Date: Early 1990s (Croatian War of Independence)
Author: Mothers for Peace – Bedem Ljubavi (Croatia)
Addressed to: Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary-General of the United Nations
View the Original Letter: krcmar book 2_Part64_Part1.pdf
About This Letter
Written during one of the darkest chapters of the Croatian War of Independence, this letter from Mothers for Peace (Bedem Ljubavi) to UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali reflects a profound disillusionment with the international community’s failure to act. As civilians were slaughtered and cities lay in ruins, the mothers’ message seethes with grief, exhaustion, and moral fury toward the silence of those entrusted to safeguard peace.
The letter condemns the United Nations’ neutrality as a shield for inaction, accusing it of standing by while the aggressor’s crimes multiplied. Its authors write with the voice of those who have seen too much and been heard too little — mothers who have buried their children while diplomats debated resolutions.
“Only the mothers of the dead have the right to measure the value of peace.”
Their appeal is not for sympathy, but for conscience. They denounce the world’s blindness to suffering, the endless “negotiations” that allowed war to fester, and the hollow promises made beneath the blue UN flag.
“You speak of peace while our children lie beneath the earth. What peace can exist in silence?”
Each line reverberates with the anguish of moral betrayal — a belief that the international order, built to prevent such horrors, had instead become complicit through indifference. Yet even within their outrage, the letter carries a steadfast hope: that the truth, spoken plainly and courageously, might still awaken the world’s humanity.
“We do not seek pity, but justice. The world must see the graves it has chosen to ignore.”
This letter stands as a timeless cry against complacency — an indictment of those who confuse diplomacy with morality, and a reminder that true peace demands the courage to act.
