Relatives of victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre whose remains were discovered in 2017 pray alongside their coffins. Photo: Reuters / Dado Ruvic.

The World Jewish Congress (WJC) on Wednesday called on world leaders to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the massacre of Bosnian Muslim men and boys by Serb paramilitary soldiers in the town of Srebrenica, which falls on July 11.

“We are committed to raising international awareness of the Genocide in Srebrenica and to commemorate the innocent men and boys who were murdered only because of their ethnicity and religion,” the Jewish Diplomatic Corps of the WJC declared on its Facebook page on Wednesday.

In one of the most horrific episodes of the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, more than 8,000 Muslim males deemed to be of military age were slaughtered by Serb forces under the command of Gen. Ratko Mladic, who is currently serving a life sentence for war crimes.

A further 25,000 women, children and elderly people were forcibly deported from the town. Several thousand of the women and girls were raped by Serb militiamen after being separated from their families.

The EU, the United States and the International Court of Justice are among the world governments and institutions that have officially recognized the atrocity in Srebrenica as a genocide.

“Let us all pay tribute to every innocent victim and work towards a better future where genocide will never happen again,” the WJC’s post concluded.