These are simple objects: clocks, keys, combs, glasses. They are the things the victims of genocide in Bosnia carried with them on their final journey. We are all familiar with these mundane, everyday objects. The fact that some of the victims carried personal items such as toothpaste and a toothbrush is a clear sign they had no idea what was about to happen to them. Usually, they were told that they were going to be exchanged for prisoners of war.
Hivi ni vitu rahisi au vya kawaida saa,funguo,vitana,miwani. Ni vitu ambavyo wahanga wa mauaji ya kimbari huko Bosnia walivibeba katika safari yao ya mwisho. Wote tunayafahamu haya mambo, vitu vya kila siku. Ukweli wa kwamba baadhi ya wahanga walibeba vitu binafsi kama miswaki na dawa za meno ni dalili ya wazi ioneshayo kwamba hawakuwa na wazo ni kipi hasa kingeenda kuwatokea. Katika hali ya kawaida, waliambiwa wataenda kubadilishwa na wafungwa wa vita.
These items have been recovered from numerous mass graves across my homeland, and as we speak, forensics are exhuming bodies from newly discovered mass graves, 20 years after the war. And it is quite possibly the largest ever discovered. During the four years of conflict that devastated the Bosnian nation in the early '90s, approximately 30,000 citizens, mainly civilians, went missing, presumed killed, and another 100,000 were killed during combat operations. Most of them were killed either in the early days of the war or towards the end of the hostilities, when U.N. safe zones like Srebrenica fell into the hands of the Serb army.
Hivi vitu vilikuja patikana katika baadhi ya makaburi nchini mwangu, mpaka sasa tunapoongea,wataalamu wa vinasaba wanafukua miili katika makaburi yaliyogunduliwa, miaka 20 baada ya vita. Na inawezekana ni kiasi kikubwa sana kilichowahi kugunduliwa. Katika miaka minne ya mtafaruku uliowachanganya akili watu wa taifa la Bosnia mwanzoni mwa miaka ya 90, takribani wananchi 30,000,wengi wao wakiwa raia wa kawaida, walipotea,kudhaniwa kuuawa, na wengine 100,000 waliuawa wakati wa operesheni ya kivita Wengi wao waliuawa aitha siku za mwanzo za vita au nyakati za mwishoni za wasiwasi, upande wa umoja wa mataifa ulio salama mfano Srebrenica uliposhikiliwa na jeshi la Serbia.
The international criminal tribunal delivered a number of sentences for crimes against humanity and genocide. Genocide is a systematic and deliberate destruction of a racial, political, religious or ethnic group. As much as genocide is about killing. It is also about destroying their property, their cultural heritage, and ultimately the very notion that they ever existed. Genocide is not only about the killing; it is about the denied identity. There are always traces — no such thing as a perfect crime. There are always remnants of the perished ones that are more durable than their fragile bodies and our selective and fading memory of them.
Taasisi ya uhalifu wa kimataifa ilitoa namba ya hukumu kwa uhalifu wa kukiuka haki za binadamu na mauaji ya kimbari. Mauaji ya kimbari ni hali ya kuleta ubaguzi wa rangi,kuvuruga siasa, hali ya kidini au makabila Kwa vile mauaji ya kimbari lengo lake ni kupoteza maisha ya watu. Pia inaharibu mali zao, urithi wao wa kitamaduni, viashirio muhimu sana vitavyoonesha waliwahi kuwepo. Mauaji ya kimbari sio kwa ajili ya kukatisha maisha ya watu tu; ni hali ya kukana utambulisho. Kuna ufahamu kwamba- hakuna kitu kama uhalifu maridadi Siku zote kutakuwa na mabaki ya wale waliofariki ambayo ni imara kuliko miili yao iliyo rahisi kuharibika na kumbukumbu zao ambazo zinafifia.
