Bill C-533

3rd Session, 40th Parliament,

59 Elizabeth II, 2010

house of commons of canada

BILL C-533

An Act respecting a Srebrenica Remembrance Day

Whereas the Srebrenica Massacre, also known as the Srebrenica Genocide, was the killing in July of 1995 of an estimated 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in the region of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina by Bosnian Serb forces;

Whereas the Srebrenica Massacre is the largest mass murder in Europe since World War II and the largest massacre carried out by Serb forces during the Bosnian war;

Whereas the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, located in The Hague, unanimously decided in the case of Prosecutor v. Krstić that the Srebrenica Massacre was genocide;

Whereas the International Court of Justice ruled in February of 2007 that the Srebrenica Massacre was genocide with the specific intent to destroy Bosnian Muslims who were living in the area;

Whereas resolutions condemning the Srebrenica Massacre were adopted by the European Parliament on January 15, 2009, and by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in 2005;

Whereas on March 31, 2010, the Government of Serbia, led by President Boris Tadic, issued a full state apology for the Srebrenica Massacre, providing tacit recognition of the genocidal nature of the crime and endorsing the February 2007 ruling of the International Court of Justice;

And whereas the list of people missing or killed in Srebrenica, as compiled by the Federal Commission of Missing Persons of the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, includes 8,373 names to date;

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

SHORT TITLE

1. This Act may be cited as the Srebrenica Remembrance Day Act.

SREBRENICA REMEMBRANCE DAY

2. Throughout Canada, in each and every year, the eleventh day of July shall be known as “Srebrenica Remembrance Day”.

3. For greater certainty, Srebrenica Remembrance Day is not a legal holiday or a non-juridical day.