The Western-backed ‘Srebrenica genocide’ resolution in the UN General Assembly was opposed by two thirds of humanity and failed in its intent, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday.
Proposed by Germany and Rwanda, the resolution designating July 11 as ‘Srebrenica genocide’ remembrance day was adopted by a simple majority vote. Of the 193 UN member states, 84 voted in favor, 19 against, 68 abstained, and 20 left the assembly
“A total of 107 countries did not want to agree with their proposal,” Vucic told reporters after the session. “Let’s not even bring up the threats and pressure they used to get from about 60, maybe not even that many, to the 84 in the end.” he added.
The resolution revolved around a tragic episode from the Bosnian War (1992-1995), when the ethnic Serb forces took the town of Srebrenica. The Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) have claimed that the deaths of an estimated 8,000 men during the fighting – many of them combatants – amounted to genocide. The Western-backed war crimes tribunal for Yugoslavia – precursor to the International Criminal Court – has agreed, using controversial legal reasoning.
“Those who came up with this got it all wrong,” Vucic said on Thursday. “They did everything to amplify divisions and humiliate Serbia. But we stood tall.”
“We fought and I believe we defended the honor of our country,” the Serbian president added.
Speaking before the vote, the Serbian leader denounced the hypocrisy of the West in advocating “reconciliation” in the Balkans yet sponsoring a resolution such as this one. He also reminded the General Assembly that the Western powers urged Belgrade to “look to the future” and not bring up the past in March, on the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia – then proceeded to draft the Srebrenica resolution just two days later.
“When they have political motives, then they can go further into the past. But when someone else talks about the past, then it doesn’t mean anything,” Vucic said.
Russian permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, told the General Assembly that Germany had no right to lecture anyone about genocide after what the Nazis had done. He also called the passage of the document a “Pyrrhic victory” for its sponsors that will threaten the peace in Bosnia and security in the entire region.
World-renowned Serbian film director and screenwriter, Emir Kusturica, told RT Balkans after the vote that it was “the reflection of civilizational despair.”
“To accuse a nation that has been one of the biggest victims of genocide, historically, of carrying out a genocide against someone else is an atrocity in and of itself,” Kusturica said.