Toronto, 10. 12. 2012.
U povodu MeÄ‘unarodnog dana ljudskih prava 10. Decembar, Institut za istraživanje genocida Kanada {IGK} upozorava svijetsku javnost o kontinuiranom kršenju ljudskih prava i sloboda u Prijedoru
Na MeÄ‘unarodni dan ljudskih prava prijedorska policija je po ko zna koji put ponizila žrtve i svjedoke agresije i genocida, zabranjujući im sjećanje na zloÄin, istinu i pravdu. Policija u Äijim redovima se i danas nalaze poÄinioci strašnih zloÄina je zabranila, uredno najavljenu, mirnu šetnju žrtava i svjedoka agresije i genocida prijedorskom, pješaÄkom zonom.
Agresija i genocid se nastavljaju u Prijedoru drugim metodama
U višegodišnjoj agresiji i genocidu u Prijedoru hiljade prijedorskih Bošnjaka i Hrvata su ubijeni, hiljade mućeni u više koncentracionih logora smrti, više stotina prijedorÄanki je silovano, više stotina prijedorske djece je ubijeno, desetine hiljada prijedorÄana je protjerano, izvršen je zloÄin nad gradom rušenjem kulturnih i tradicijskih objekata prijedorskih Bošnjaka i Hrvata sa ciljem potpunog istrebljenja istih.
Dvadeset godina poslije tih strašnih zloÄina diskriminacija i najgrublje kršenje ljudskih prava i sloboda se nastavlja drugim sredstvima. Agresija i genocid se nastavljaju drugim metodama. Namjerno i sustavno se onemogućuje povratak i oporavak prijedorskih bošnjaÄkih i hrvatskih zajednica, na silu oteta radna mjesta i imovina nikada nisu vraćeni, opštinske strukture najmanje ulažu u naselja u kojima je potpuno bila uništena infrastruktura i objekti.
Posebno se diskriminiraju žrtve i svjedoci agresije i genocida. Njima se na svaki naÄin nastoji onemogućiti ostvarivanje osnovnih ljudskih prava i sloboda. U opštinskom budžetu izdvajaju se ogromna sredstva iskljuÄivo za srpske vojne žrtve i udruženja. Ciljano se podižu memorijali srpskim vojnim žrtvama na javnim mjestima, pred školama i ustanovama, kako bi se pripadnici ostalih naroda i manjina zastrašili. Općinske vlasti su podigle zastrašujući spomenik srpskim vojnicima na mjestu gdje su patile hiljade prijedorÄana u koncentracionom logoru smrti Trnopolje. Ne dozvoljava obilježavanje najvećih stratišta i muÄilišta u opštini Prijedor. U samom gradu ne postoji niti najmanje obilježje koje upućuje na stradanje bošnjaÄkih i hrvatskih civila, već se podižu monumentalna zdanja iskljuÄivo za srpske vojne žrtve. Posebno teško kršenje prava je zabilježeno kod više od hiljadu nestalih PrijedorÄana. Njima je pored svih drugih ljudskih prava oduzeto i pravo na identitet i dostojanstven ukop.
Na dan ljudskih prava, IGK informiše svijetsku javnost da su preživjele žrtve i svjedoci agresije i genocida u Prijedoru poniženi jer im se zabranjuje pravo na sjećanje, istinu i pravdu
Prijedor je danas mjesto u kome su najbrojnija kršenja ljudskih prava i sloboda. IGK ukazuje na Äinjenicu da se u Prijedoru ne poštuje Opšta deklaracija o ljudskim pravima, Äiju godišnjicu upravo obilježavamo. Posebno nas brine to što još uvijek nije uspostavljena vladavina prava, što još uvijek svi graÄ‘ani Prijedora ne uživaju ista prava i što se zakoni ne primjenjuju jednako na sve. Posebno je teško i bolno pitanje žrtava i svjedoka genocida u Prijedoru
Javno se zabranjuje obilježavanja 20. godišnjice od poÄetka zloÄina agresije i genocida zbog korištenja rijeÄi ‘genocid’, te nalaže prijedorskoj policiji da podnese kriviÄne prijave protiv organizatora mirne povorke.
Na MeÄ‘unarodni dan ljudskih prava prijedorska policija je po ko zna koji put ponizila žrtve i svjedoke agresije i genocida, zabranjujući im sjećanje na zloÄin, istinu i pravdu.
