March 17, 2022.
Dear Hon Catherine Branson AC QC,
Dear Members of Council,
We want to express our appreciation to you for the time and effort you took to acknowledge the importance of the issue we are addressing and to answer our questions.
We wish to address certain parts of your answer:
"The University notes that the conclusion of the Independent Commission was based on its
appreciation of the relevant facts. The University is not in a position to re-investigate such
facts but it is aware that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
understood these facts differently."
There is no need for the University to re-investigate such facts, the Australian Parliament did it already in 2012 by passing a Motion on Srebrenica (see below).
"However, it must acknowledge that Professor Byard is free to discuss, research and disseminate his research, subject to the limitations imposed by law."
Besides representing contempt for the Australian Parliament, this study is in of itself racist. It is islamophobic in many ways but we will address only the one that can be easily demonstrated by reading Professors Byard's text. Throughout the text he refers to the ethnic group of Serbs as Serbs, but to the Bosniaks as Muslims when mentioning both in the same sentence. It is legitimate to refer to Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Catholics, Bosnian Orthodox or Bosnian Jews as such. However, when constantly naming one group by its ethnic name and the other one by its religion, it negates the existence of that particular ethnic group. This is the same approach as what Russian propaganda is doing presently to the Ukrainian nation. It denies the existence of the Ukrainian nation in the same way as the Russian ambassador to Bosnia Igor Kalabuhov is denying the existence of Bosniaks stating that Bosniaks are still searching for their identity.
This study is Islamophobic - the UN defines Islamophobia as a form of racism and is also against Australian law because this "act is reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people" (18C of the Racial Discrimination Act )
Sadly, we are witnessing a war of aggression in Ukraine presently. The President of Ukraine is pleading with the west to prevent genocide in Ukraine.
The International Court of Justice is fast-tracking its ruling on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine needs strong International Law now in order to prevent a genocide from happening to it. The mere presence of an International Court of Justice where offenders are going to be tried can reduce the number of dead children, women, and men.
Purveyors of disinformation are using the study Professor Bryad co authored as a propaganda tool from the joint propaganda enterprise of Russian and pro-Russian forces to discredit International Law. This study is a propaganda tool not only against Bosniaks but against Ukraine now in the moment of Russian aggression. The Australian Government placed sanctions on such Moscow propagandists on the 8th of March this year.
Participating willingly in a genocide denial campaign -- as Professor Roger Byard has done -- is not a matter of academic freedom but of research ethics and human decency.
This is not only contradictory with parts of your letter referring to "condemning human rights violations of any kind", but also contrary with the Australian Parliament's Motion on Srebrenica, acknowledging the events of the 1995 genocide at Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopted in February 2012 and stating clearly what happened at Srebrenica, who were the victims and who were the perpetrators.
The full text of the Motion on Srebrenica reads:
‘(1) on 11 July 1995, the Bosnian town of Srebrenica which was at that time proclaimed a Protected Zone by a United Nations Security Council Resolution of 16 April 1993, fell into the hands of the Army of Republika Srpska, led by General Ratko Mladic and under the direction of the then President of the Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadzic;
(2) from 12 July 1995, the Army and the Police of Republika Srpska separated men aged 16 to approximately 60 or 70 from their families;
(3) Bosnian Serb forces killed over 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men following the takeover of Srebrenica in July 1995;
(4) all the executions systematically targeted Bosnian Muslim men of military age, regardless of whether they were civilians or soldiers;
(5) the acts committed at Srebrenica were committed with the specific intent to destroy in part, the group of Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
(6) these were acts of genocide, committed by members of the Army of Republika Srpska in and around Srebrenica from about 13 July 1995;
(7) these findings have been confirmed by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia through final and binding judgments; and
(8) the anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, 11 July, should serve as a time to remember the victims’ (Parliament of Australia 2012).
As a genocide denier, Professor Roger Byard has tainted both his own and the reputation of The University of Adelaide. He has also expressed his disrespect to both the victims of genocide and to the Parliament of Australia. Furthermore, his actions involved your University not only in the Bosnian Genocide but in the contempt of the Australian Parliament (and other laws and sanctions) and in the Aggression on Ukraine.
Institute for Research of Genocide Canada {IGC}