Letter to the Canadian Prime Minister

May 11, 2017.

Prime Minister of Canada, Right Hon. Justin Trudeau
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Hon. Chrystia Freeland
Speaker of the House of Commons, Hon. Geoff Regan
Members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Crimes against Humanity

In the name of 30, 000 Canadian Bosniaks in which many come from Prijedor, the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada cordially  seeks Canada support for the “Day of White Armbands in Canada”.

The campaign "Day of White Armbands", whose aim is to fight for the rights and remembrance of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats from Prijedor, occurs worldwide on May 31st each year. This campaign symbolizes the beginning of genocide perpetrated by the Bosnian Serbs and their supporters against Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats in Prijedor. In memory of innocent victims, the Institute for Research of Genocide, Canada once again draws the attention of the Canadian public to the ongoing denial of war crimes by Prijedor local government.

 On May 31st 1992, the Bosnian Serb authorities in Prijedor, a town in north-western Bosnia and Herzegovina, issued a decree for all non-Serbs to mark their houses with white flags or sheets and to wear a white armband if they were to leave their houses. This was the beginning of extermination that resulted in executions, concentration camps, mass rapes and the ultimate removal of more than 94% of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats from the Prijedor municipality.

 This was the first time since the 1939 Nazi decree that members of an ethnic or religious group were marked and prepared for extermination. Between 1992 and 1995, 102 children and 256 women were killed, a total of 3173 civilians perished, 31,000 people were detained in death camps, 53,000 people were victims of persecution and deportation. In just three months 94 percent of the Bosniak population from Prijedor was eliminated.

Institute for Research of Genocide Canada would like to inform the Canadian political, scientific, cultural and general public on the current police ban on commemorative gatherings for victims. Additionally, local authorities refuse to permit the construction of a memorial for civilian victims in Prijedor at the former death camp, Omarska.

Victims of the genocidal campaign carried out in Prijedor have not received any acknowledgement of their suffering from the municipal authorities to this day. The local government refuse to publicly acknowledge any of the crimes committed in the municipality, despite presence of numerous judgements by international and domestic courts.

Memorials honoring victims of this campaign have been forbidden and access to sites of their suffering denied by the likes of ArcelorMittal, a company that now owns the site of the former concentration camp in Omarska.

 The Institute for Research of Genocide invites Canada to stand in solidarity with the victims of Prijedor through a public statement. We hope Canada can join us in commemorating “White Armband day” . Let us stand up for justice together and remind the world that good will overcome evil and innocent victims will never be forgotten.

We look forward to Canada response.

Respectfully,

Professor Emir Ramic

Chairman of the Institute for Research of Genocide