Oxford will mark Srebrenica Memorial Day with an online service of reflection on Sunday (11 July).
Srebrenica Memorial Day is the international day to honour the victims and survivors of the Srebrenica genocide, which saw thousands of men and boys killed in a single day on 12 July 1995 during the Bosnian war. It is a day to pledge to create a better, stronger and more cohesive society in the United Kingdom and around the world.
Members of the public will be able to watch the online service on Oxford City Council’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channels at 11am on Sunday.
The service will be led by the Lord Mayor of Oxford, Councillor Mark Lygo.
Service of reflection
The order of service is:
- Lord Mayor of Oxford, Councillor Mark Lygo, 'Remembering Srebrenica Speech'
- Imam Monawar Hussain MBE DL Founder, The Oxford Foundation and High Sheriff of Oxfordshire 2021/2022, says a prayer
- Reverend Anthony Buckley, City Rector of Oxford, says a prayer
- Councillor Susan Brown, Leader of Oxford City Council, reads 'Srebrenica Pledges'
The service is open to those of any faith or none.
The service normally takes place in Oxford Town Hall. It will be held online this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Srebrenica Memorial Day
This year’s theme is ‘Rebuilding Lives’. The theme aims to honour the two million people who were displaced during the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia in the 1990s, leaving them to seek refuge all over the world, with approximately 10,000 Bosnians coming to the UK.
More information about Srebrenica Memorial Day.
“This year marks the 26th anniversary of the genocide that took place in Srebrenica. The theme for this year’s memorials is Rebuilding Lives. Throughout this year I have been visiting communities in Oxford who are coming together to support each other through the pandemic.
“Oxford has such a diverse population and seeing how the peoples from different backgrounds, ethnicity and faith come together to support each other gives me so much pride in being a member of the Oxford community.
“Remembering Srebrenica and what happened there is vital to ensuring that discrimination and racial hatred has no part in our society. It seeks to educate people on how discriminating others from different faiths a cultures can escalate to segregation and ultimately ethnic cleansing.
“We at Oxford City Council believe that we must ensure that we never forget about the genocide and reaffirm our commitment to standing up against all forms of hatred and prejudice that targets groups based on their religion, ethnicity, gender, sexuality or any type of difference.”
Councillor Mark Lygo, the Lord Mayor of Oxford
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