Remarks by the President of the General Assembly
H.E. Annalena Baerbock
at the observance of the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica?
9 July 2026
General Assembly Hall
[As Delivered]
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Survivors and families of the victims,
We mourn the more than 8,000 men and boys who were murdered in Srebrenica, simply because they were Bosnian Muslim.
The tens of thousands forcibly displaced, abused, and stripped of their homes, their loved ones¡and their sense of security.
The genocide in Srebrenica happened despite the promise of “Never Again” after the Holocaust.
Despite the 1948 Genocide Convention.
And despite the designation of Srebrenica as a Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ safe area.
We know that we can never bring back the victims or undo the atrocities that were committed.
But 31 years later, what we can do is honor the promises we made to survivors.
Survivors like you.
Survivors like the ¡°Mothers of Srebrenica¡±, who not only lost their sons and husbands, but also endured the systematic rape of their daughters and granddaughters as part of ethnic cleansing, now living forever with these wounds of sexual violence.
As every genocide is fought over the bodies of women, honoring our promises to them also means strengthening national laws and institutions with regard to women¡¯s rights¡ªand using them as a blueprint for other regions.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, legal reforms have recognized children born of wartime rape and expanded their access to social services.
In some municipalities, laws removing the requirement to list a father’s name on official documents have helped protect the rights and dignity of children born of conflict-related sexual violence.
This is delivering on our promise of ¡°Never Again.¡±
Upholding our promises to survivors also means upholding landmark rulings by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia¡ªwhich helped establish conflict-related sexual violence as a crime under international law and brought perpetrators to justice¡ªwhile safeguarding its legacy through the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.
It also means enabling the officials of the International Criminal Court and other justice mechanisms to carry out their mandates without intimidation, threats, or interference today.
And most importantly, honoring our promise of ¡°Never Again¡± means confronting the warning signs before they escalate into atrocities.
Because genocide¡ªas we unfortunately witnessed more than 30 years ago in Srebrenica, in Rwanda, and in far too many other places¡ªdoes not begin with mass graves.
It begins with hatred and discrimination.
With attempts to divide people into ¡°us¡± versus ¡°them¡±.
With policies and rhetoric that strip people of their dignity.
Because questioning the rights of some, simply for who they are, where they come from, or which belief they practice, has all the same end: dehumanization, which eventually spreads to all.
So today, let us ensure that ¡°Never Again¡± is not merely a phrase we repeat, but a promise we uphold.
A promise to remember.
A promise to deliver justice and dignity to all.
And a promise to act when we see the warning signs.
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