Illinois Designates Srebrenica Genocide Awareness Day

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker declared July 11, 2026, as Srebrenica Genocide Awareness Day. This marks an official Day of Mourning across the state. It aims to honor victims, support survivors, and raise awareness about the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is the fifth year Pritzker has made such a proclamation, remembering over 8,000 Bosniak men and boys killed in Srebrenica.

Governor Pritzker and Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias signed the proclamation on July 8, 2026, in Springfield. Illinois has over 40,000 Bosnians and Herzegovinians, many of whom survived the genocide. It is also the first U.S. state to require public schools to teach about the Bosnian genocide.

This state decision matches the United Nations General Assembly's declaration of July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance for the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide. The proclamation emphasizes historical truth, human rights, and the dangers of ethnonationalism. Its goal is to ensure lessons from Srebrenica are passed to future generations.