At the Crossroads of Peace and Denial: Srebrenica Thirty Years Later

The article examines the enduring tensions between law, politics, and collective memory in Bosnia and Herzegovina, thirty years after the Srebrenica genocide. While the atrocity has been firmly established by international courts, its domestic remembrance remains fractured, shaped by the institutional design of the Dayton Peace Agreement and the persistence of ethno-nationalist narratives. The paper explores how Dayton’s power-sharing system entrenched competing identities and enabled the politicization of memory, contributing to the normalization of genocide denial in Republika Srpska and Serbia. It further analyses the emergence, forms, and political functions of denialism, as well as its impact on reconciliation and social cohesion. Finally, the article assesses the 2021 Memory Law imposed by the High Representative, evaluating its potential and limitations in countering denial and promoting accountability. The study argues that without firm legal and political protection of historical truth, prospects for genuine reconciliation remain constrained.