Općinske vlasti sustavno teroriziraju prijedorske Bošnjake i Hrvate, koji su i dalje poniženi graÄ‘ani drugog reda. Općinske vlasti javno ponižavaju organizacije koje okupljaju žrtve i svijedoke genocida i tako namjerno, organizovano i ciljano šire strah meÄ‘u porodicama ubijenih i nestalih prijedorÄana. Istovremeno se Prijedorom slobodno šetaju ratni zloÄinci zauzimajući pozicije u lokalnoj vlasti. Općinske vlasti dozvoljavaju skupove fašistiÄkih grupa protiv kojih su se prijedorÄani i svi antifašisti borili u Drugom svjetskom ratu, a žrtvama zabranjuje pravo na sjećanje, istinu i pravdu. Općinske vlasti ignorišu zahtjeve predstavnika meÄ‘unarodne zajednice koji su jasno dali do znanja da diskriminacija po nacionalnoj i vjerskoj osnovi mora biti obustavljena, da istina o genocidu mora biti dokućena, da se zloÄinci moraju osuditi i pravda zadovoljiti, te da se stradanja svih prijedorskih žrtava moraju obilježiti jednako, bez obzira na njihovu etniÄku pripadnost.
Žrtve date za slobodu i nezavisnost Republike Bosne i Hercegovine se ne smiju ponižavati
Ovi i mnogi drugi ataci općinske vlasti na osnovna ljudska prava i slobde ruše ugled Prijedora, Bosne i Hercegovine, Ujedinjene Evrope i svijeta, napadaju na osnovne temelje savremene demokratije i posebno teško krše temeljne odrednice Opšta deklaracija o ljudskim pravima. U procesu erozije države Bosne i Hercegovine, politiÄke snage usmjerene ka rušenju države se sve više povezuju na bazi negiranja presuda oba internacionalna suda da su pripadnici vojske i policije Republike Srpske poÄinili genocid.
IGK će pozvati najuglednije svijetske politiÄke, akademske i autoritete za zaštitu ljudskih prava i sloboda da dignu svoj autoritativni glas za odbranu prava žrtava i svjedoka agresije i genocida u Prijedoru, da reagiraju na kontinuirano kršenje odredaba Opšte deklaracije o ljudskim pravima od strane predstavnika prijedorske općinske vlasti i zatraže da se isti procesuiraju i adekvatno kazne.
IGK poziva sve svijetske pokrete i organizacije za zaštitu ljudskih prava i sloboda da dignu glas istine i pravde, da iskažu svoj protest i solidarnost sa žrtvama i svjedocima agresije i genocida u Prijedoru.
IGK upozorava da niko nema pravo da žrtvama i svjedocima genocida zabranjuje sjećanje na zloÄin, na istinu i pravdu. Zato u ime preživjelih žrtava i svijedoka agresije i genocida, IGK apeluje na svijetsku javnost da uÄini napor kako bi se stanje ljudskih prava i sloboda poboljšalo u Prijedoru, kako bi se konaÄno poštovali meÄ‘unarodni standardi u ovoj oblasti. Tražimo od svijetske javosti i svijetskih lidera da se pitanje žrtava i svijedoka agresije i genocida u Prijedoru riješi, osiguravajući im pravo na sjećanje, istinu i pravdu. Jer dok se ne ispoštuje pravedna borba žrtava i svjedoka agresije i genocida za sjećanje, istinu i pravdu nema pomirenja i sretnije zajedniÄke budućnosti graÄ‘ana Prijedora. Žrtve date za slobodu i nezavisnost Republike Bosne i Hercegovine se ne smiju ponižavati.
Emir Ramić
Direktor Instituta za istraživanje genocida, Kanada
Toronto, December, 10, 2012
On the occasion of international Human Rights Day on 10 December, the Institute for Genocide Research Canada (IGC) cautions the international community on continuing violations of human rights and personal freedoms in the city of Prijedor.
Prijedor Police has banned the peaceful march commemorating the International Human Rights Day on Monday the 10th December. On the International Human Rights Day, Prijedor police is placing itself above the RS law on public gatherings and has banned the peaceful public walk, not citing a single legal basis for doing so.
