Zadic praises action – Balkan route: memorial to dead migrants inaugurated

A row of trees was planted in memory of those seeking protection who died in the Bosnian-Serbian border river Drina. In addition, a total of 41 new gravestones were placed at cemeteries in Bijeljina and Zvornik, a press release said. The memorial site where the refugees are buried under “NN” (No Name) was unveiled by the SOS Balkan Route together with local Bosnian activists, the local mountain rescue service, civil defense and the Bosnian Ministry of Human Rights.

Zadic praises action
Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens) praised the action in a video message. She emphasized that this project contributes to “preserve the human dignity of these victims” and “gives them a dignified resting place.”

“EU border regime has killed people”
In the border towns of Bijeljina, Bratunac, Janja and Zvornik alone, a total of sixty dead refugees were registered between 2018 and 2024. However, activist Nihad Suljić, who has been dealing with missing and dead people in the Bosnian-Serbian border area for years, assumes that the number of unreported cases is much higher. “It was not the Drina River that killed the people, but rather the EU border regime, the pushback to the rivers and the lack of legal escape routes,” Suljić said, according to the broadcast.

At a subsequent conference entitled ‘Dreams stopped at Europe’s external borders’, participants agreed that countries must take responsibility. In the future, not only a humane burial system but also a DNA database should be created, it was said.