In February and March 2010, young politicians, lawyers, journalists, and civil associations’ representatives in Novi Pazar and Niš attended seminars on “The Rule of Law and Facing the Past” initiated by the OSCE Mission in Serbia in co-operation with the National Council for Cooperation with ICTY and supported by the CHRIS Network.

An initiative of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Mission in Serbia, to raise awareness of the public in Serbia on the war crimes committed and war crimes trials in cooperation with the the National Council for Cooperation with ICTY, Belgrade, was supported and taken out of the capital to two multi-national communities in the south-east and south-west parts of the country by the CHRIS Network.

The lectures focused the attention of young experts and future decision-makers to the following themes:
“Transitional Justice - Models of Facing the Past; a Model of ex-Yugoslavia”
“War Crime Trials: Historical Context”
“War Crime Trials: Regional Co-operation”
"The Rule of Law: War Crimes and Organised Crime”
“Co-operation with the Hague Tribunal”
“War Crime and Genocide”

In Novi Pazar, 24 young politicians from the political parties: SDA, SNS, SZS, SDP, LDP, DS, DSS, SNP, G-17, and representatives of MHD “Merharet”, BKZ /Bosniak Cultural Community/, KC-Damad, and URBAN In took part in a three day seminar. In Niš, there were 30 young politicians from DSS, G17, LDP, and representatives of NGOs from Niš (Open Club, Human Rights Centre, Centre for Citizens Awareness Babušnica, Centre for Development of Civil Resources, Committee for Human Rights), representatives of European Association of Law Students ELSA, attendees of the School of New Policy, and young lawyers.

“Not all citizens are aware of what happened during the 90s. Everyone suffered from the fall of Yugoslavia, but we were not mature to understand the overall situation”, highlighted one of the young participants supporting his belief that education on the Rule of Law and Facing the Past is much needed.

All communities in Serbia and in former-SFRY who lived through the conflicts have to cope with psychological aspects of the “facing the past process”. They need to embrace it as a tool for reconciliation to ensure the conflicts and crimes perpetreted will never repeat. The CHRIS Network believes that the process of unveiling and facing the past means establishing factual history as a basis for bringing the perpetretors before justice and allow people to rebuild their lives after the violent conflicts. Thus, the state burdened with the legacy of the wars: the Hague Tribunals, war crime indictees, victims, and apologies, can eventually re-build morality of its society, strenghten the culture of human rights and, above all, the rule of law. This would be a turning point that provides a stable environment for the society to grow.

The CHRIS Network would like to thank lecturers and their offices for supporting this initiative:
Marijana Toma, Impunity Watch, Sanja Đorđević, Associate at the Law Faculty in Niš, Jovan Nicić, Legal Advisor of the Office of the National Council for Co-operation with the Hague Tribunal, Mioljub Vitorović, Republic Deputy Attorney for War Crimes, Dušan Ignjatović, director of the Office of the National Council for Co-operation with the Hague Tribunal, Ivan Jovanović, Head of the War Crimes Department, OSCE Mission in Serbia.