PRESERVING MEMORY OF SERB EXECUTION SITES IS PRIORITY IN COMING YEAR

BELGRADE, DECEMBER 30 /SRNA/ – President of the Serbian Parliament's Committee for the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region Dragan Stanojević told SRNA that preserving the memory of sites where Serbs were killed will be a priority in the Committee's work next year, noting that members of the committee will visit such locations, while also pointing to the difficult position of Serbs in certain countries in the region as well as in the diaspora.

"We expect that we should become more actively engaged, especially when it comes to Serbian execution sites, to visit them and ensure they are not forgotten, because this is extremely important both for our people and for history," Stanojević said. According to him, unfortunately, if it were not for Republika Srpska and certain initiatives, much of what happened there would not even be known today. For this reason, he said, the parliamentary committee has decided to visit all such sites next year. Speaking about the situation of Serbs in the region and the diaspora, particularly in BiH, Stanojević said that, unfortunately, the position of the Serbian diaspora, and especially Serbs in the region, has never been at the level it should be or that this people deserve. He particularly pointed to the problems faced by Serbs in BiH, as well as in Slovenia and Croatia, where they are treated as second-class citizens and face serious problems and pressure. Stanojević noted that Serbs in Slovenia have a very poor status, while in Serbia any national community or minority enjoys a clearly defined status, making the situations incomparable. He stressed the need for better coordination among competent institutions on these issues, adding that he unfortunately receives letters indicating dissatisfaction, with people saying that visits by delegations from Serbia often amount only to attending gatherings, without providing essential assistance or having a real impact on the position of the Serbian people, with the exception of certain countries.