Only recognition of victims brings about reconciliation

“Documenting the facts in this region is very important, and the victims must be given moral and legal satisfaction, and be recorded in textbooks. There is no commonly shared truth, so the truth and experience of each individual and their individual destinies should be accepted”, said Nataša Kandić, the founder of the Humanitarian Law Center, in Tuzla today, Anadolu Agency reports.“I am happy to receive this award, but the question arises whether awards have any meaning at all after all that happened. Everyone has a responsibility, and I have endeavoured to leave behind as much documentation as possible, and I am very proud of the fact that in Bosnia and Herzegovina there are two organizations working on documenting everything that happened. There are very few facts recorded about the events during World War II. We do not have the names of all the victims of the Jasenovac concentration camp – that is to say, we have 80,000 names. Some say that 100,000 people were killed there, some say a million”, Ms. Kandić said.

She believes that if a regional commission for documentation were established, it could raise hopes that crimes will never happen again.

Speaking about her personal experience, this human rights defender says that all kinds of things have happened to her, from insults to applause. “I walk down a street, and someone shouts ‘There goes a traitor!’ at me. Or, some politician says that thousands of Serbs were killed in Kosovo or in Vukovar, and I counter him by saying that it’s not true and confront him with the hard facts. The political message that makes you come to think that you are the only one with an anti-Serb stand was created intentionally. But it does not matter, because not everything in this struggle can be pleasant, bearing in mind how many atrocities took place”, adds Ms. Kandić.

Presenting her views on the attempts toward reconciliation in the region, Ms. Kandić says that not even the European institutions and their representatives know exactly what reconciliation is about.

˝If the Serbian Prime Minister visits Srebrenica and pays tribute to the victims, without any incidents, and if the three Members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina come to Belgrade, that does not mean reconciliation. Reconciliation can take place only through the acceptance of responsibility and the recognition of all the victims. And without recognizing victims on the other sides, we cannot expect our victims to be recognized”, Ms. Kandić concluded.

 

(Published at 24sata.info, on 7 December 2015)