11 April 2022

I would like to thank you for your letter of 31 January 2022, addressed to the Secretary-General.

The denial of genocide as adjudicated by a properly constituted tribunal harms victims and survivors of these crimes and undermines efforts at prevention. In this specific case, denial of the genocide in Srebrenica as adjudicated by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is contrary
to the goals and principles of the United Nations, as well as an affront to the memories of the victims and survivors of this heinous crime.

Some countries have criminalized genocide denial. During its seventy-sixth session, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution by consensus on holocaust denial (A/RES/76/250 of 20 January 2022) rejecting and condemning it. The Human Rights Council, in A/HRC/RES/43/29 of 22 June 2020, expressed concern about growing incidents of genocide denial. The culmination of these and earlier resolutions and action by United Nations intergovernmental bodies is that genocide denial is antithetical to the principles and objectives of the
United Nations.

Dr. Emir Ramic
Director of the Institute for the Research

of Genocide, Canada Hamilton

Professor Yukie Osa’s term on the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) ended in December 2021. During her term on the Board, neither the Secretary-General nor UNITAR was aware ofProfessor Osa’s involvement in an academic study concerning genocide in Srebrenica. Any study denying genocide in Srebrenica, as established by the ICTY, must be understood to include the author’s own views and not the views of theUnited Nations.

Yours sincerely,

E. Courtenay Rattray Chef de Cabinet