Amirov glas, upućen putem baze Ujedinjenih nacija u Tuzli iz istočne bosanske enklave u Srebrenici, bio je slab, ali njegov strah je bio bolno jasan. Bio je to juli 1995, i holandski bataljon upućen da zaštiti sigurnosnu zonu UN oko Srebrenice doživio je slom kad su zvaničnici Ujedinjenih nacija odbili da pozovu na zračne udare NATO-a.

“Holanđani se povlače – a ostavljaju nas prevodioce!”, vikao je Amir, obraćajući se svom šefu za civilne poslove pri UN i meni da prisile Holanđane da ga spasu.

Prezauzeti povlačenjem svojih vojnika i zasuti hiljadama prestravljenih muslimanskih žena i djece protjeranih iz Srebrenice, Holanđani su nam dali birokratsko “ne”.

Drugi telefonski razgovor sa Amirom ubijedio me je da sročim sažeto pismo, prepuno pravnih izraza, izjavljujući da su, kao osoblje Ujedinjenih nacija, prevodioci legalna odgovornost Holanđana. Uspjelo je; Amir je evakuisan kad se holandski bataljon povukao iz Srebrenice. Ali naše pismo nije značilo ništa za 8.000 muslimanskih muškaraca i dječaka koji nisu imali veze u Ujedinjenim nacijama a koje su Holanđani ostavili u Srebrenici.

Prije dvadeset godina skoro sve njih pobile su srpske snage pod generalom Ratkom Mladićem, u najgorem masakru u Evropi nakon Drugog svjetskog rata. Tokom dvije decenije mnogi detalji o masakru su izašli na svjetlo dana, ali pravda je ostala nepotpuna.

Samo je nekoliko Srba osuđeno za genicid. General Mladić, zajedno sa civilnim komandantom Radovanom Karadžićem, koji su sada jedini suočeni sa suđenjem u Hagu, godinama su izbjegavali odgovornost uz pomoć srpskih simpatizera. Njihov zajednički cilj, etničko čišćenje srpskog regiona u Bosni, je uveliko ispunjen, iako je ograničen kao entitet, poznat kao Republika Srpska, u podijeljenoj, nefunkcionalnoj Bosni i Hercegovini. Sada je taj hladni mir postignut nakon završetka rata u Bosni nesiguran; nove centrifugalne sile – duhovi radikalnog Islama i novi ruski uticaj – u kombinaciji sa nezaliječenim podjelama rata dalje iskušavaju koheziju zemlje.

Pomirenje danas među Srbima, Hrvatima i Bošnjacima, toliko godina poslije rata, još izgleda kao daleka slika. Milorad Dodik, predsjednik Republike Srpske, nedavno je okarakterisao masakr u Srebrenici ‘najvećom obmanom 20.vijeka’.

Kad se Srbija digla protiv rezolucije UN koja osuđuje i genocid u Srebrenici i svako poricanje da se to desilo, Rusija ju je blokirala u Vijeću sigurnosti. A gospodin Dodik stalno izražava svoju namjeru da povuče Republiku Srpsku iz Bosne. Otvoreno je pitanje da li će se iko od lidera u Srbiji pridružiti njemačkoj kancelarki

Angeli Merkel, šefici vanjske politike za Evropsku uniju, Federici Mogherini, i drugim zvaničnicima na komemoraciji u Srebrenici.

Amir’s voice, patched through to the United Nations base in Tuzla from the eastern Bosnian enclave in Srebrenica, was faint, but his fear came through in nauseating clarity. It was July 1995, and the Dutch battalion sent to protect the United Nations-designated safe area around Srebrenica had collapsed after United Nations officials refused to call for concerted NATO airstrikes.

“The Dutch are going to pull out — and leave us interpreters behind!” Amir cried, appealing to his United Nations civil affairs boss and me to force the Dutch to rescue him.

Preoccupied with the withdrawal of their own soldiers and overwhelmed by thousands of traumatized Muslim women and children expelled from Srebrenica, the Dutch gave us a bureaucratic “no.”

A second phone call with Amir convinced me to draw up a terse letter, dripping with legalese, declaring that, as United Nations staff members, interpreters were the legal responsibility of the Dutch. It worked; Amir was evacuated when the Dutch battalion withdrew from Srebrenica. But our letter meant nothing for the 8,000 Muslim men and boys with no United Nations connection whom the Dutch left behind in Srebrenica.

Twenty years ago this week, nearly all of them were killed by Serb forces under Gen. Ratko Mladic, in the worst massacre in Europe since World War II. In the two decades since, many of the details about the massacre have emerged, but justice has been incomplete.

Only a few Serbs have been convicted of genocide. General Mladic, along with his civilian counterpart Radovan Karadzic, are only now facing trial in The Hague, having escaped accountability for years through the aid of Serbian sympathizers. Their shared goal, ethnic purification of the Serbian region of Bosnia, is largely accomplished, albeit confined as an entity, still known as Republika Srpska, in divided, dysfunctional Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Now that cold peace achieved after the end of the Bosnian war is fraying; new centrifugal forces — the twin specters of radical Islam and resurgent Russian influence — have combined with the unhealed divisions of the war to further test the country’s cohesion.

Reconciliation among Bosnia’s Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks today, so many years after the war, still seems like a distant proposition. Milorad Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska, recently termed the Srebrenica massacre “the greatest deception of the 20th century.”

