Call for Verification of Allegations on Responsibility of Diković for War Crimes

Civil society organizations are calling on the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor to verify the allegations of the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) relating to the possible responsibility of the Serbian Army Chief of Staff, Ljubiša Diković, for war crimes committed in Kosovo and BiH.

Largest regional campaign “Million Signatures for RECOM“ to be launched

The action of “regional defrosting” will be organized on Tuesday April 26 at 11,55 at the Republic Square in Belgrade, as well as in Sarajevo, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Banjaluka, Priština, Skoplje, and Podgorica, thus launching the largest regional campaign so far, during which, a million signatures of support for RECOM, the Regional Commission for Establishing Facts About War Crimes and Other Serious Human Rights Violations Committed on the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia in the Period 1991-2001, will be collected.

“To Know and not to Repeat It” Event at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad

Over 40 students of the Novi Sad University attended the “To Know and not to Repeat It” public event held on April 1, 2011 at the Faculty of Philosophy. The students were informed about the concept of One Million Signatures Campaign the goal of which is to collect one million signatures in support of the creation of a Regional Commission Tasked with Establishing the Facts about War Crimes and Other Serious Human Rights Violations Committed in the Period 1991-2001 on the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia (RECOM).

“To Know and not to Repeat It” Event at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade

“The Draft RECOM Statute was adopted on March 26, 2011. Consultations on the Draft RECOM Statute lasted for almost three years and they included law professionals, representatives of religious communities, teachers and university professors, representatives of associations of victims of war, young people, members of human rights non-governmental organizations, etc. Consultations on the Draft RECOM Statute represented the most comprehensive debate conducted on the territory of the former Yugoslavia on a topic that is very important for the entire region. So many years after the conflict none of the post-Yugoslav states has a register of people who lost their lives in the war and there are still over 15,000 people considered missing” said Maja Mićić, director of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights Serbia at the “To Know and not to Repeat It” event that was held on March 28, 2011 at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. Students were informed about the Initiative to Create a Regional Commission Tasked with Establishing the Facts about War Crimes and Other Serious Human Rights Violations Committed in the Period 1991-2001 on the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia (RECOM). Mićić added that in April and May 2011 the Initiative for RECOM will conduct the One Million Signatures Campaign to collect signatures in support of RECOM. This campaign, which will be carried out with the help of partner organizations will be the largest synchronized operation on the territory of the former Yugoslavia and it will include thousands of young people from the entire region. Professor Bora Kuzmanović, Faculty of Philosophy, Professor Nebojša Petrović, Institute for Psychological Research, and Dušan Lopušina, Youth Initiative for Human Rights Serbia, took part in the discussion that followed the presentation. Most participants asked questions concerning the work of the Commission. The event was attended by over 60 students who actively participated in the discussion and wanted to learn more about volunteer opportunities in the One Million Signatures for RECOM Campaign.

A CALL TO VOLUNTEER FOR RECOM

If you wish to be a part of the largest youth networking in Serbia and region obtain new experiences, knowledge and friends, while fighting for a humane aim learn more about team work, campaign organizing, and public action

“LinKS” Conference: Youth of Kosovo and Serbia

The youth conference “LinKS,” which gathers young people from Kosovo and Serbia, will be held in Becici, Montengro, March 4-6. 2011. The conference is organized by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights from Kosovo and Serbia.

Consultations Held with Historians apropos the Project “Srebrenica – Mapping Genocide”

In order for the Project “Srebrenica – Mapping Genocide” to become a part of formal education in Serbia, it is necessary to negotiate with state institutions, for textbooks and curricula are extremely difficult to change, and that mainly happens as a result of political consensus, it was concluded at the consultations between the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) and historians to the topic of incorporating this Project into formal and informal education in Serbia, held at the Belgrade Media Centre on December 8.

Youth from Serbia and Croatia Pay Respects to Victims of War in Vukovar

By symbolically casting flowers from the pedestrian bridge into the Vuka River in Vukovar, some forty youths from Serbia and Croatia yesterday paid their respects to all the victims of war in Vukovar. The meeting of youth from Belgrade, Zagreb and Vukovar was organized by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR).

Meeting of Serbian and Croatian Youth in Vukovar

Apropos the meeting between presidents of the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Serbia, Ivo Josipovic and Boris Tadic, set to take place in Vukovar on the 4th of November, 2010, the Youth Initiative for Human Rights' (YIHR) offices in Croatia and Serbia are organizing a meeting of youth from Zagreb and Belgrade in Vukovar. Youth from Zagreb and Belgrade are also to meet with young people from Vukovar.

Undesirable Facts

“While watching the documentary animation ‘Srebrenica – Mapping Genocide’, you will not see photographs, nor will you hear cries and voices. Nonetheless, the facts presented about the genocide committed in Srebrenica are sufficient to bring you back to the year of 1995. This is merely one project through which we are trying to raise awareness, primarily among youth, about what had happened in Srebrenica. I will be proud when one day ‘Srebrenica – Mapping Genocide’ becomes the title of a history lesson, or when this CD becomes available in libraries. I will be proud when the city I live in is not pasted with posters congratulating “the day of liberation of Srebrenica”, and when July 11 is marked as the Day of Commemoration of Srebrenica Genocide”, said Maja Mićić, Director of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights – Serbia (YIHR) at the presentation of the Project “Srebrenica – Mapping Genocide”, held at Belgrade “Media Centre” on September 28.

