Diana Wallis meets Mothers of Srebrenica in Brussels

12.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 16th Oct 2008

Invited by Diana Wallis, a Vice President of the European Parliament and her ALDE colleague Jelko Kacin MEP, the President of the Mothers of Enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa Association Munira Subašic visited the EP on Wednesday. Subašic's delegation, which consisted of the Grand Mufti Dr. Mustafa Ceric, the leader of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Hercegovina, and Murat Tahirovic, President of the Association of Concentration Camp Detainees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, also met separately with the EP President Hans-Gert Poettering and with Vice President Wallis and Jelko Kacin MEP.

Munira Subašic and the Grand Mufti presented a draft resolution on Srebrenica to declare 11 July a day of mourning and remembrance for the innocent victims of genocide. This would become a lasting reminder of the genocide committed. It would also reaffirm the EP resolution on Srebrenica, adopted in 2005.

Diana Wallis expressed her whole-hearted support for the initiative and emphasised that remembering Srebrenica will prevent it from being repeated.

"We must acknowledge Europe's failure and we must therefore endeavour to do much better in the future. This is why 11 July should be declared a day of mourning and remembrance for the innocent victims of genocide".

The Grand Mufti stated that "15 October 2008 brings new hope. It should be remembered as the day in which Europe recognised its mistakes, but announced that it is ready to correct those mistakes. I am deeply convinced that what we are doing is for the good of all Europeans and Europe as a whole. Srebrenica cannot have happened in vain. We need to build a better future for our children".