During the years of aggression and genocide in Prijedor thousands of the city’s Bosniak and Croat inhabitants, including women and children, were murdered; thousands more were tortured in concentration and death camps; several hundred women and girl were raped; tens of thousands of the city’s were forced from their homes; and the city’s cultural and sacral buildings and artifacts were purposefully destroyed as part of the extermination campaign against the city’s Bosniak and Croat inhabitants.
Twenty years after these horrific crimes, discrimination and crude violations of human rights and basic freedoms continue to be perpetrated against the city’s remaining Bosniak and Croat inhabitants. Different methods are being used to continue the policies of aggression and genocide. Bosniak and Croat communities are deliberately and systematically being prevented from returning to their homes and reviving their presence in the municipality, returnees are prevented form attaining their pre-war careers and positions, and municipal structures invest the least amount of resources in reviving parts of the municipality where infrastructure and facilities were targeted and destroyed.
Discrimination is especially severe against survivors and witnesses of aggression and genocide, and the local authorities and municipal institutions are preventing the realization of their human rights and basic freedoms in every possible way. Municipal authorities allocate funds exclusively for the construction of memorials to Serb soldiers and Serb victims that are built in public places such as schools and administrative buildings, which intimidate non-Serb inhabitants. Serb authorities have erected a memorial to slain Serb soldiers directly on the site where thousands of Bosniac and Croat women and children were tortured in the Trnopoje concentration camp. Authorities have prevented the placement of commemorative plaques that would mark the locations associated with the largest sites of murder and torture of Bosniak and Croat civilians in the municipality.
In the town itself, one cannot find any memorials or other structures that commemorate the tragedies that befell the town’s Bosniak and Croat victims; all existing memorials in the town are dedicated exclusively to commemorating Serb victims. An especially egregious injustice is committed against the one thousand missing inhabitants from Prijedor. In addition to having their human rights violated, they are also stripped of their identity and prevented from having a dignified burial.
In making this year’s Human Rights Day, IGC would like to remind the international community that the surviving victims and witnesses of the aggression and genocide in Prijedor are being humiliated and denigrated by having to beg for the right to publicly remember the their own suffering and to commemorate the deaths of their family members, friends, and fellow citizens.
IGC would also like to remind the international community that the authorities in Prijedor are not respecting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose anniversary we are marking today. We are particularly concerned that the rule of law has still not been established in the municipality, that the inhabitants of Prijedor do not enjoy the same rights, and that existing laws are not applied equally to all citizens of the municipality.
We would like to underline once again the very difficult and painful situation that survivors and witnesses of genocide in Prijedor are placed in.
Any public commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the onset of aggression and genocide in Prijedor are officially forbidden, and criminal charges have been filed against the organizers of peaceful events that were held to commemorate the genocide. This constitutes the continuation of genocide against Prijedor’s Bosniak and Croat communities by other means.
Municipal authorities systematically terrorize Bosniak and Croat citizens of the municipality and treat them as second-class citizens. Municipal authorities also publicly humiliate organizations of survivors and witnesses of the genocide in Prijedor and are deliberately spreading fear among the families and friends of those murdered or missing in Prijedor. War criminals are allowed to walk freely in the municipality and are taking up positions of authority in the local government. Municipal authorities allow large public rallies of fascists groups that had been formed in the Second Word War and are known to have committed war crimes to take place.
The Municipal authorities continue to ignore the international community’s demands that discrimination based on ethnic and religious grounds must be outlawed and prevented, that the truth about the genocide committed in Prijedor must be revealed, that war criminals must be brought to justice, and that the suffering of all victims must be marked equally regardless of their ethnicity.
These and many other attacks by Municipal authorities on human rights and basic freedoms are undermining the reputation of Prijedor, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the European Union, and the entire international community. They also constitute grave breaches of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. IGC would like to remind the world that no one has the right to prohibit survivors and witnesses of genocide from commemorating their suffering and from seeking justice. In the name of the survivors and witnesses of genocide, the IGC calls on the international community to undertake further efforts to improve the state of human rights for the citizens of Prijedor by applying more pressure on the Municipality’s authorities to finally respect international standards of human rights. We request that the international community and its leaders to challenge the ongoing violation of the human rights of survivors and witnesses of genocide in Prijedor and to ensure that their right ro memory, truth, and justice is protected and upheld.
Emir Ramic
Director of the Institute for Research of Genocide, Canada