United Nations representatives were uncharacteristically though understandably absent as Muslims in Bosnia marked 15 years since the massacre at Srebrenica, when Bosnian Serbs slaughtered almost 8,000 Muslims in Europe’s worst mass killings since the Second World War.

Two generations of Muslims were ruthlessly massacred in Srebrenica, a so-called safe haven under the protection of the UN. UN forces handed over scores of disarmed Muslim men and boys to Bosnia Serb military leaders who then took them to the hills around Srebrenica and shot them in cold blood during the Bosnia conflict in 1995.

Characteristically for the UN it has designating the massacre in Srebrenica an act of genocide to provide a cover for its complicity in war crimes. Muslims of Bosnia – the Grandfathers and Grandmothers who are today burying the found remains of their sons and Grandsons – have clearly not forgotten or forgiven the UN for the partisan role it played in the Bosnian War.

The massacre of Muslims in Srebrenica and the subsequent ethnic cleansing of the Muslims in Bosnia which then led to the division of Bosnia was not the first occasion the UN acquiesced over the displacement and killing of Muslims and the division of Muslim land.

The birth and establishment of Israel, the creation of Muslim nation states dividing the Muslim Ummah and its political unity, the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq have all had the explicit support and backing from the UN.

Far from being an unbiased, impartial arbitrator of global politics and international affairs the UN is a tool in the hands of world powers, who operate on the principal of ‘might is right’, and then conceal and legitimatise their crimes behind UN resolutions.

This 15th anniversary of the Bosnia conflict should not just be a sad reminder of the lost generations. Muslims need to be politically aware of the events, the role and nature of world powers and institutions like the UN in order to care for the affairs of the Muslims so that we avoid making the mistakes of the past.

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “A believer is not stung twice (by something) out of one and the same hole.”
Shahih Bukhari