Exactly 30 years ago, on July 11, 1995, Europe witnessed its worst human atrocity since the Holocaust.

The town of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia had been declared a United Nations “safe area” during the Bosnian War. It was meant to be a haven for civilians, overwhelmingly Muslims fleeing ethnic violence after the collapse of Yugoslavia.

Instead, it became a site of unimaginable horror.

Over the course of several days, at least 8,372 Bosniak (Muslim Bosnian) men and boys were systematically executed by Bosnian Serb forces under the command of Gen. Ratko Mladić. 

Their only crime: being Muslim.

Upon entering Srebrenica, Mladić infamously declared “We give this town to the Serb nation… The time has come to take revenge on the Muslims.”

Despite the presence of Dutch U.N. peacekeepers, the men and boys were rounded up, taken to woods nearly 30 miles east near the Bosnian-Serb border, and slaughtered. 

Many were then dismembered, their body parts buried in mass graves across eastern Bosnia. Some remains are still being uncovered to this day.

International Community gathers in Srebrenica on the 30th anniversary of genocide

Thousands of international dignitaries and Bosnians gathered on Friday to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, Europe’s worst atrocity since World War II.

Families laid to rest seven newly identified victims, whose remains were recently confirmed through DNA evidence, according to the Associated Press. The burials took place in the presence of world leaders, survivors and grieving relatives. 

For Bosnian families, the memory of Srebrenica is a deep heartache sustained for decades.

“My children are gone,” Nezira Mehmedovic told AFP, sitting beside one of her son’s graves. “I’ve been living for 30 years waiting to join them. God wanted it that way, and I accepted it.”

Unlike Mehmedovic, however, many Bosnians still cannot give their loved ones a proper Islamic burial. 

Over 1,000 victims’ bodies are believed to still be buried in mass graves.

European and International leaders urged that the day be one of reflection, and to make sure that no similar atrocity ever happens again.

“Your grief is shared by all of us. And we pledge to keep the memory alive,” European Council President António Costa said at the commemoration. “There is no room in Europe, or anywhere else, for genocide denial, revisionism, or the glorification of those responsible.”

“The 30th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica is not only a moment of reflection,” wrote U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on X. “It is a call to vigilance & action.”

In the years after the genocide, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), a U.N. court established in 1993, officially declared the massacre a genocide in 2004.

In 2017, Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladić was convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to life in prison.

In May 2024, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution officially designating July 11 as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica.