Srebrenica Genocide: 30th Anniversary

Mr HILL (Bruce—Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs and Assistant Minister for International Education) (09:26): Earlier this month I had the honour of travelling to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where I represented Australia at the 30th anniversary of the genocide of Srebrenica. Over five days in July 1995 more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were murdered and buried in mass graves in and around the small town of Srebrenica. The remainder of the local Bosnian Muslim population, some 25,000 women, children and elderly people, were forcibly deported from their homes. These atrocities were carried out despite the United Nations designating Srebrenica as a safe haven from the violence that had ravaged the Balkans for over three years during the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

What happened in Srebrenica was a horrific tragedy—the largest massacre on European soil since the Second World War—and was one of the darkest chapters in modern European history. It has been formally recognised as a genocide by both the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

The ceremony at the Srebrenica Memorial Center was incredibly moving. There were tens of thousands of people—near 100,000—gathered in solemn reflection to offer heartfelt respects to the victims, the survivors and the bereaved, recognising the enduring pain and trauma still carried by so many three decades on. The global community must never let the passage of time erode the truth of what was perpetrated. We can never forget those names or faces of those whose lives and futures were torn away from them, and we must never let the harsh lessons of Srebrenica go unheeded. In May of last year the United Nations adopted a resolution to designate 11 July as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica. Australia was among 84 countries that sponsored that resolution.

We cannot dismiss the horrors of Srebrenica as the work of monsters. They were methodically planned and carried out by human beings who then tried to cover up their crimes. Each and every one of us share a responsibility to remember that we can never take the values of tolerance and respect for granted.

Many who fled the Balkan wars in the 1990s, including the survivors of Srebrenica, found a safe haven in Australia, including in my own electorate of Bruce. These horrors and the brutal war of course affected the broader Bosnian diaspora, and I acknowledge the significance and poignance of this anniversary to them. In the 30 years since the Srebrenica genocide, Bosnian Australians have made such valuable contributions to our nation, adding to the strength and breadth of our multicultural society. In particular, I acknowledge my friend and our parliamentary colleague, the Hon. Ed Husic, the member for Chifley, whose family migrated from Bosnia to Australia much earlier, in the 1960s. Ed is the first Bosnian and the first Muslim to be elected to the House of Representatives and to serve in the ministry.

As we remember the 30th anniversary of the genocide of Srebrenica, let us uphold those values and stand firm against hatred, prejudice and violence.

Mr TEHAN (Wannon) (09:29): I follow the fine words of the assistant minister, and I also recognise Ed Husic, who's in the chamber with us today; we came into the parliament together. I know that this is a significant motion for you and your community, Ed. It's also significant that we stand here and recognise what took place, because if we don't keep remembering and if we don't make sure that we keep marking tragic abhorrent anniversaries like this, then the sad reality is that we will see them repeated.

What took place in Srebrenica under the watchful eye, sadly, of the international community, is something that we should never ever see repeated. We have to make sure that the international community knows and understands, when it sets up safe havens, that that is exactly what they should be. They should be safe havens. Sadly, that was not the case, and the genocide that occurred—the international community found that it was a genocide—was the largest mass murder that had taken place in Europe since the Second World War. For those of us who are old enough to remember, there was coverage of that event that came into our living rooms. I think the footage of what was occurring at that time has always stayed with us. I know, as a young man, I found that footage extraordinarily confronting, and I know many Australians did.

One of the great things about this nation is that we open our arms to people impacted by conflicts like that. That's what we did as a nation. I know I speak for everyone in this House. One of the things that makes us very proud to be Australian is that, when horrific events like that happen, we reach out and extend an open arm to those who are impacted by it. It's wonderful to see, and I think it's a wonderful reflection on humanity that those people have been able to come here to Australia. Although they carry deep scars and the trauma will stay with them forever, they've been able to build lives here and make sure that future generations—especially in this nation, hopefully globally—will never see the likes of what happened 30 years ago in Srebrenica.

On behalf of the coalition, I extend our condolences to the Bosnian community and express our determination that we will work across the aisle to make sure events like this do not happen again. I commend the government for making sure that we're all given the opportunity to place on record that this nation stands with the Bosnian community to make sure that those who are here can continue to live the full lives they deserve to live and that those who, sadly, were slaughtered in this event will never ever be forgotten.