Brian Masse

 Ottawa

Brian Masse

MP/ Député

Statement on Worldwide White Armband Day 2021

On May 31st 1992, in Prijedor, a town in north-western Bosnia and Herzegovina, after a forceful takeover of the municipal government, Bosnian Serb authorities issued a decree on local radio ordering all non-Serbian citizens to mark their houses with white flags or bedsheets and to wear white armbands when leaving the house. Tens of thousands of family members of those forced to wear white armbands had been detained in prison camps established during the war in Bosnia.

In Prijedor, 3,173 people — 256 women and 102 children among them — were killed during the war in Bosnia. Almost 31,000 people were detained in prison camps, and 53,000 were forced to flee. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague has sentenced several people to prison terms, for war crimes committed in and around Prijedor. Survivors told the Hague tribunal of horrific acts of torture, rape and murder committed in the camps.

In 2012, ahead of the 20th anniversary of the white armband decree, Prijedor residents formed the Stop Genocide Denial group, aiming to raise awareness of Worldwide White Armband Day. Since then the remembrance of these atrocities and crimes against humanity has grown all around the world.

Worldwide White Armband Day reminds us that we all have a duty to ensure that the crimes of genocide and torture are permanently eradicated, that the victims of such crimes are remembered, and that perpetrators are exposed and brought to justice. Combating all genocide denial is an essential part of the process.

Today is a day to remember and support the victims of atrocities, along with the entire global community committed to truth, justice and respect for victims and their families.

Sincerely,

Brian Masse M. P. Windsor West

Windsor