Mission to Serbia helps young people raise awareness of war crimes

Raising awareness among young people in Serbia of war crimes and the country's recent past is the aim of the Justice Advocates Network (JAN), a peer-to-peer education project set up by the Belgrade-based non-governmental organization Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR).

Once students have completed the Justice Advocates training programme, to which the OSCE Mission to Serbia is lending its financial and advisory support, they themselves organize awareness-raising workshops and further training sessions, reaching young people all over Serbia.

Two young Justice Advocates who have recently completed the JAN programme, Nikola Gutesa and Ana Batocanin, talk about their experiences and reasons for joining the Network.

Nikola Gutesa: Strengthening human rights and democracy through youth activism

"The JAN project is a logical extension of the civil society commitment of Serbia's young people, who for years have participated in various activities with the goal of establishing a society with a strong and accountable judiciary and respect for human rights.

"What is different about my work in the JAN from my previous activities is that I have the possibility of learning and exchanging experiences in an organized way with the support of people who are dedicated to strengthening respect for human rights.

"The JAN team carries out various activities. Mainly, we organize workshops and talk to young people, trying to point out to them that human rights are at the centre of modern democracy. We consider that very important, because in a few years these very students will take on responsibility for their society, especially those who have the ambition to go into politics professionally.

"We focus on the worst human rights violations during the Yugoslav wars of secession in the 1990s. We try to extend our solidarity to people who suffered great losses and to make individuals responsible towards them. We are explaining to young people that injustices have been committed and that many people living among us are suffering from their consequences. Righting these injustices is a responsibility of my generation.

"The JAN team is facing a serious and difficult job. I want freedom, peace, equal opportunities and respect for differences to be principles that our society is built upon. The goals are huge and no one can accomplish them by themselves, but every individual's commitment counts."

Nikola Gutesa, 23, is a student at the Faculty of Law in Novi Sad, Serbia.

Ana Batocanin: Changing the way society deals with the past

"The rights of victims, facing the past and the work of The Hague Tribunal are not simple subjects to touch upon and they provoke emotional discussions. Why am I addressing them, then?

"Because I do not want to be a silent spectator of events I do not approve of. I think we cannot move forward as a healthy society if we do not admit that terrible things have happened and if we do not condemn the perpetrators and take responsibility. We must resolve the issues connecting us with the past.

"When I entered the JAN programme I did not know what to expect. Now I know that any moment can be the right moment to face the facts. I have learned that sometimes, even results that are not so visible are great accomplishments. The workshops have showed me that young people in Serbia know what human life is worth. Talking to them, I realized that they understand that no crime should go unpunished and that the suffering of victims cannot be ignored.

"For me, being a Justice Advocate means taking responsibility for the things happening today, it means struggling for the truth and human rights. Each of the training sessions is special and often filled with emotions which inevitably rise to the surface.

"What keeps me going is the compassion of the young people I meet in the sessions. By talking to them I understand that they are ready to stand up for the truth in their homes and their environment. That is what I want to accomplish - to help young people to find the will and the ways to fight for truth and justice."

Ana Batocanin, 22, studies literary theory at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade, Serbia.

The Justice Advocates Network is now in its second round, and the current participants are expected to complete their training by late spring and thus become Justice Advocates themselves. The programme is currently expanding to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, to ensure that young people all over the region can benefit from the training sessions.

The commitment of young people like Nikola and Ana to advocate free and open discussions of such issues as facing the past, respecting human rights and prosecuting war crimes is vital in helping to forge a sustainable and democratic society.