Quotessence
Home / Topics / Human Rights Violations Quotes

Human Rights Violations Quotes

Browse 54 quotes about Human Rights Violations.

Human Rights Violations Quotes

“During the Bosnian War in 1992, the Serb forces took over the Prijedor municipality. The Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) repeatedly broadcasted the Serb forces’ capture of Prijedor on radio as a display of significant victory. For further hostile takeover, 400 men were added to the Serb forces in Cirkin Polje (town in Prijedor) to seize Prijedor’s governing bodies such as the municipality, post office, police, bank, courts etc. By April, they successfully captured these government entities. This forceful takeover by Serb politicians was declared to be an illegal coup d’état by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The coup was a cold blooded, pre-planned strategic effort to capture Prijedor and convert it into a pure Serb municipality. These strategic plans were never concealed. Milomir Stakić played an important role in the strategic capture by the Serb forces.”

“In one of the camp buildings, victims were squeezed together in extremely horrific conditions, with some rooms holding more than 45 people in very small closet sized rooms. They were even forced to clean the torture rooms. The prisoners’ faces were broken and mutilated from torture. Their blood stained the walls with pieces of skin and hair spread all around. The guards at the camp targeted the kidneys and hearts of the Bosniak victims when beating them to death. Prisoners were frequently beaten with spiked metal weapons and sticks, rifle butts, brass knuckles etc. They were “packed like sardines” with unbearable heat. In addition, they also died from suffocation due to a lack of oxygen during the night. Several survivors testified that they heard constant and intense wailing from people being beaten. They were in a state of endless fear. There are documented cases of prisoners being burned alive by setting tires ablaze around them. Prisoners were made to carry the dead bodies to trucks for disposal. Mass dead bodies were also bulldozed onto trucks. Every night, gunshots could be heard until dawn during mass executions. There were mounds of corpses everywhere on the camp, and Serb forces frequently shot ammunition into the bodies to ensure death.”

“There are too many people working to better the lives of those who already have more than they need, yet those who are in need of real help spend each day with no hope or help to speak of - why my friend - why - they are waiting for you - they are wailing for you - don't you hear them - don't you hear their tears dropping on the lifeless soil beneath their feet! You worry about philosophical questions like, if a tree falls in a forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound - yet you pay no attention to real questions of life and death that actually require your intervention more than any philosophical question in the world! Why - I ask you again - why - why is it that philosophy, technology and argumentation have more grip over your psyche than the actual troubles of the people! Don't answer me - just think - think and when you have thought enough, shred all shallow philosophical pomp and rush right away to the helpless, the forgotten, the destitute as the real, practical answer to their life.”