Message from the Mothers of Srebrenica

We are mothers, sisters, and daughters, from whom one expects motherly and sisterly love, tolerance, and a call for respect of life, for we are those who give birth to and raise children, to respect life, to respect each human being.

We – whose sons, husbands, brothers, fathers, grandfathers were killed in the Srebrenica genocide, We – whom genocide took almost everything away from, we try to create a better life for all human beings and this is why you need to join us – all of you who wish good upon this world, all of you who are thinking of the children of this world and their future.

We are mothers who survived genocide and remained standing tall – we raised 5500 of our children, who were left without their parents and succeeded to raise them without revenge, without hate and by doing so we are an example to other mothers, for the entire world – we give birth to our children out of love, we raise them with love and we teach them to love.

We are those who never did and never will give up on truth and justice. We will never give up from bringing to justice the criminals who committed the crime, for if they remain unpunished, this world will be swallowed by hatred. We are not and will never be tired from that fight, for this is how we protect our grandchildren, your grandchildren, and without truth and justice there is no peace.

The land we live on is not just ours, it belongs to all that love it, and so the world must be a place where all the people that love it, live. We must not let these be stolen from us, by those who are led by hatred and violence. Our diversity must be mutually accepted, and we must live side by side.

We call for all mothers of the world, all sisters, daughters, all women of the world to follow our lead – give birth to children made with love, raise them in love, teach them to love, appreciate and respect others and those who are different. Teach them that differences are wealth, teach them to know the value of peace and equip them for the fight against hatred and evil that comes with it.

We must not remain silent, nor stand on the side. We must raise our voice, we must act for all those whose voice cannot be heard but who suffer injustice, especially if those are children, women, civilians.

The more of us the better, our voice will grow stronger – we will become those who will have to be listened to.

We testified before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) while looking into the eyes of the killers of our children; and thanks to that, some of them have been sentenced to life imprisonment for all the evil they inflicted on us.

The voice of victims must be heard – justice for the victim must be reached. We continue our fight, so that the lie would not defeat the truth.

So that criminals do not become heroes.

We will never give up from truth, for only truth leads to justice and peace in the world.