‘White Ribbon Day’ Commemorates Killed Bosnian Children

People gathered on Tuesday to mark the annual White Ribbon Day in the central square in Prijedor, where 102 roses were laid with the names of every child killed or still missing from the war in the north-western town, as well as boxes with shoes symbolising the deceased youngsters.

One of the grieving parents, Vehida Duratovic, pointed out the name of her son written in the circle of roses.

“He was 15. What could have he done to anyone? What could he have been guilty of?” she told BIRN.

A parents’ initiative to build a memorial to their killed children was filed to the Prijedor authorities in 2014 and now will finally be put on the agenda for the local assembly’s next session.

“I urge the citizens of Prijedor to stand up in defence of our rights to the public remembrance of our children,” said Fikret Bacic, the father of two children, 13-year-old Nermin and six-year-old Nermina, who were killed in front of their house in the village of Zecovi near Prijedor during the war.

However some locals in the Serb-dominated town ignored the gathering or questioned the participants’ motives.

“I don’t know why this happens again and again. If I was them, I am sure I wouldn’t do this. I guess Western countries pay them to do this. Otherwise, why would they?” a young Serb woman, who declined to be named, told BIRN.

White Ribbon Day was first marked in Prijedor in 2012 when a local man called Emir Hodzic defied a ban by the local authorities on commemorations of non-Serb victims and stood in the main town square with a white ribbon tied around his arm.

May 31 was the day in 1992 when the Bosnian Serbs who had taken control of Prijedor issued a decree for all non-Serbs to mark their houses with white flags or sheets and to wear a white armband if they left their houses.

Florence Hartmann, the former spokeswoman for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia told reporters in Prijedor on Tuesday that it was easier to face the past right after the war or 10 years ago than it is today.

“In one bar, they refused to serve me a coffee because I am wearing this white armband. The owner of the restaurant said we are so boring because we constantly coming and reminding people of the past,” Hartmann said.

White Ribbon Day was also marked in other Bosnian cities.

In Sarajevo, an NGO called Anti-Dayton organised a symbolic performance with pupils from the Fatima Gunic Elementary School in the city centre.

The pupils took their seats in 102 chairs, and after a school bell was rung, their teacher read out the names of the 102 killed children. Afterwards, the schoolchildren got up from their chairs and stood beside them.

“We wanted to show what 102 children really means… We don’t want them to be just numbers. Those were innocent children,” said one of the organisers, Nihad Alickovic.

“This class will end, but the chairs will remain empty like in 1992,” she added.

The school director Hajrudin Cuprija said that the school was particularly saddened by the deaths in Prijedor, because three of its former pupils were killed there and Fatima Gunic – whose name the school carries – was also born in the town.

“Gunic taught the Sarajevo children and gave her life during a class, holding a pen and paper,” said Cuprija.

“Those 102 flowers, had they not been killed, today would have blossomed, and would have been doctors, professors and sports players,” Cuprija added.