Beyond Srebrenica was honoured to host a series of White Armband Day commemorations across Scotland in May and June, bringing together communities, educators, survivors, and young people to remember the victims of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and reaffirm the importance of genocide education.
Events took place in Glasgow and Aberdeen, and highlighted the ongoing efforts to ensure that the lessons of the Bosnian War continue to be learned by future generations.
We would like to thank all those who attended, with particular recognition given to the many young people who participated and shared reflections on their learning through Beyond Srebrenica’s schools’ competition, and educational resources.
The Aberdeen commemoration featured contributions from several distinguished guests. We’d like to thank Nurul Hoque Ali and the Lord Provost for their hospitality, and Natalija Clark-Mill of Action for a Fairer World for sharing her personal testimony.
In Glasgow, we heard powerful remarks from out chair, Sabina Kadić-Mackenzie, the Very Reverand Lorna Hood, founding chair of Beyond Srebrenica, recent delegate Stephen McCranor and Almira Delibegović-Broome KC, Honorary Consul of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Thanks too to the Scottish Government, former delegates, and supporters whose commitment helps preserve the memory of those affected by the conflict and promotes understanding of its enduring lessons.
Remembering White Armband Day
White Armband Day is observed annually on 31 May to commemorate the events that unfolded in 1992 in the municipality of Prijedor, in north-west Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On that day, a radio broadcast instructed Bosnian Muslims, known as Bosniaks, to wear white armbands and display white sheets from their homes. The order effectively identified them for persecution during a campaign of ethnic cleansing carried out by Bosnian Serb forces.
Over the following three and a half years, more than 3,000 Bosniaks were killed, while tens of thousands were detained in camps including Omarska, Trnopolje, and Keraterm. Women and girls were subjected to systematic sexual violence, and widespread crimes against humanity were committed.
Photographs by Martin Shields.