“What happened should be known”

Every July, Sabrija Hajdarevic returns to Srebrenica to visit the graves of her husband and father.

They were among some 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys killed by Serbian forces in 1995.

The 67-year-old now lives thousands of miles away in Australia, but the annual trip means a lot to her.

This year’s situation is even more poignant because following the The U.N. General Assembly issued its ruling in May.

The Srebrenica massacre, considered a genocide by the United Nations, was the shocking climax of the Bosnian war that broke out after the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.

In Bosnia, one of the countries that emerged after partition, three communities are locked in conflict – Serbian-backed Bosnian Serbs on one side, and Bosniaks and Croats on the other.

Approximately 40,000 Bosnian Muslims live in Srebrenica. Many were forced to flee a campaign of ethnic cleansing by Bosnian Serbs during the 1992-95 war.

The town was declared a United Nations safe area in 1993 and international peacekeepers are responsible for protecting the town from any attack.

But in July 1995, Bosnian Serb troops led by military commander Ratko Mladic attacked the town, overwhelming the peacekeepers.

Serbian troops rounded up the men and boys of the town, most of whom were never found alive.

They were either killed in groups or murdered while trying to escape through the wooded hills surrounding Srebrenica.

Some 8,000 men and boys were brutally murdered in what has been called Europe’s worst mass atrocity since World War II. The remains of about 1,000 people are still missing.

Ratko Mladic was later sentenced to life in prison for war crimes including genocide, and nearly 50 Bosnian Serbs were also convicted.

A recent United Nations resolution designated July 11 as the International Day of Reflection and Remembrance of the Srebrenica Genocide, which also condemned any denial of the massacre and glorification of war criminals.

But most Bosnian Serbs and many Serbs have repeatedly denied that the events in Srebrenica in 1995 constituted genocide.

Sabria dismissed suggestions that the Srebrenica massacre was not targeted.

“What happened should be known and not allow these lies to fly,” she said. “My soul is hurt.”

Some Bosnian families have been waiting for decades for their loved ones to be laid to rest because of the long and difficult identification process.

Sabria buried her husband’s skull – the only body part ever unearthed.

Her father’s body has not yet been found, but she knows he was killed near their house in Srebrenica because her mother witnessed the killing.

Six months after her father was murdered, her mother died — “out of grief,” Sabria said, fighting back tears.

Many victims of the Srebrenica massacre are buried in the nearby Potocari Cemetery. Thousands of simple white tombstones stand in fields on the hillside, surrounded by woods.

Berija Delic also lost her husband in the Holocaust. His remains were discovered ten years later and he was buried in 2010.

Last year, Belija decided to return to Srebrenica from Malta, where she had sought asylum after the war.

Her son is a Muslim married to a Serbian Orthodox woman who “loves my baklava,” referring to a delicacy she makes.

Before the war in the 1990s, Srebrenica was primarily a Bosnian Muslim town.

Now, the majority of the population is Serbian; some residents served as soldiers during the conflict.

“Even now when you see someone walking around the city, you know he killed someone. [Bosniaks] – But you remain silent, you cannot deal with this problem,” Belija said.

After the war, Bosnia was divided into two entities – Republika Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Srebrenica is located in Republika Srpska.

In the post-war years, the Bosnian population decreased and the Serb population increased, but now they face a common problem – unemployment.

“There are no problems between Serbs and Bosnians here, the tension is caused by outsiders,” said Slavisa Petrovic, a 37-year-old Serb who heads the local tourism bureau.

But he said the town needed work to attract people to stay.

Slavisa added that the recent UN resolution on the Holocaust did not change anything.

“People are leaving Srebrenica now as before [the adoption of the resolution]. No work, just like before.

The city shows signs of decline. A once-popular local spa and a former luxury hotel have closed after decades of neglect. Their walls are covered in graffiti.

The road leading to the neighboring village is overgrown, where farmers with healthy livestock once lived.

Many local houses remain in ruins. A mosque and a Christian Orthodox church sit on a hillside overlooking the town, whose wartime wounds have yet to heal.

Serbian and Bosnian children attend local kindergartens and schools together, and photos of the new generation are proudly displayed in public spaces in the town centre.

But it’s likely these young people will soon be gone for good.

Slavisa is sad that the locals keep abandoning the town. “It felt like they were leaving my home,” he said.

Only three of his classmates still live in Srebrenica. The rest moved elsewhere.

However, he was determined to stay.

But even he admits that his four-year-old daughter is unlikely to feel the same way when she grows up.