The UN General Assembly voted to establish an annual day of remembrance for the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica

The UN General Assembly voted to establish an annual day of remembrance for the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, despite fierce opposition from Belgrade as well as the Bosnian Serbs.
The resolution, written by Germany and Rwanda, countries whose histories are closely linked to genocide in the 20th century, proclaimed July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance of the Srebrenica Genocide. 84 countries voted in favor, 19 voted against, and 68 abstained.
Bosnian Serb forces captured Srebrenica – then a UN-protected enclave – on July 11, 1995, months before the end of Bosnia’s bloody civil war, in which some 100,000 people are believed to have died.
In the days that followed, Bosnian Serb forces killed some 8,000 Muslim men and teenagers, a crime that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Court of Justice classified as genocide.
This episode is considered the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.
In addition to establishing a day of remembrance, the draft resolution condemns “any denial” of the Srebrenica genocide and calls on UN member states to rely on established facts.
In a letter from Germany and Rwanda to the rest of the UN, the vote was described as “a critical opportunity to come together in honoring the memory of the victims and recognizing the key role played by international courts.”