Srebrenica Genocide: 30 years on
A major campaign honoured victims and survivors, and shared how we continue to support affected communities.
Srebrenica Genocide: 30 years on
In July 2025, the world marked 30 years since the genocide committed at Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. A major campaign by Islamic Relief honoured victims and survivors and shared how we continue to support affected communities.
On 11 July 1995, Bosnian Serb soldiers captured Srebrenica and, over the next few days, systematically murdered more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys.
These atrocities were the largest massacres carried out on European soil since World War II, and continue to haunt survivors. Even now, mass graves are still being uncovered and remains identified.
In 2025, much of Bosnia is still scarred by the impact of the Bosnian War – known locally as the Aggression in Bosnia – during which the genocide took place. In many rural areas damaged and destroyed homes have yet to be rebuilt, while buildings in the capital, Sarajevo, remain riddled with bullet holes.
An entire generation of Bosnians only know their parents from photographs and home videos. Whether they lost fathers and brothers in the genocide, or mothers and sisters in the conflict, thousands carry a sense of loss with them every day. Ethnic tensions remain high and many survivors still regularly cross paths with those who committed atrocities against them and their families.
- 100,000+ people were killed and more than 2 million displaced during the Bosnian War
- 8,372 Bosniak men and boys were killed in the Srebrenica Genocide
- 94 mass graves containing remains of those murdered at Srebrenica had been discovered as of 2025
- 161 individuals were indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in court proceedings that took 24 years to complete
Three decades of support
Just one month after the outbreak of war, Islamic Relief began delivering lifesaving aid in Bosnia. Thirty years later, we are still supporting survivors and others in need. Our work in Bosnia today includes projects providing people with livestock and agricultural materials to help them earn a stable income amid high unemployment, and support for individuals impacted by gender-based violence (GBV).
Each year, we distribute Ramadan food packs and qurbani meat packages to families in need. While in winter, we provide blankets, clothing and heating materials to help them cope with the bitter cold.
Our Orphan Sponsorship Programme was launched during the war and supported 1,300 orphaned children in the country at the close of 2025. In the past, children supported by the programme included hundreds who had lost their fathers at Srebrenica.
Umija was a teenager when the war began. She lost her father, stepmother, an aunt and an uncle, and was among 11 children in her family left orphaned by the conflict. The war had been over for more than a decade when Umija received the news that the partial remains of her uncle and father had finally been recovered.
“They were found in three mass graves… they were tossed around into this grave, then this one, and the graves were very far apart. That’s why some of their remains weren’t found.”
In the aftermath of the war, the bodies of Srebrenica victims were moved to other graves – sometimes again and again – in a bid to hide evidence of the mass murder. Umija’s uncle was finally given a funeral in 2009, and she was able to lay her father to rest the following year. This has brought her some comfort, but the trauma lingers.
“All of that hits hard to this day. When I rewind the tape, everything hits me, and I feel depressed. I pray it doesn’t happen anywhere [else].”
“I directly witnessed everything, and I saw a lot of suffering and death. Children bled tears. Unfortunately, it is part of war,” says Emir Cica, Country Director of Islamic Relief Bosnia and Herzegovina. Emir was a teenager living in Sarajevo when the war broke out. He and his family were trapped in the besieged capital where they struggled for food. Humanitarian aid became their lifeline.
“I once received support from Islamic Relief. I remember receiving a food parcel. It was very important for my family, because we didn’t have enough food then.”
Emir has now been working for Islamic Relief for nearly 20 years and has seen firsthand how many lives have been touched by the vital work we do.
I am so proud because Islamic Relief is a humanitarian organisation that supports people from different nations, different religions and cultures, and we never discriminate. We support people who are in need. We recognise the needs of each person and their rights as a human being.