The Bosnian War lasted from 1992 to 1995 and led to the deaths of 100,000 people and the displacement of 2.2 million more, the worst atrocity on European soil since the Second World War.
This event will look at the following questions amongst others:
How can journalists sensitively report on war crimes and gender based violence during conflict whilst still exposing the truth? What role does the media play in assisting people to understand the lasting impacts of war? In a world of fake news and genocide denial what is it like to act courageous and speak out from personal experience?
Prof. Jon Silverman is Professor of Media and Criminal Justice at the University of Bedfordshire and former BBC Home Affairs Correspondent. His latest publication is “Crime, Policy and the Media” (Routledge, October 2011), which traces the relationship between the media and criminal justice policymaking over the period, 1989-2010. His other books include “ Crack of Doom” (1994), the first British work to examine the phenomenon of crack cocaine and Yardie violence ; and “Innocence Betrayed” (2002) with Prof. David Wilson, which analysed the News of the World’s naming and shaming campaign against sex offenders and its social consequences. He is a criminal justice analyst and regular broadcaster. He has made numerous documentaries for Radio 4, including, most recently, “The No I Forensic Detective Agency” (October 2011) ; and “Guns, gangs and families”(2009). In 1996, he won the Sony Gold Award as Radio Journalist of the Year for reports on the “Today” programme on the UK’s war crimes inquiries.
Lejla Damon grew up knowing she was different. It wasn’t until much later that she discovered the horrific circumstances surrounding her birth. Shortly after war broke out in Bosnia, Lejla’s birth mother, Safa, was taken to a concentration camp, where men were separated from their families and the women were often raped, killed or both. Safa, who is Muslim, was raped and eventually gave birth to Lejla on Christmas Day 1992 in Sarajevo. A British couple, a news agency crew reporting on the siege of Sarajevo for Sky News, heard about Safa’s story and came to the Sarajevo hospital to interview her. Safa was so traumatised by her harrowing experiences she told them she was incapable of looking after her baby. The British couple was given permission to evacuate Lejla from Bosnia and later adopted her in the UK.
Lejla’s adoptive parents ensured she knew about her Bosnian origins and when she was 18 told her the awful truth about her parentage. After researching the genocide and atrocities which took place in Bosnia, Lejla has started to come to terms with the events that led to her birth. Lejla was determined to make contact with her birth-mother and with the help of Sarajevo police and the Bosnian Foreign Ministry she found her in 2015. Lejla and Safa met in 2017 and now exchange letters and stay in touch. Lejla now uses her story as a platform to talk about sexual violence and the consequences of hate. She works with Remembering Srebrenica in order share her story. Lejla is currently studying for an MBA at the University of Salford.
Siân Damon in the 1980s and 90s, Siân worked as a news-gathering camerawoman in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet republics and the Middle East. As one of the few female conflict camerawomen, she was given access to places cameramen couldn’t go. In December 1992, she interviewed a Bosnian Muslim woman who had been repeatedly raped in a Serb prison camp. Safa had become pregnant; she had nothing but anger in her heart and said the baby was too painful a reminder of what she had gone through. She would not even hold the baby. Siân and her reporter husband Dan decided that they couldn’t leave the baby to be sent to the orphanage, which they had already filmed as a place of terrible suffering. With permission and support from the government in Sarajevo, they evacuated the baby and later adopted her. They named her Lejla.
Siân travelled to other dramatic stories, including Nagorno Kharabakh, in a helicopter that came under fire, to Prague and Bucharest during the revolutions in 1989, and across Albania during the disturbances as Communism collapsed there. Today she is a photographer and teacher working with young children, giving them visual and creative skills.
Dr Myriam Francois is a TV presenter, producer and writer with a focus on current affairs, Islam and France. Her documentaries have appeared on C4 and BBC1 among others. She currently presents and produces her own monthly Arts and Culture documentary series “Compass” on TRT world, a global news network on Sky 519. Myriam is the presenter of the Channel 4 documentary “The Truth about Muslim marriage”, as well as two BBC One documentaries, “The Muslim Pound” and “A Deadly Warning: Srebrenica Revisited”, which was nominated for the Sandford St Martin religious programming award 2016. She has also presented a 2-minute explainer video for BBC news on the genocide at Srebrenica.
]]>Monday marks the 16th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, which has returned to the forefront again recently with Ratko Mladic’s arrest and last week’s Dutch court verdict assigning responsibility to the Dutch state for the deaths of three men who were handed over to Bosnian Serb forces.
In Washington, Hillary Clinton is set to host the latest meeting of the Middle East Quartet, which is hoping to break a deadlock and re-start peace talks ahead of the September UN General Assembly meeting.
In Brussels on Tuesday, the OECD and the European Commission launch the OECD International Migration Outlook for 2011, which is expected to feature details on recent and future migration to the EU from North Africa.
Meanwhile, the Julian Assange saga is revived as his two-day extradition appeal opens in London. Assange is fighting a 24 February ruling that would extradite him to Sweden to face questioning for alleged sexual assaults.
Hours before the Assange hearing closes on Wednesday, the long-running sodomy trial for Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim resumes following his fourth unsuccessful attempt to have the trial judge dismissed. The oft-delayed trial has been going on for over two and a half years.
The UN Security Council is also scheduled to meet in New York on Wednesday to discuss South Sudan, and, according to current UN Security Council President Peter Wittig, the UN General Assembly may formally approve the new country’s UN membership on Thursday following independence on 9 July.
A Utah court hears an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) constitutional challenge to the Utah Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act (Bill HB497) on the day that a restraining order against the enforcement of the bill expires. The law requires police officers to verify the immigration status of anyone stopped for felonies or certain misdemeanours.
Friday is the big deadline in Greece, when the government is due to repay some €2.4bn in sovereign debt bonds, a payment only possible if it receives the next tranche of its IMF/EU loan in time. Another €2bn payment is due on 22 July.
In nearby Istanbul, the fourth meeting of the Libya Contact Group gets underway, with EU diplomats publicly hoping for an increased presence from African Union members.
The role of social media in the Arab Spring is also likely to be a hot topic today, as Twitter celebrates the fifth anniversary of its public launch.
On Saturday, thousands of Shia Muslims converge on Iraq’s holy city of Karbala to celebrate the ninth century birth of Imam Muhammad al Mahdi in a pilgrimage known as Shabaniyah.
Presidential elections are held in the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe on Sunday, with incumbent Fradique de Menezes ineligible for a third term and the country’s first President Manuel Pinto da Costa hoping to return to power.
Sunday also marks the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.
Highlights: Srebrenica anniversary and Quartet meeting (11 July); OECD migration report and Julian Assange hearing (12 July); Assange and Anwar Ibrahim hearings and UN Security Council meeting (13 July); South Sudan UN membership and Utah immigration challenge (14 July); Greek bond payment, Libya Contact Group meeting and Twitter anniversary (15 July); Shabaniyah pilgrimage (16 July); Sao Tome and Principe elections and Spanish Civil War anniversary (17 July).
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