From April 24 to 26, the Youth Initiative for Human Rights organized a regional meeting in Bijelo Polje, Montenegro dedicated to dialogue and networking of war crimes victims, their families, representatives of civil society organizations, and other interested participants from the region.
Through a carefully designed three-day program, the meeting opened a space for the exchange of personal experiences, professional practices, and reflections on how to approach issues of dealing with the past today, more than three decades after the wars of the 1990s. Participants reflected together on the challenges they face in their work, but also on lessons learned, mistakes from the previous period, and examples that can serve as the basis for a more responsible and inclusive approach today.
Our Amina Sejfić spoke at the panel “New Narratives – Approaches to Work after More Than 30 Years Since the Wars of the 1990s” with activist Senna Šimek and Kristina Žugić (Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Montenegro) moderated by Ivan Radulović (Civic Alliance). At the panel, Amina highlighted our work in the field of peace education, focusing on the formal education system through the presentation of the manual “Holocaust and Peace – Lessons from the Past for the Future” and the artistic tools we use in our work.
As part of the program, a tour of the monument dedicated to the victims of the crime in Štrpci, located in the center of Bijelo Polje, was also organized. The tour was led by Demir Ličina, president of the association “Štrpci protiv zaborava” and one of the initiators of the erection of the monument.