[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]BRIDGING THE DIVISION E- OPPOSING HATRED
Last night, the theme for the commemoration of the Srebrenica genocide was unveiled in the House of Lords in London. The theme for 2019 is “Bridging the Divide – Confronting Hate”. The theme was introduced by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government , the Rt. Hon. James Brokenshire MP .
Each year, the charity Remembering Srebrenica selects a theme that reflects an aspect of the genocide to be commemorated, but also speaks to communities here in the UK. The theme will be marked by a number of commemorations taking place across the country during Srebrenica Genocide Remembrance Week, 7-14 July 2019. With this year’s theme “Bridging the Divide – Standing Up to Hate”, they aim to inspire people to stop those who want to divide communities and to celebrate those who build bridges between communities and change the attitudes and behaviours of others so that they too can build their own bridges to bridge hatred and division in society.
Remembering Srebrenica was founded in 2013 and is based in Birmingham, UK. To date, they have educated over 90,000 young Britons about the Srebrenica genocide, organised over 6,200 events to commemorate the victims of the genocide, and organised 1,200 Britons to visit the Potočari memorial centre.
As part of the presentation of this year’s theme for commemorating the Srebrenica genocide, representatives of the major political parties of Great Britain addressed the audience. Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth, Minister for Religion, spoke about a visit to the Potočari Memorial Center and the importance of us all standing up to hatred and division; The Right Hon. Lord Pickles, the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Holocaust Issues; Richard Burden MP , Vice-Chair of the APPG; The Rt Hon. Ian Blackford MP , Leader of the Scottish National Party Westminster Group spoke about the importance of educating young people as one of the best ways to confront and prevent racism, discrimination and hatred; The Rt Hon. Baroness Warsi, former Senior Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office spoke about Islamophobia and hate crime as a form of crime that has been on the rise in the UK in recent years; The Rt. Hon. Mr Wallace of Tankerness QC ; Amra Mujkanović from Prijedor, who comes from a family in which three generations have survived the death camps from Auschwitz to Omarska. Finally, young Amina Mekić , a former student of the BH Supplementary School in Birmingham, read a Prayer for all victims of genocide.
dr. Vakar Azmi OBE (Waqar), President of the Remembering Srebrenica Foundation, said: “With hate crimes on the rise, as well as those spreading hate, we hope that the theme of ‘Remembering Srebrenica’ 2019 will inspire people to commemorate Srebrenica to help unite communities against hate and help change attitudes and behaviors about the importance of building bridges.”
Representatives of the Bosnian community in the UK took the opportunity to once again thank Lord Bourne for opening the Bosnian House in Birmingham (November 2018).[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][cq_vc_cqcarousel displaystyle=”gallery” images=”3121,3119,3117″ autoplay=”yes” autoplayspeed=”3000″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
