Just over 1,000 guests attended a commemoration service at St Paul’s Cathedral yesterday along with a number of high-profile political figures, including Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Angela Rayner MP, President Komšić of BiH, President Bećirović of BiH, His Eminence Reis Husein Kavazović (Grand Mufti of BiH), who all made addresses.
Also attending were FCDO Minister for Europe Stephen Doughty MP, Minister for Faith & Communities Lord Khan, Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan, and Deputy Speaker Caroline Nokes MP.
Part of the service also saw the lighting of candles in remembrance by those above, alongside Wendy Morton MP (Shadow FCDO Minister), Stephen Flynn MP (SNP Westminster Leader), James MacCleary MP (Lib Dem Spokesperson), The Baroness Helić, Yasmin Qureshi MP, H.E. Osman Topčagić (Ambassador of BiH to the UK), and H.E. Dr Husam Zomlot (Palestinian Ambassador).
In her address, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner MP said:
“While many in the UK were enjoying a care-free July [in 1995], just a short flight away over 8,000 innocent men and boys were brutally killed in a single month that summer, and more than 20,000 civilians were forcibly uprooted from their homes.
The West took too long to act in the 1990s and we should have acted sooner. Now we must learn the lessons of history and the consequences of inaction. We must remember those victims, pay tribute to the survivors, and stand firm alongside them in their pursuit of justice and reconciliation.”
A survivor of Srebrenica, Munira Subašić, addressed the congregation and said:
“It is hard to describe the pain that I have been carrying for 30 years. Our innocent children were killed in the UN protected zone while the world watched. They were killed because their names marked them out as Muslims. Although we survived the genocide, denial of it is rife – which causes immense pain.”
