Representatives of the United Nations and the Netherlands admitted to and accepted their share of the responsibility for the Srebrenica tragedy which the international community failed to prevent.
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, as one of fifteen speakers at the commemoration, said that she had above all come to pay tribute to the "innocent victims of mindless atrocities."
"Remembrance of the victims permanently obliges us. It obliges us so that Srebrenica, as the place of the most brutal crime since World War II, is not just on our minds on July 11, the day of commemoration of the genocide which the modern international community should be ashamed of," Croatia's president said.
She added that Srebrenica remains as a warning of what can happen if international mechanisms and collective conscience fail and when there is no common will to act together.
"In this place, where mankind has learned one of its most painful lessons, on behalf of Croatia and on my own behalf, I wish the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and all its citizens a brighter future, a future of peace, co-existence and prosperity. Croatia stands by you," President Grabar-Kitarovic said at the memorial.
Former US President Bill Clinton gave an emotional address in which he stressed that he had come to Bosnia and Herzegovina as President Barack Obama's personal envoy to express his hope and belief in the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
More than eight thousand men and boys were killed here in a genocide. That horrific fact finally convinced NATO countries to support the USA to do something, said Clinton who was US President at the time of the Srebenica tragedy.
Clinton said that what he did as US President in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo was one of the most important decisions during his two terms in office.
I'm glad that peace has been kept, however, we continue to be obliged to those who sacrificed their lives here, he said, adding that he did not wish to see killing fields like Srebrenica anywhere ever again.
In his address, Clinton attempted to act as a sort of diplomatic mediator, underscoring the important fact that this year Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic had come to Srebrenica.
As Bosnia and Herzegovina's friend, I wish to thank Serbia's prime minister for showing courage and coming here today and I think that it is important that we acknowledge that, Clinton said as Vucic carefully listened on.
Let's say that's a start. Let's pay tribute to the victims, those found and those who have not been found. Let us recall the pledge to peace that we gave and let us give an opportunity to this country for a democratic future, Clinton said, adding that all should work together as there was no other choice.
Srebrenica Mayor Camil Durakovic stressed that the survivors of Srebrenica did not respond to the violence of 1995 with new violence and the families of those killed nurtured love and in that way kept the memory of the missing.
"Unfortunately, 1,100 people killed have not been found yet. I call on those who took part in their execution... to tell us where their remains are. That will be your hand extended in reconciliation," Durakovic said.
Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders expressed his condolences for the victims and emphasised the responsibility of his country whose soldiers had the duty to protect Srebrenica in 1995 as members of UN forces, yet did not do so.
The genocide that was committed here is the gloomiest part of our common European history. We stand ashamed before you here today in Potocari, Koenders said as the first Dutch politician to speak in Srebrenica.
He said that the entire international community did not offer the appropriate protection for Srebrenica in 1995 and that the Dutch government shared the political responsibility for all that happened.
Tragedies like this should never occur again, he said.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson also insisted that the crime of genocide had been committed in Srebrenica and that it had left deep scars.
Once again we undertake to establish the whole truth, the search for those who have not been found continues and the criminals will face justice, Eliasson said.
He added that today, just like in 1995, it was clear that the UN and the international community did not succeed in protecting the victims. That will always torment us and that's how it should be. In many ways that has impacted the work of our organisation, he said.
Eliasson added that based on the experience of Srebrenica, the UN today is actively working on the prevention of violence and crime around the world even though it continues to occur in many countries.
President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Theodor Meron recalled Radislav Krstic's sentence which confirmed the genocide in Srebrenica ten years ago.
Recalling the ruling, he said that genocide was described as a particularly shameful crime against all of mankind.
It is crucial that the perpetrators be called to account but one must not forget that court rulings by themselves do not heal wounds inflicted by crime. They do not lead to reconciliation by themselves nor can they bring the victims back, Judge Meron said.
ICTY Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said that Srebrenica was a reminder of the enormous suffering that people can cause each other.
This was not a spontaneous military operation nor part of other operations. It was the result of a plan, created at the highest level and that is a fact that we have proven several times, Brammertz said.
He added that denying the genocide and not respecting the court's judgement was an insult to the victims.
To respect Srebrenica we have to call it by its name, genocide, and in order to build the future, we have to oppose any denial of the genocide, the ICTY chief prosecutor said.
He recalled that hundreds of perpetrators were yet to be tried and that regional cooperation was important as many of them had escaped to other countries.
I have learned that accepting the truth is the first step toward reconciliation, Brammertz said.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the murder of more than eight thousand people in Srebrenica was the murder of all of mankind.
We have to admit that the international community was not in a state to prevent this tragedy. If we are not united we could possibly find ourselves in a similar situation again, said Davutoglu, calling for the establishment of peace and solidarity as a defence against new crimes like that in Srebrenica.
He called above all for greater unity and cooperation between countries in the region, saying that peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina was a key to peace in the entire Balkans.
Slovenia's President Borut Pahor in particular insisted on forgiveness and reconciliation, stressing that that required a lot of courage.
"In my opinion that is the only path to a better future," he said, adding that without forgiveness there can be no reconciliation and without that, there can be no cooperation nor unity which is required to make important decisions.
"That is the only path worth dreaming of and hoping for, worth your children," said Pahor, recalling Slovenia's experience of national reconciliation and the "moral step" taken after 70 years.
"I am not talking about forgetting or punishing the perpetrators but about forgiveness. I know that that is endlessly difficult but think about it. Without that, there is no future and any delay in forgiveness and reconciliation is postponing the future," Slovenia's president said, adding that that was the foundation of modern Europe and would be the foundation of Bosnia and Herzegovina sooner or later.
He added that now was the time for the European Union to expand to the Balkans but that "the bureaucrats don't understand that." Without a European prospect for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pahor believes, there is a risk that the Srebrenica genocide could recur.
The Croat member of the Bosnian Presidency, Dragan Covic, agreed with Pahor and called on the families of those killed to try and work on reconciliation and a better future.
Speaking on behalf of the families of the Srebrenica victims, Advija Ibrahimovic, whose parents were killed in 1995 when she was 11 years old, said that their pain had turned into strength that would not allow that what had happened to be hidden and denied.
High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Valentin Inzko expressed hope that based on the fact of its genocidal nature, the Srebrenica crime would serve as a call to build a century of peace on the example of what Germany and France did in the wake of WWII.
Only the truth can liberate us. Peace and reconciliation can be achieved only on the basis of truth and justice, Inzko said.
Speaking on behalf of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), Queen Noor of Jordan recalled that with enormous effort 90 percent of those killed in Srebrenica had been found.
That is crucial in the fight for justice and to oppose lies with the truth, she said.
She said that justice and the truth would eventually prevail but that the human face of the Srebrenica tragedy could never be forgotten.