After Serbia denounced a U.N. resolution condemning both the genocide at Srebrenica and any denial that it occurred, Russia blocked it in the Security Council. And Mr. Dodik has repeatedly expressed his intention to withdraw Republika Srpska from Bosnia. It is an open question whether any of Serbia’s leaders will join German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, and other officials at the commemoration in Srebrenica on Saturday.

Uprkos prisutnosti visokih zvaničnika, Evropa, koja dijeli krivicu za srebreničku tragediju, davno je izgubila interes za zemlju. Danas, Brisel krši ruke pred stalnim zastojem i ekonomskom stagnacijom u Bosni, ali nudi samo niz stidljivih odgovora. Prošlog mjeseca, gospodin Dodik je glatko odbacio najnoviji ‘akcioni plan’ Evropske unije za namučenu zemlju.

Iako pokajnički, Brisel i dalje ne uspijeva da shvati puno značenje Srebrenice. Etničko čišćenje koje je postalo sinonim za Bosnu nije bilo nus proizvod borbe nego njena svrha. Srpski projekt građenja kompaktne države bez ‘muslimanske dominacije’ zahtijevao je demografsko uništenje muslimanske-bošnjačke populacije, uz neprekinutu granicu sa majkom Srbijom. Srebrenica i dvije manje preostale muslimanske enklave u blizini istočne granice, Žepa i Goražde, osujetile su cilj.

Kladeći se da nemoćne Ujedinjene nacije neće pozvati NATO zračne udare da bi odbranile ‘sigurne zone’, general Mladić ih je drsko zgrabio. Još drskije u Srebrenici, nastavio je sa istrebljenjem muške muslimanske populacije. Kad sam ga sreo u susjednoj Žepi, dok se još odvijalo ubijanje i spaljivanje tijela u Srebrenici, general Mladić je bio pun sebe, slaveći svoje osvajanje pred svojim obožavanim vojnicima i dotjerujući se pred uvijek prisutnim kamerama.

Upitao sam generala Mladića da li će nam dozvoliti da evakuišemo muslimanske muškarce koji se kriju u šumama iznad Žepe. “Da”, rekao je bez imalo ironije, “osim ratnih zločinaca.”

Dozvoliti onim poput gospodina Dodika da prijete secesijom Republike Srpske od Bosne je korak prema odbrani ratnog srpskog projekta. Srebrenica stoji – i mora uvijek stajati – kao crvena linija protiv maksimalističkih srpskih aspiracija.

Ustvari, ova dvadeseta godišnjica predstavlja priliku za dobronamjerne Srbe da stanu ne samo uz međunarodnu zajednicu nego i žrtve Srebrenice. Srbi svuda moraju odbaciti reviziju činjenica i racionalizaciju akcija ratnih srpskih lidera i priznati da njihovo dostojanstvo i sigurnost leže u prihvatanju gorke istine.

Žrtve Srebrenice se nikad neće vratiti. Ali svakog jula, svijet će se uvijek sjećati kako su nastradali – i ko ih je poslao u grobove.

Edward P. Joseph, izvršni direktor Instituta za sadašnja pitanja u svijetu i stariji saradnik i predavač na John Hopkins Školi za napredne međunarodne studije, služio je kao zvaničnik Ujedinjenih nacija u Bosni od 1992. do 1995.

Despite its high-profile attendance, Europe, which shares the blame for the Srebrenica tragedy, long ago lost interest in the country. Today, Brussels wrings its hands at the continuing stalemate and economic stagnation in Bosnia, but offers up only a succession of timid responses. Last month, Mr. Dodik flatly rejected the latest European Union “action plan” for the beleaguered country.

Though remorseful, Brussels still fails to grasp the full meaning of Srebrenica. The ethnic cleansing that became synonymous with Bosnia was not a byproduct of the fighting, but its purpose. The Serb project of building a compact state free of “Muslim domination” required the demographic obliteration of the Muslim Bosniak population along with uninterrupted contiguity with mother Serbia. Srebrenica and two smaller remnant Muslim enclaves near the eastern border, Zepa and Gorazde, frustrated that goal.

Betting that the feckless United Nations would not call on NATO air power to defend the “safe areas,” General Mladic brazenly seized them. Even more brazenly in Srebrenica, he proceeded to exterminate the male Muslim population. When I met him in neighboring Zepa, while the killing and burying of bodies in Srebrenica were still going on, General Mladic was brimming with confidence, celebrating his conquest in front of his adoring soldiers and preening before an ever-present camera.

I asked General Mladic if he would let us evacuate the Muslim men hiding in the forests above Zepa. “Yes,” he said without any irony, “except for the war criminals.”

To allow the likes of Mr. Dodik to threaten the secession of Republika Srpska from Bosnia is a step toward vindicating the wartime Serb project. Srebrenica stands — and must always stand — as a red line against maximalist Serb aspirations.

In fact, this 20th commemoration presents an opportunity for Serbs of good faith to stand not just with the international community, but with Srebrenica’s victims. Serbs everywhere must reject revisionism of the facts and rationalization of the actions of wartime Serb leaders and recognize that their dignity and security lie in embracing the bitter truth.

Srebrenica’s victims will never return. But every July, the world will always remember how they perished — and who sent them to their graves.

Edward P. Joseph, the executive director of the Institute of Current World Affairs and a senior fellow and lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, served as a United Nations official in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995.