Duchess Sophie makes touching scarf gesture at memorial to Srebrenica Genocide

The Duchess of Edinburgh heard the poignant stories of the families of those who still have relatives missing - 30 years on from the Bosnian War on a trip to mark the anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide.

Sophie has travelled to the country to attend a memorial service for victims of the massacre, which saw more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys murdered in the town of Srebrenica in July 1995 and 25,000 women and children forced out. On Friday she will attend a memorial service in Srebrenica, where she will deliver a message at the huge ceremony on behalf of the King.

But arriving in Sarajevo today, she visited the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which works across ethnic divides to find missing people from the 1990s conflict. The Duchess, who wore a white Srebrenica Flower as a mark of remembrance, heard how more than 34,000 people went missing during the war and that 7,600 have yet to be reunited with their grieving families.

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And speaking to three families who still have relatives missing 30 years on, Sophie praised the efforts being made for families to be reunited with the missing in order to give them a proper burial and said the issue was one of ‘humanity’ that “transcends politics”. She was told how UK government funding had helped the organisation use DNA techniques to identify some of the remains found but heard how frustrating the painstaking task can be to reunite those missing with their loved ones over three decades later.

But the Duchess urged them to continue with their work telling them: “Whilst there is hope I’m sure you will continue to work together with such kindness and humanity.” She also told the organisation how they had brought “comfort” to so many families, despite their “difficult task”.

After meeting the families she then was taken on tour of Sarajevo’s Old Town where she chatted with Velma Šarić, a local female peacekeeper, who told her about the role women play in reconciliation. As they walked around the Old Town’s Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian architecture which still shows the scars of the war, Sophie was thanked for her work by the peacekeeper for her work campaigning for the victims of sexual violence in conflict.

In a poignant moment, they together visited the Mother’s Scarf art installation at Sarajevo City Hall, which is a collection of scarves from women that represents the resilience and courage of women during the war. Sophie donated a scarf to the project, presenting it to Velma before hanging it in the installation in a touching gesture.

Before they parted the peacekeeper presented the Duchess with a gift of a metallic Srebrenica memorial flower and the two women hugged. It came after her first stop in Sarajevo that saw her meet the Croat member of Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency, Željko Komšić, discussed the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide at the Presidency building in Sarajevo.

The Bosnian presidency comprises three members - one Bosniak, one Croat and one Serb. The position of chairperson of the presidency rotates every eight months.