, former members of opposed armies, youth from different ethnic backgrounds and individual religious leaders to spread messages of peace and tolerance can really sow the seeds ofjustice, truth and reconciliation. Ordinary citizens want nothing more than to leave the war behind them and look towards a brighter future.”

   2019-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8658 (2019) · source

6. “Work aimed at delivering justice to affected individuals and communities and providing engagement on reconciliation and peacebuilding does happen, and there are even successes to celebrate. But such work and engagement result from the dedication of civil society organizations, human rights activists and individuals who seek to normalize relations among individuals and communities through their activism. Some victims and survivors are increasingly active in their quest for justice and for opportunities to rebuild themselves, with the support of numerous civil society representatives. For example, for the past 12 years, my organization has been working alongside with and supporting victims of the war, including numerous survivors of sexual violence.”

   2019-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8658 (2019) · source

7. “For example, a new history textbook in the Republika Srpska glorifies one of the worst war criminals, Radovan Karadzie, as a poet and the first President of the Republika Srpska, without providing information about his responsibility for genocide and numerous crimes against humanity. Nothing is said of his conviction to life in prison by the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Such retrograde narratives are on the rise and cause tensions among an already divided nation. Three generations have now tasted the poison of hatred. Very little is being done to prevent the same fate happening to the next generation. However, there is still a glimmer of hope.”

   2019-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8658 (2019) · source

8. “Those who dare to look at the past objectively, with a real concern for the fate of victims, and those who voice dissenting views about the events of the war, are often exposed to public attacks. They receive threats and sometimes have to leave their homes or even the country in search of protection, because State institutions are unable to protect their citizens from such intimidation. Even schools fall under the influence of such policies and views about acceptable truths on what happened during the war. Indeed, some formal educational programmes create the basis for future distrust towards other communities, keeping alive the possibility of conflicts in future.”

   2019-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8658 (2019) · source

9. “In contrast to war veterans, civilian victims - in particular women survivors of sexual violence - have been fighting for many years for their voices to be heard and still have not been granted equal rights. Efforts aimed at peacebuilding and reconciliation are fundamentally blocked at all political levels. Peacebuilding and reconciliation are not a main concern for most politicians nor, tragically, for many politically inclined media groups either. It follows that even positive stories that show the normalization of relations among individuals and communities are often silenced and rarely find any place in the public arena. Sadly, objecting to the nationalist rhetoric entails risks.”

   2019-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8658 (2019) · source

10. “Some of the perpetrators released from prison are now welcomed at gatherings of leading politicians. Some are even elected to political positions, as was the case with convicted war criminal Fikret Abdie, who became mayor of Velika Kladusa. Associations are created that bear the names of war criminals, and even fascist organizations no longer fear appearing in public, which is comparable to publicly admitting past crimes. Moreover, there are almost no monuments or memorials universally dedicated to war victims. The initiatives for building memorials for victims are often politicized, even at the local level, which further frustrates survivors and their families, thereby preventing efforts to achieve just satisfaction and robbing them of their right to commemoration.”

    2019-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8658 (2019) · source

11. “In the town of Pale, for instance, a student dormitory has been named after Radovan Karadzie. In another location, Nevesinje, a mural of Ratko Mladie has been unveiled. When verdicts are rendered against a member of a community, nationalist circles often reject it, as was seen recently in the Prosecutor v. Prlic et al. case. These groups concentrate their attention only on the crimes committed against their own community. This biased celebration of past crimes is a refusal to acknowledge the full truth and to accept the suffering of all victims regardless of their community or origin, and it takes many forms. International and national courts are often undermined. During public meetings, photographs of convicted war criminals are brandished.”

    2019-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8658 (2019) · source

12. “In order to normalize relationships among individuals as well as communities, we now also need to fight the denial that such crimes were even committed. Indeed, a perverse nationalistic rhetoric is today flourishing and dominating the public space more than ever. Leading political elites and the media working at their service now openly propagate the denial of genocide and other war crimes, at least when the crimes in question have been committed against the so-called opposing side. This discourse is accompanied by the increased glorification of criminals from one's own community. Let me give Council members some examples. Public spaces, such as streets, memorials and monuments, have been named after legally convicted war criminals, thereby justifying the atrocities committed by them.”

    2019-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8658 (2019) · source

13. “We believed that bringing war criminals to justice would result in reconciliation, including by acknowledging the suffering of victims and their families. Although some positive developments were made, progress has been slow. At the current rate of prosecution, civil society is very worried that our judicial institutions will not be able to meet the deadline of closing all wartime cases by 2023. For the tired and forgotten victims who are still alive today, this denial of justice increases the suffering visited upon them during the war. The prompt fight against impunity remains of paramount importance. But to provide a fuller sense of justice to survivors in particular and to society as a whole, the prosecution of perpetrators alone will not be enough.”

    2019-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8658 (2019) · source

14. “For the average tourist coming for a short visit, we are a country of great natural beauty with a rich cultural heritage, delicious traditional food, beautiful music and warm-hearted people. But we are also a country where some of the worst atrocities in Europe since the Second World War occurred, a country where everyday life is profoundly affected by the war, which ended 24 years ago, and a country still carrying a heavy burden from the past. Many complicated issues, including bringing war criminals to justice, satisfying the needs of victims and their families and reconciling peoples and communities, are not being handled in a satisfactory manner. For many years, a great emphasis was put on the judicial response to the horrendous crimes committed during the war.”

    2019-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8658 (2019) · source

15. “Ms. Korjenie: My name is Selma Korjenie, and I am Head of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Programme for TRIAL International, a non-governmental organization that fights impunity for international crimes and supports victims in their pursuit ofjustice. I am also honoured to address the Security Council as a woman and citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to speak about my country's efforts aimed at reconciliation and dealing with the past. My message to the Council is based on consultations with several other representatives of civil society organizations who work on justice and peacebuilding in my country. Where is Bosnia and Herzegovina today when it comes to dealing with the past?”

    2019-11-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8658 (2019) · source