These items are recovered from numerous mass graves, and the main goal of this collection of the items is a unique process of identifying those who disappeared in the killings, the first act of genocide on European soil since the Holocaust. Not a single body should remain undiscovered or unidentified. Once recovered, these items that the victims carried with them on their way to execution are carefully cleaned, analyzed, catalogued and stored. Thousands of artifacts are packed in white plastic bags just like the ones you see on CSI. These objects are used as a forensic tool in visual identification of the victims, but they are also used as very valuable forensic evidence in the ongoing war crimes trials. Survivors are occasionally called to try to identify these items physically, but physical browsing is extremely difficult, an ineffective and painful process. Once the forensics and doctors and lawyers are done with these objects, they become orphans of the narrative. Many of them get destroyed, believe it or not, or they get simply shelved, out of sight and out of mind.
Vitu hivi vinawezwa kupatikana katika baadhi ya makaburi, hatua ya ukusanyaji wa vitu hivi ipo katika hali ya kipekee katika kutambua wale waliopotea katika mauaji, mauaji ya kwanza katika udongo wa Ulaya tangu wakati wa Holocaust. Mwili hata mmoja hautakiwi ubaki haujapatikana au kutotambuliwa. Unapopatikana, vile vitu vilivyokuwa na mwili huo wakati wa mauaji vinasafishwa kwam makini,kufanyiwa uchunguzi, kuwekwa kati makundi na kisha kutunzwa. Maelfu ya vitu hivi yamewekwa katika mifuko myeupe ya plastiki kama ile unayoona katika tume ya uchunguzi wa uhalifu unaohusisha mauaji. Vitu hivi vinatumika kawa ajili ya utambuzi wa vinasaba ili kutambua wahanga, lakini pia vinatumika kama uthibitisho muhimu sana katika vinasaba kwenye majaribu ya mauaji yanayoendelea. Wale waliookoka huwa wanaitwa mara kwa mara kujaribu kutambua vitu hivi, lakini kuangalia kwa macho ya kawaida ni ngumu kidogo, ni hatua ambayo haina uhakika sana na inaumiza. Mara baada ya wataalamu wa vinasaba, madaktari na wanasheria wanapomalizana na hivi vitu vinabaki yatima kwa kuachwa tu. Vingi huaribiwa,amini usiamini, au vinawekwa, mbali ambapo haviwezi kufikiriwa tena.
I decided a few years ago to photograph every single exhumed item in order to create a visual archive that survivors could easily browse. As a storyteller, I like to give back to the community. I like to move beyond raising awareness. And in this case, someone may recognize these items or at least their photographs will remain as a permanent, unbiased and accurate reminder of what happened. Photography is about empathy, and the familiarity of these items guarantee empathy. In this case, I am merely a tool, a forensic, if you like, and the result is a photography that is as close as possible of being a document.
Miaka michache iliyopita niliamua kupiga picha kila kitu kilichofukuliwa ili niweze kutengeneza maktaba ya picha ili wale waliokoka waweze kuona kwa urahisi. Kama msimulia hadithi, ningependa kurudisha kitu kwa jamii. Ninapenda kwenda mbali zaidi katika kufikiri na kutenda ili kuongeza ufahamu. Katika hili, mtu anaweza kutambua vitu hivi au picha zinaweza kubaki muda mrefu sana, bila kusumbuliwa na kumbukumbu sahihi ya yale yaliyotokea. Kupiga picha kunahusisha kuelewa hisia za wengine, na vitu hivi vinahusisha sana hisia za wengine. Mimi ni kama kifaa katika swala hili, mtaalamu wa vinasaba, kama ukipenda, na matokeo yake ni picha ambayo ipo karibu sana na kuwa nyaraka.
Once all the missing persons are identified, only decaying bodies in their graves and these everyday items will remain. In all their simplicity, these items are the last testament to the identity of the victims, the last permanent reminder that these people ever existed.
Pale watu wote waliopotea waligundulika, miili yao inayooza katika makaburi yao na hivi vitu vya kila siku vyote vitabaki. Katika urahisi, vitu hivi ni agano la mwisho katika utambulisho wa wahanga, ukumbusho wa mwisho ambao utadumu na kuonyesha kwamba watu hawa waliwahi kuwepo.
Thank you very much.
Asante sana
(Applause)
(Makofi)