Srebrenica school allegedly threatens penalties over Bosnia and Herzegovina jerseys: Report

JU Secondary Center Srebrenica reportedly declared Bosnia and Herzegovina national team jerseys offensive, while students were warned they could face sanctions, including a lower conduct grade, according to parents.

Sanja Mocevic, director of the Srebrenica High School Center in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Republika Srpska entity, reportedly told students not to come to school wearing the national team jerseys in the future.

Murat Tahirovic, president of the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide, responded to the case and sought clarification of the decision.

“If it is true that the student of the Srebrenica High School Center was reprimanded because she came to school in the jersey of the football team of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that the students were then threatened with sanctions for wearing such a jersey, then this is a procedure that is deeply worrying and unacceptable,” he said.

Tahirovic requested a public explanation of the regulations under which the national team jersey was declared unacceptable.

He also called on education authorities in Republika Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina to urgently investigate the case and protect students from discrimination and humiliation.

“Srebrenica is a place of genocide, but it must not be a place where children are taught that Bosnia and Herzegovina is undesirable,” Tahirovic added.

In July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces overran the UN-declared safe area of Srebrenica and systematically killed 8,372 Bosniak men and boys in what international courts, including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, have recognized as genocide.