Remembering Srebrenica is delighted that Aida Salkic Haughton, a survivor of the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Herzegovina and a member of our West Midlands Board has been recognised in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours List with an MBE for her services to Remembering Srebrenica.
The Chair of Remembering Srebrenica UK, Dr Waqar Azmi OBE said:
“This is a well deserved award and we send our congratulations to Aida who over the years has made a huge positive social impact in Stoke-on-Trent city by working with both local and national partners including the city council, YMCA North Staffordshire, Staffordshire University and Staffordshire Police in using the “Lessons from Srebrenica” and genocide committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina to help build stronger, safer and more cohesive communities”.
Aida’s work has united thousands of people from different backgrounds from across the area through Srebrenica Memorial commemorations and empowered a significant number of young people to become Champions Against Hate through the regular ‘Lessons from Srebrenica’ visits programme. The young people have returned to the UK and developed a series of community action projects to help tackle hatred and intolerance in their communities”.
One of these projects include the designing of a Srebrenica Memorial Garden built in the shape of the Srebrenica Flower to honour the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica- the worst atrocity on European soil since the Second World War by the members of the YMCA North Staffordshire and their colleagues from the University of Staffordshire. The memorial is situated in front of the headquarters of the YMCA.
Aida has also educated people over many years on the importance of rejecting hatred by sharing her story in schools, colleges and universities and at events for both Srebrenica Memorial Day and Holocaust Memorial Day. This first-hand testimony from a survivor of the Bosnian genocide and ethnic cleansing has shown to be a powerful tool for tackling hatred and building stronger communities.
