Photography by Febe Meijnen | 2025
After the town of Srebrenica was declared a United Nations safe area in April 1993, Hasan Nuhanović became employed as a UN interpreter. When, on 11 July 1995 the town fell to the Serb forces, thousands of Bosnian Muslim refugees sought shelter inside and outside the UN Dutch Battalion compound at Potočari, including Hasan’s parents and brother.
However, on 13 July the Dutch battalion ordered the refugees to leave the compound and, despite Hasan’s desperate pleas, his parents and brother were handed over to Serb forces. They were killed along with more than 8,000 other victims in a series of mass executions perpetrated in the following days.
“I was 24 years old when the war started. Was I resilient? I believe I was, but it was an incredibly difficult time. There was no real choice but to be resilient; those who weren’t, were killed. To survive, we had to find the strength to endure.”
After the genocide, Hasan’s life became a constant struggle between survival and accountability. “I never had time to relax. We were searching for missing family members, while war criminals lived in our neighbourhood with impunity. The Netherlands, as well as the United Nations, were not ready to acknowledge and accept their own responsibilities in Srebrenica. Fighting for justice became part of my everyday existence. You try to live a normal life, but in reality you live two lives: one of daily routine and one of endless struggle for justice.”
Hasan’s pursuit of justice was not only about courts and state responsibility, it was also about people. For Hasan, justice is both universal and deeply personal. “Justice is the most important word in our lives. People refuse to live with injustice, they will fight against it in all kinds of ways. Survivors who have lost family members will keep fighting for the rest of their lives. We will never achieve absolute justice, but as survivors we must reach for some kind of justice, because with it comes acknowledgment of loss, of pain, and of truth. And justice and truth are so strongly interconnected that one cannot exist without the other.”
Hasan also hopes that his own struggle can serve as an example for others. “One of my hopes is that what I have done in court, both inside and outside the courtroom, will be used by others to prevent atrocities in the future. Whether the lesson will be learned, I cannot say. They said ‘never again’ in 1945, and repeated ‘never again’ after Srebrenica, yet atrocities continue to happen. But we should never allow ourselves to be discouraged. Evil will always exist, but we must continue fighting.”
The Nuhanovic Foundation was born out of this commitment. For Hasan, it represents not only institutionalised justice, but also a living memorial. “When the idea arose to set up a foundation with the mission of supporting survivors who had gone through the same experience as me, I was delighted. At first, I was unsure whether it could be realised, but in the end, it became a reality. You hardly manage to fight a state or regime in court by yourself. The Foundation fills a gap, giving survivors support they cannot get anywhere else. The fact that it carries the surname of my parents and brother is very important to me. They were murdered 30 years ago, and now they can be remembered through the work of this organisation.”
For Nasiha, Hasan’s daughter, this legacy is “pride and responsibility. I want to carry the memory without grief, and transform it into something constructive and something that benefits our community. As the next generation, I want to contribute to building resilient communities. I believe the world needs to learn how to heal without forgetting. As the next generation, as his daughter, I want to contribute to this mission, building a resilient community, carrying the memory without grief.”
Growing up with the legacy of Srebrenica has shaped her personal and professional life. “Sometimes people see survivors only through the lens of what they survived, but there are multiple layers. People are not just their stories. We have an immense amount of potential, and I want to transform remembrance into motivation. It has been a transformative path for me: to understand what happened before I was even born, and how it shaped my family and my life. Through growing up and becoming a lawyer, I’ve realised that I can turn this legacy into something positive, into motivation to move forward. It is a legacy I am determined to continue.”
Nasiha also reflects on what the Foundation represents. Out of their family’s story, a framework was built that others can now rely on. “Survivors in similar situations can find the support they need, without facing the same struggles my father went through to find people who recognised and understood the fight. NGOs like The Nuhanovic Foundation are crucial for survivors: they make justice accessible and keep the fight alive.”
Like her father, she is aware that justice is not only about remedy, but also about prevention. “Help for survivors is not just about them achieving justice. The baseline goal is prevention, and creating a dialogue where we can speak about atrocities and find solutions. As a lawyer, I hope to merge my personal sentiment into building sustainable frameworks for preventing future atrocities. Above all, I hope to continue my father’s fight and legacy, and to have a positive impact on all our futures.”
About The Photographer
Febe Meijnen is a Dutch portrait and documentary photographer based in Leerdam and Amsterdam. She graduated from the Amsterdam Photo Academy in 2022 and combines her social work background with visual storytelling, portraiture, and reportage. Her practice focuses on underexposed stories, often highlighting people living through conflict, social upheaval, or challenging circumstances. Preferring black and white photography, she emphasizes contrast, form, and emotion, creating intimate, raw, and layered images.
Her projects include See Me Hear Me, which explores the lives of survivors of sexual violence in war, as well as Faces of Freedom, Along the River De Linge, and Pretty Powerful. Her work has been published and exhibited nationally and internationally.
“The story of Hasan and Nasiha touched me deeply: in their courage, perseverance, and resilience, I saw the indestructible strength of the human spirit. Through my photography, I aim to make this visible and support the mission of the Nuhanovic Foundation — giving survivors justice and a voice.”
– Febe Meijnen
Justice
From War to Democracy and Freedom
Our latest initiative, a storytelling campaign titled Justice: From War to Democracy & Freedom, showcases the real-life experiences of survivors and victims of international crimes and grave human rights violations. At the heart of this campaign are the survivors themselves, the faces, voices, and stories behind these precedent-setting legal battles, which will be brought to life through a series of survivor portraits captured by acclaimed photographers. Through these portraits, our goal is to make the resilience, courage, and pursuit of justice of these individuals tangible, urgent, and deeply relatable.
