Georgios Konstandi

📅🇧🇦 On this day in July 1995, the final stage of the Bosnian Genocide began when the besieged town of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia was invaded by the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS). Over the next five to six days, the VRS, headed by convicted genocidaire Ratko Mladić, murdered 8,372 Bosniaks. They deported thousands of Bosniak women and children, raping women en route. The VRS was the military wing of the genocidal "Republika Srpska" project, which aimed to create a Serb-majority entity in northern and eastern Bosnia. This project was funded and armed by Serbia's president, Slobodan Milošević. In Europe, Greece and Cyprus were two major allies of this project, helping Milošević circumvent economic sanctions against his regime. Srebrenica was a UN-declared "safe area" under UN Resolution 819 on 16 April 1993. This term had no legal definition and therefore stipulated no concrete measurement of defence. The results of this hollow declaration would become crystal clear in July 1995 when approximately 40,000 refugees fled Srebrenica on 11 July to the UN base in Potočari. Here they expected UN Peacekeeping forces to protect them from the VRS onslaught. They were proven wrong. UN Peacekeepers agreed with Ratko Mladić to deport the women and children, while handing over Bosniak men and boys to the VRS 'to be vetted'. These boys were ripped from their families' arms as they were boarding deportation buses. They would all be killed. The survivors of the Srebrenica Genocide and their descendants have taken charge of memorialising their genocide. They keep the history of their community alive while operating in a "Republika Srpska" entity which denies and glorifies the genocide. If there is one thing you can do to be a part of keeping the history of what happened alive, visit and donate to organisations such as Srebrenica Memorial Center. #Srebrenica30

11,393 views