BELGRADE – Milan Antonijevic, Director of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, remarked today that the willingness of the PM Aleksandar Vucic to go to Srebrenica is a positive message that can contribute to reconciliation in the region.
Antonijevic said to Tanjug that the PM’s visit to Srebrenica on the 20th anniversary of the atrocity committed there could have far-reaching effect on relations in the region which were, he thinks, compromised in the previous period.
He states that we should be mindful of the messages which were being sent by previous governments, remarking that all of that displays a readiness and maturity to recognize the crimes committed in former Yugoslavia.
“This way we can establish the country’s credibility by recognizing everything that took place and also reproach the international community and can, perhaps, call for firmer sanctions in particular cases,” said Antonijevic.
He estimates that the international community, the European Union and everyone who wishes to see some headway in Serbia will surely appreciate PM Vucic’s decision to pay homage to the victims of Srebrenica on July 11th.
“I believe they will have a favorable opinion of this development and that due to this Serbia will reap only benefits from it on the international level,” said Antonijevic.
Referring to the Resolution on Srebrenica, which should be discussed in the UN Security Council in the beginning of July, Antonijevic stated that it is obvious that a specific document is being prepared which will place certain obligations before Serbia.
“We have to display maturity on the domestic field by declaring July 11th a day of remembrance of the genocide in Srebrenica. This would, regardless of how hard it is for society and for those in power, demonstrate a certain degree of maturity both internationally and domestically,” said Antonijevic.
The youth of Serbia, which perhaps hadn’t even been born at time when these crimes took place shouldn’t live under the shadow of the atrocities committed in the nineties and they shouldn’t feel those crimes like a burden to the country in which they live in.
