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These are simple objects:
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clocks, keys, combs, glasses.
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They are the things the victims of genocide in Bosnia
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carried with them on their final journey.
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We are all familiar with these mundane,
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everyday objects.
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The fact that some of the victims carried
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personal items such as
toothpaste and a toothbrush
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is a clear sign they had no idea
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what was about to happen to them.
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Usually, they were told that they were going to be
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exchanged for prisoners of war.
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These items have been recovered
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from numerous mass graves across my homeland,
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and as we speak, forensics are exhuming bodies
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from newly discovered mass graves,
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20 years after the war.
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And it is quite possibly the largest ever discovered.
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During the four years of conflict
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that devastated the Bosnian nation in the early '90s,
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approximately 30,000 citizens, mainly civilians,
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went missing, presumed killed,
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and another 100,000 were killed
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during combat operations.
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Most of them were killed
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either in the early days of the war
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or towards the end of the hostilities,
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when U.N. safe zones like Srebrenica
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fell into the hands of the Serb army.
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The international criminal tribunal
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delivered a number of sentences
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for crimes against humanity and genocide.
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Genocide is a systematic and deliberate
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destruction of a racial, political, religious
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or ethnic group.
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As much as genocide is about killing.
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It is also about destroying their property,
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their cultural heritage,
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and ultimately the very notion that they ever existed.
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Genocide is not only about the killing;
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it is about the denied identity.
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There are always traces —
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no such thing as a perfect crime.
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There are always remnants of the perished ones
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that are more durable than their fragile bodies
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and our selective and fading memory of them.
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These items are recovered
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from numerous mass graves,
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and the main goal of this collection of the items
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is a unique process
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of identifying those who disappeared in the killings,
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the first act of genocide on European soil
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since the Holocaust.
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Not a single body should remain undiscovered
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or unidentified.
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Once recovered,
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these items that the victims carried with them
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on their way to execution
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are carefully cleaned, analyzed,
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catalogued and stored.
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Thousands of artifacts are
packed in white plastic bags
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just like the ones you see on CSI.
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These objects are used as a forensic tool
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in visual identification of the victims,
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but they are also used as
very valuable forensic evidence
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in the ongoing war crimes trials.
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Survivors are occasionally called
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to try to identify these items physically,
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but physical browsing is extremely difficult,
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an ineffective and painful process.
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Once the forensics and doctors and lawyers
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are done with these objects,
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they become orphans of the narrative.
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Many of them get destroyed, believe it or not,
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or they get simply shelved,
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out of sight and out of mind.
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I decided a few years ago
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to photograph every single exhumed item
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in order to create a visual archive
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that survivors could easily browse.
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As a storyteller, I like to give back to the community.
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I like to move beyond raising awareness.
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And in this case, someone may
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recognize these items
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or at least their photographs will remain
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as a permanent, unbiased and accurate reminder
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of what happened.
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Photography is about empathy,
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and the familiarity of these
items guarantee empathy.
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In this case, I am merely a tool,
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a forensic, if you like,
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and the result is a photography that is as close
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as possible of being a document.
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Once all the missing persons are identified,
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only decaying bodies in their graves
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and these everyday items will remain.
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In all their simplicity,
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these items are the last testament
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to the identity of the victims,
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the last permanent reminder
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that these people ever existed.
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Thank you very much.
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(Applause)