Statement Against Questioning of Srebrenica Memorial Center Employees by Republika Srpska Authorities

August 14, 2026

Justice For All condemns the Republika Srpska authorities for its mass police questioning on August 12 of 26 current and former employees of the Srebrenica Memorial Center.

This action, which followed the release of the Center’s report highlighting genocide denial, is a brazen act of intimidation that strikes at the heart of efforts to preserve the truth about the Srebrenica genocide.

The coordinated summonses, carried out on the orders of the Bijeljina Prosecutor’s Office, represent an institutional attack on human rights defenders, researchers and the Bosniak Muslim community in Srebrenica. This constitutes the latest in a series of acts of genocide denial, historical revisionism and erasure by Republika Srpska officials that directly violate international law, including the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. They defy the U.N. General Assembly resolution establishing July 11 as the International Day of Reflection on the Srebrenica Genocide. They undermine the final and binding judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which have legally established the murder of more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys in July 1995 as genocide. These actions are an affront to the legacy of the Srebrenica Memorial Center and its founding organizations, including the Mothers of Srebrenica and the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide, and must be met with immediate and decisive international action.

“The mass questioning of the Memorial Center’s staff is a calculated effort to silence the truth, intimidate survivors and rewrite history for political gain,” said Imam Saffet Catovic, a former Bosnian diplomat and Director of U.N. Operations for Justice For All. “The Dayton Peace Agreement, a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy, international diplomacy, and the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is being systematically undermined.”

Justice For All urges the following immediate actions:

1. Office of the High Representative (OHR)

Acting High Representative Louis Crischock must immediately use the Bonn Powers to impose targeted sanctions on Republika Srpska officials responsible for orchestrating the harassment and intimidation of Srebrenica Memorial Center employees and associates. The High Representative must take all necessary measures to secure the physical safety of the Memorial Center, and the security and wellbeing of its staff, and the residents of Srebrenica.

2. Bosnia and Herzegovina Judiciary

The Bosnian Constitutional Court and Supreme Court must act without delay to halt the proceedings initiated by the Bijeljina Prosecutor’s Office, which violate the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and contravene international humanitarian law.

3. United States Government

The U.S. Administration must immediately implement the mandatory sanctions passed in the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to hold individuals accountable for destabilizing behavior and undermining democratic institutions, as called for by Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Roger Wicker, Chuck Grassley, Dick Durbin, and Representatives Bill Keating and Mike Turner. The U.S. State Department, as a primary guarantor of the Dayton Peace Agreement, must take a leading role in demanding an end to this assault on a U.S.-brokered peace.

4. United Nations

U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk must launch an urgent, independent investigation into the intimidation campaign against the Srebrenica Memorial Center and its personnel. The U.N. Human Rights Council must mandate the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence to examine these violations and report their findings.

5. European Union

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) must use its full influence to demand accountability from Republika Srpska authorities and ensure that EU institutions monitor the situation closely.

6. Canada

Canada, as a member of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) Steering Board and a Dayton signatory partner, must uphold its responsibility to protect the Dayton Accord and press for immediate corrective action.

7. International Community

All states and international bodies must unequivocally reaffirm that the truth about the Srebrenica genocide is not negotiable and that those who seek to deny, revise or erase this judicially established fact must be held fully accountable under international law.

We cannot allow the world to fail Bosnia and Herzegovina again. The truth about the genocide in Srebrenica is not negotiable. Those who seek to erase it must be held to account.