Through interfaith dialogue towards safer communities
Having access to first-hand experiences of cultural and religious diversity is crucial to building mutual respect - a key precondition on the path towards safer and more resilient communities. To pave the way toward achieving this goal, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo brought together young people from different backgrounds to obtain answers about each other’s faith, and similarities.
Some 50 Kosovo Albanian high school students from Kaçanik/Kačanik municipality came to Prizren to visit the principal religious sites in the historic part of the city, and together with a group of 25 young people from ethnically diverse communities in Prizren, they joined a discussion with representatives of the Islamic Community, Serbian Orthodox Church, Catholic Church, Halveti Sufi, Jewish Community and the Protestant Church, as well as the Deputy Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports and the Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo.
Kaçanik/Kačanik is considered one of the hot-beds of foreign fighters from Kosovo. This visit was but one of many activities the OSCE Mission in Kosovo undertakes that aim at ensuring safer communities and preventing violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism.
Building trust on the community level
Most of the participants from Kaçanik/Kačanik had never visited places of worship other than a mosque or met a religious leader other than their own. This conversation gave them a chance to learn more about their neighbours and people in their communities.
We are letting people hear what their religious community representatives are actually saying. And we are giving them the opportunity to engage, to ask questions, not only to their own religious representatives but also to the religious representatives of the others.
Promoting interfaith dialogue, tolerance and mutual respect is one of the key areas of work for the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, which has been focusing on building the capacity of young people to help better understand local cultural and religious heritage. This includes activities as diverse as study trips to a number of historic and religious sites with some 500 secondary school students participating, an interfaith youth camp in Dragash/Dragaš municipality or a Junior Basketball Tournament.
OSCE United in Countering Violent Extremism (#UnitedCVE) campaign
Stereotypes and prejudices often create divisions in a community. To prevent this threat, the OSCE #UnitedCVE campaign promotes the values of tolerance, inclusion, solidarity and diversity, encouraging young people to engage online and offline, to start a conversation and take a stand against hate and intolerance that fuel violence.