APEL SJEVERNOAMERIÄŒKIM BOÅ NJACIMA I SVIM PRIJATELJIMA ISTINE I PRAVDE

30.05.2013

APEL SJEVERNOAMERIÄŒKIM BOŠNJACIMA I SVIM PRIJATELJIMA ISTINE I PRAVDE

U ime žrtava i svijedoka genocida koji je izvršen u toku agresije na Republiku Bosnu i Hercegovinu na području Prijedora i njihovih porodica koji žive u Sjevernoj Americi pozivamo sve američke i kanadske Bošnjake i sve prijatelje istine i pravde u SAD i Kanadi da trideset i prvog maja iskažu svoju solidarnost noseći bijelu traku oko ruke ili isticanjem zastave ili bijelog čaršafa na svom prozoru. Trideset i prvog maja 1992. godine vlasti bosanskih Srba u Prijedoru putem lokalnog radija su naredile nesrpskom stanovništvu da obilježi svoje kuće bijelim zastavama ili čaršafima, i da pri izlasku iz kuća stave bijele trake oko rukava. Ovo je bio početak kampanje istrebljenja u kojoj su provoÄ‘ene masovne egzekucije, otvarani koncentracioni logori, silovanja i drugi zločini, i čiji je konačni ishod bio uklanjanje 94% Bošnjaka i bosanskih Hrvata sa teritorije opštine Prijedor.

Na taj način iskazujete svoju solidarnost sa žrtvama agresije i genocida u Prijedoru, Bosni i Hercegovini i svijetu, te svoje neslaganje sa negiranjem zločina u Prijedoru, Bosni i Hercegovini i svijetu.

Istovremeno šaljete jasnu poruku lokalnim vlastima u Prijedoru da se žrtvama agresije i genocida omogući nesmetano obilježavanje svih počinjenih zločina. MeÄ‘unarodni krivični sud za bivšu Jugoslaviju je rezultate kampanje progona nesrpskog stanovništva u Prijedoru uporedio s genocidom. Na hiljade ljudi je ubijeno, zatočeno, mučeno, deportovano ili silovano i Prijedor kao zajednica se promijenio zauvijek. Opštinske vlasti u Prijedoru do današnjeg dana nisu žrtvama ove genocidne kampanje na bilo koji način odali poštu za patnje kroz koje su prošli. 

Na kraju ovim simboličnim činom doprinosite podizanju svijesti o borbi za dostojanstvo miliona žrtava masovnih zločina i nepravde u svijetu.

Zato gdje god se nalazili, trideset prvog maja stavite bijelu traku oko ruke i  istaknite bijeli čaršaf na prozor! Dajte do znanja žrtvama u Prijedoru i širom svijeta da nisu same.

Emir Ramić

Direktor Instituta za istraživanje genocida Kanada

Hamdija Čustović

Predsjednik Kongresa Bošnjaka Sjeverne Amerike

Sanja Seferovic-Drnovšek

Direktor, Bosansko američkog instituta za genocid i edukaciju

 

May 30, 2013

APEL FOR THE NORTH AMERICAN BOSNIAKS AND ALL FRIENDS OF TRUTH AND JUSTICE

Many are aware that atrocities and genocide were committed against the civilian population during the 1992 to 1995 conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. What many do not know is that Serb forces used Nazi tactics to persecute and ethnically cleanse Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats from the Prijedor Municipality, starting on May 31st 1992. As a result we have come to mark May 31st as White Armband Day. Many of you may have not heard of this movement until now, so I thought it would be good to provide you with the basic information and how to get involved.

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.

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 mayor of Prijedor Marko Pavic and the local government refuse to publicly acknowledge any of the crimes committed in the municipality, despite presence of numerous judgments by international and domestic courts.

Memorials honoring victims 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. That means on Friday, May 31st survivors of genocide and families of victims will be denied the right to publicly commemorate the atrocities committed by Serb forces EVEN THOUGH freedom of peaceful assembly is a fundamental right. This is why our support is crucial!

 

Let’s stand in solidarity with those who are constantly being denied the right to commemorate White Armband Day.

 

Emir Ramic,

Director of the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada

 

Hamdija Custovic,

President of the Congress of North American Bosniaks

Sanja Drnovsek,

Chairman of the Bosnian American Institute for Genocide and Education