Warsaw, 16–17 October 2025 —
The University of Warsaw hosted the international conference Never Forget Srebrenica. 30 Years of Seeking Truth, Justice, and Remembrance, organized by the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies together with the Tadeusz Mazowiecki Chair. The event brought together scholars, journalists, diplomats, and witnesses from across Europe to reflect—thirty years on—on the meaning of justice and international responsibility in the face of the Srebrenica genocide. The Gariwo Foundation took part with a special panel devoted to the Memory of Good and the Righteous in the context of the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.
The opening session featured Rector Alojzy Nowak and Dean Katarzyna Kołodziejczyk, followed by Robert Kupiecki of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who stressed the importance of defending historical truth in an age when disinformation threatens even the memory of victims.
The first day focused on the legacy of Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the first UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the former Yugoslavia. Edina Bećirević, Konstanty Gebert, Manfred Nowak, and Roman Wieruszewski recalled the courage with which Mazowiecki denounced the crimes committed in Bosnia—naming them for what they were—and his resignation in protest against the international community’s inaction. The session concluded with the presentation of Tadeusz Mazowiecki. Writings and Documents. Reports from Yugoslavia 1992–1995, edited by Wojciech Mazowiecki and Jacek Wojnicki.
The second day opened with a keynote lecture by Manfred Nowak, Austrian jurist and former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, who had worked with Mazowiecki during his human rights mission in the Balkans. Nowak reminded the audience that even today, thousands of families are still waiting to learn the fate of their missing loved ones.
During the roundtable Preventing Genocide: Where Are We 30 Years After Srebrenica?, scholars and diplomats—including Patrycja Grzebyk, an expert in international law and the ICTY, Florence Hartmann, former ICTY spokesperson and author of key war crimes investigations, Edward Joseph, and Amina Sejfić, a young Bosnian researcher engaged in memory education projects—discussed the limits and possibilities of genocide prevention, stressing the fragility of international mechanisms and the need for sustained political commitment.
The debate Healing Wounds: Navigating Reconciliation in the Aftermath of Genocide centered on the stories of communities rebuilding after violence. Eva Klonowski, forensic anthropologist who has long worked on the identification of Srebrenica victims, and Małgorzata Wosińska, cultural anthropologist and scholar of memory processes—especially in Rwanda—spoke about the delicate balance between scientific truth, human pain, and the need for reconciliation. Alongside them, Tatjana Đorđević, a longtime Gariwo collaborator, and Denis Džidić shared first-hand perspectives from the field, spanning investigative journalism and public memory.
In collaboration with the Gariwo Foundation, the panel Genocide and the Power of One: Individual Responses to Genocide explored the role of personal choice in the face of injustice and the moral responsibility of individuals in responding to mass atrocities. Speakers included Joshua Evangelista, Gariwo’s Head of Communications, and members of the Warsaw Garden of the Righteous Commission Konstanty Gebert and Józef Wancer.
All sessions were coordinated by Prof. Agnieszka Bieńczyk-Missala, President of the Commission for the Warsaw Garden of the Righteous. The conference concluded with the screening of the documentary Zemlja – The Land That Remembers, directed by Tatjana Đorđević and Joshua Evangelista, portraying the living memory of Srebrenica thirty years later through the voices of those who never stopped seeking the truth.