Stephen B. Heintz at New Policy School Annual Ceremony

Stephen B. Heintz, President of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, will be addressing the New Policy School annual ceremony, to be held at the Cultural Centre „Grad“ in Belgrade (Braće Krsmanović 4) on Tuesday, September 7, 2010, at 16 h. At the ceremony organized by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) diplomas will be awarded to the third generation of graduates and a welcoming ceremony organized for the fourth generation of New Policy School students.

Call for Applications - Regional Internship Programme

The Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) is pleased to announce an open competition for the Regional Internship Programme (RIP).

Serbia’s Moment of Truth

“During adoption of the Declaration on condemning the crime committed in Srebrenica, we could hear time and again that what had happened in Srebrenica was a fabrication. It was painful to watch ‘fellow’ MPs calmly, cynically talk about it. That is an additional crime committed with words, thought, when someone denies that the crime had taken place. Whatever its range, the Declaration represents a breakthrough after fifteen years of silence. Its enactment MPs saw as yet another everyday political assignment, and that is Serbia’s problem, for we are performing certain tasks because a court, the international community, … says so. Unfortunately, we are living in schizophrenic society, in which over 60 percent of people wish to join the EU, while the same percent of the population say that Ratko Mladić should not be extradited to the ICTY. Srebrenica is one of the most shameful pages in the history of Serbia, but no one talks of how that will be represented in history textbooks”, said Meho Omerović, Social Democratic Party of Serbia MP, at the event “Not because of Europe”, held at the Museum of Yugoslav History on the 11th of July.

Punish Glorification of Genocide

Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) hereby calls on the authorized office of the prosecutor to promptly institute proceedings against all individuals who put up posters around Belgrade last night with messages which glorify genocide committed in Srebrenica, as well as prevent the gathering of nationalist organizations, announced for 1 PM today. YIHR hereby calls on institutions in charge to put into effect legal competences and fully implement the procedure aimed at outlawing the organization Srpski narodni pokret 1389 [Serb People’s Movement 1389] and similar organizations characterized by inciting hatred, glorifying crimes and advocating discrimination.

Srebrenica – the First and the Last Ever

“While working on the Project ‘Srebrenica – Mapping Genocide’, we strived to solely talk about what we were doing, rather than why and how such an atrocity had happened, for it would have destroyed us emotionally, exhausting our energy and objectivity. We were concerned with reconstructing the crime, reviewing a plethora of documents, reports and rulings, witness statements corroborated by forensic investigations”, said Suada Kapić, the author of the Project “Srebrenica – Mapping Genocide” on July 9 at the press conference held at Belgrade Media Centre.

Newsletter special edition - "15 years of polemics on genocide in Srebrenica"

Apropos marking the 15 years of genocide in Srebrenica, Youth Initiative for Human Rights prepared a special edition of its newsletter, entitled "15 years of polemics on genocide in Srebrenica". Download PDF

„Dnevni Avaz” severely misleads the public

The network of Youth Initiative for Human Rights (Initiative), which consists of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo, strongly denies the allegations from the text of the newspaper “Dnevni Avaz”, published 7th July 2010 under the title “Five more organizations have left RECOM”.

New Policy School - Call for Applications

The Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) hereby announces Call for Applications for enrollment of the fourth generation of New Policy School (NPS) students, which is to commence in late September 2010. The school is intended for students of social sciences, young lawyers, journalists, political parties’ youth, as well as activists of civil society organizations. Our lecturers are eminent professors from Serbia and the region, human rights activists, ambassadors with work experience in the Balkans, as well as experts in the domains of transitional justice and euro-integration.

Call for applications for visiting program

Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) has announced a call for applications for visits to Belgrade by youth from Preshevo and Bujanovac. In scope of four visits, to be organized between July and October 2010, 40 young people from the municipalities of Preshevo and Bujanovac will have a chance to visit state institutions, civil society organizations and media outlets, as well as meet with My Initiative movement activists during their three-day stay in Belgrade.

Youth Initiative for Human Rights Receives Threats

On June 7, 2010, the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) received a threatening letter bidding that members of “pro-fascist organizations Youth Initiative for Human Rights and My Initiative movement”, who partook in “Belgrade youth march in so-called memory of the youth murdered in Tuzla”, should leave their place of residence within a year and move “to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, so as to feel the benefits of human rights and other rights essential to every human being”. The letter signed with “The Balck Hand – Apis” was sent from Australia.

Belgrade – Tuzla March of Remembrance

In commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the massacre at Tuzla Gate, the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) will organize a symbolic march along three sections of the Belgrade – Tuzla road to be walked on Tuesday, May 25, 2010. The march will set out at 9 AM from Kalemegdan, where a press conference will be held in the open. The three walking sections will be the urban zone of Belgrade, the road between Serbia – B&H border and Bijeljina, as well as the section between Simin Han and Tuzla.

Police Apprehends Youth Initiative for Human Rights’ Activists

Around 2 AM this morning the police apprehended nine Youth Initiative for Human Rights’ (YIHR) activists, who in the night between March 31st and April 1st wrote in red spray paint on the pavement of the plateau in front of the Serbian Parliament the following message: “That tough foreign word genocide”. Some 30 activists intended the message for Serbian MPs, apropos the Declaration condemning the crime in Srebrenica, which MPs passed on March 30, 2010. Activists were released from Stari Grad police station five hours later. Sanitation workers removed the message from the pavement around 3.15 AM.

Concert - remembering April 6th

Symbolic remembrance of the crimes committed in Kosovo