Bitola, Macedonia, Sept. 6th to 17th, 2016    You want to meet and exchange with youth from Germany and different places from Macedonia? You would like to use a fun and unique opportunity for intercultural exchange? You are interested in learning more about forgotten histories of the Balkans? You would like to work for peace? You are 18-30 years old […]

Source: womenareboring.wordpress.com by Tajma Kapic I was 26 and had just finished university when the war broke out. I vividly remember my terror, alone in my apartment, when the shelling started. I witnessed first hand the horror of war. My personal experience as a survivor of the Balkans war and my continuing concern for the welfare of women in post-conflict situations lead […]

Source: recom.link By Sabina Čehajić-Clancy Decades of research in the field of social psychology have provided systematic evidence that learning or knowing about human rights violations poses a threat to our self- and group- image. In order to protect this seemingly positive self/group perception, people refuse to admit that their own group might be responsible for the pain and suffering […]

CRSV team (Photo by UN BiH) Source: http://ba.one.un.org/ This year, we have celebrated three historic firsts for combatting sexual violence in conflict. All of these were long overdue and all had one thing in common: the unstoppable force of women’s voice and leadership. In February, a national court in Guatemala convicted two former military officers of committing sexual violence during the country’s civil […]

Source: recom.link From 2 May to 1 June 2016, the ICTJ hosted an online debate entitled Does Collective Remembrance of a Troubled Past Impede Reconciliation?. In many societies, memorials to victims and rituals of remembrance have developed following periods of violence. These serve as reminders of the victims, and as a deterrent to repeating the mistakes of the past. In other […]

Source: recom.link Beograd – At the moment when the rule of law in Serbia rises above political, ideological and other interests, the statements made by politicians about the honour of officers who participated in wars stained by the executions of women, children and the elderly, will constitute a heavy embarrassment – and primarily for the makers of those statements. Until […]

Source: sarajevotimes.com Chairman of the Presidency of BiH Bakir Izetbegović today laid flowers and paid tribute to the killed Serb civilians on Kazani above Sarajevo, for the sake of reconciliation and mutual respect. “I had a feeling like I am obligated to express my reverence on Kazani and express condolences to families whose members lost their lives here, in a […]

Source: Independent Macedonia is a poor country with weak institutions, no tradition of democracy and a legacy of ethnic resentment – and now it has been left to fend for itself in a dangerous world. A small Balkan country is in state of crisis. In Macedonia, things are getting serious. If the country descends further in chaos – and events […]

Source: recom.link By Nataša Kostić I enrolled at the History Department of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy  in 1989. I clearly remember the long queue of us candidates, waiting to submit documents for the entrance examination. I also remember one professor saying: “So many candidates….a national awakening!” Back in 1989, and throughout the last decade of the 20th century, […]

Source: recom.link With the partial exception of the Holocaust, European states have done little reckoning with their own legacies of abuse inherited from war and repressive rule in Europe and the former colonies.By Iavor Rangelov, Marika Theros, and Nataša Kandić  At the June Summit, which will take place after the UK Referendum, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, […]

Source: recom.link Advocating for the inclusion of transitional justice into official high school curriculum Policy paper of Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo   EXECUTIVE SUMMARYKosovo’s youth is not currently being taught about issues of transitional justice, which translates into a worrying knowledge deficit on the importance of dealing with the past. More generally, this knowledge deficit is a striking feature of Kosovo […]

Source: nytimes.com By CARLOTTA GALLMAY 24, 2016   Ethnic Albanians load a tractor with looted goods, taken from former Serb homes, in Peja, Kosovo. June 25, 1999. Credit Tyler Hicks/The New York Times         Times Insider delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how news, features and opinion come together at The New York Times. In this article, Carlotta Gall, a […]