On Monday, July 5th, 2021, we participated in the conference “Civil Society & Think Tank Forum II”. At the panel “Reconciliation, Social Dialogue and Regional Confidence Building”, our coordinator for justice and reconciliation programs, Branka Vierda, presented the recommendations for NGOs and think tanks from the Western Balkans, Western Balkan states as well as European Union institutions and member states.
The panel was also attended by Gordana Čomić, the minister of human rights, minority rights, and social dialogue (Serbia), Donika Gervalla-Schwar, the minister of foreign affairs and the diaspora (Kosovo), and Albert Hani (Regional Youth Cooperation Office – RYCO).
Photo: Aspen Institute
We advocated for greater cooperation between nongovernmental organizations, think tanks, academic institutions, and states from the region, including Croatia, Slovenia, and Albania. We pointed out the importance of independent media for dealing with the past and called for greater support for journalists and freedom of speech. At the same time, we warned about the attacks on peace activists, media, and media workers, and encouraged the European Union institutions and member states to demonstrate a “zero tolerance” policy for such acts. We also recommended encompassing transitional justice mechanisms in the EU policy of conditionality towards candidate states, which would include non-judicial dimensions of Transitional Justice, such as reparations, truth-seeking, and memorialization. The recommendations were developed by experts in the field of topics related to dealing with the past from the Western Balkan region, Europe, and the USA as part of the working group “Addressing Legacies of the Past and Regional Confidence Building”, which was moderated by the representatives of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights and presented to the participants of the “Civil Society & Think Tank Forum I: Road to Berlin” in June 2021.
Finally, we had the opportunity to participate in the meeting of ministers of foreign affairs as part of the Berlin Process during which the representatives of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights presented the main conclusions established by Forum I.
You may find the recommendations here: https://berlinprocess.info/documents/policy-recommendations/.
Photo: Aspen institute
Prior to the aforementioned process, the regional network of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights collaborated with the Aspen Institute Germany in March 2021 alongside 40 other NGO representatives, journalists, youth representatives, academics, and artists from the Western Balkan countries and Croatia, as well as representatives of international organizations and officials from the European Union and its member states. As a result of these meetings and the exchange of experiences and expertise the regional network of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights created a report “Civil Society as a Key Factor in Reconciliation. The report focused on civil society as a key factor for reconciliation, pointed out the challenges that civil society faces, and put forth recommendations for how to strengthen the role of civil society organizations for reconciliation.
The entire report may be found here: https://www.aspeninstitute.de/wp-content/uploads/CSF_Paper_WG-A.pdf.
Photo: Youth Initiative for Human Rights – Kosovo