UN resolution to commemorate the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia sparks opposition from Serbs

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A U.N. resolution sponsored by Germany and Rwanda to establish an annual day to commemorate the 1995 genocide of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serbs has sparked protests and a strong lobbying campaign against its adoption by Serbia’s president and the Bosnian Serb leadership.

The U.N. General Assembly has scheduled a debate on the resolution on the morning of May 23 to be followed by a vote in the 193-member world body.

The final draft of the resolution would designate July 11 as the “International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenca,” to be observed annually starting in two months. The massacres started on July 11, 1995.

The draft asks the United Nations to prepare an outreach program and invites countries, organizations, civil society and others to observe the day with special observances and activities in memory and honor of the victims as well as “appropriate education and public awareness-raising activities.”