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National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM

Banja , October 17th 2009

The second national consultation with young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina was organized by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights in BiH. The gathering was attended by more than 50 participants representing various youth organizations from , , , , Srebrenica, Bihać, , and Šeković. The consultations were monitored by Mario Mažić (Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Croatia) and Marijana Toma (Impunity Watch) and the discussion was moderated by Alma Mašić (Youth Initiative for Human Rights, , BiH) and Aleksandra Letić (Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in , national coordinator of the consultations process of the Coalition for RECOM in BiH).

Suggestions, opinions, and recommendations of the participants.

The main task of the Coalition for RECOM should be to watch out for any damaging political effects inflicted upon the Commission.

The Coalition for RECOM has a uniquely important role to monitor the work of the Commission and make sure that it is independent from its founders, i.e. the governments of participating states because we must not allow the Commission to depend on daily political interests, conflicts, and so on. The Commission must be independent in a way similar to that of the judiciary. So, members of the Commission and researchers employed by the Commission must not be under any political influence whatsoever (...) and must be able to carry on their investigations openly and transparently. (Mario Mažić, Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Croatia, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009.)

There is a dilemma whether being financially dependent on the founding states will impair the ability of the Commission to function independently.

I am afraid of the way this truth-commission is going to be funded (...). I am afraid that the states will agree to fund the commission but that in the end they will not give any money. (Ervin Blažević, Mladost Youth Association, Kozarac, BiH, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009.)

I think that the commission should be funded by international donors. However, I don’t think that the public financing option would represent an additional threat to the independent work of the commission. (Mario Mažić, Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Croatia, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009.)

There is a reasonable amount of concern that the parliaments will try to obstruct the work of RECOM because some parliament members are the same people who committed war crimes. My only concern is the possible obstruction of the work of the commission. I think it is not going to be a problem to establish the commission, but to ensure it completes its work. The way I see it is that parliaments may make a decision to form the commission, but if people who committed war crimes are members of these parliaments, they will do anything in their power to prevent the establishment of the facts pertaining to these crimes. (Dejan Čabrilo, Youth Group of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Republika Srpska, Bijeljina, BiH, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009.)

The generation that fought this war does not recognize other nation’s victims. RECOM can only receive support from post-war generations.

The target group you should be focusing on are young people. The generations that participated in the war (...) are really blinded (...); they have their pain and their victims. They cannot worry about victims from other ethnic groups. They just want to find their peace but within their own national environment. They will even go as far as to protect the identity of those who caused the death of others or on other sides. You should strongly focus on the consciousness of the young people (...) because a young person can equally understand other nations’ victims as their own (...) simply because they value every human life the same. (Rade Mrđen, Party of the Democratic Progress, Young People Council, Banja Luka, BiH, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009.)

When the RECOM creation process is over there won’t be any more manipulations with victims or with the names of victims.

It is important that we now have this initiative and we can’t go back. And why is it important? Simply because it will curtail all forms of manipulations with victims and their destinies, with numbers of victims and war heroes. We will be able to leave it all behind us and move on. (Dalibor Tanić, Youth Initiative for Human Rights in BiH, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009).

RECOM is a positive solution with respect to the need to find out the truth and achieve reconciliation.

In my opinion (...) that coalition of non-governmental organizations, RECOM, is a positive solution with respect to discovering the truth and achieving reconciliation and also to offering psychological support to victims. RECOM is a mechanism, a good mechanism for getting out of this situation. (Lamija Gudić, Youth Center, Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje, BiH, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009.)

I think that we can’t have a future until we discuss our past, until we deal with our past. The situation in Gornji Vakuf is that the town is very strictly divided and it cannot be unified unless we deal with our past. It is a very important feature and I strongly support this initiative and I hope it will be successful. (Nejra Jukić, Youth Center Gornji Vakuf, BiH, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009.)

RECOM gives space to victims to talk about their suffering, to unburden themselves and make a step forward towards a shared life.

It is a good idea to give victims an opportunity to talk about what they have suffered, that is the focal point of this initiative. This commission has a huge importance for the future of the entire region because I feel that it also has a therapeutic character. Victims (...) who are offered an opportunity to talk will be able to get rid of the burden that they carry and they will be ready to take a step in the direction of a shared life. (Almir Salihović, Association of students from Srebrenica, Srebrenica, BiH, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009.)

The key issue is that the facts about the war crimes committed against the in Prijedor are accepted by the Serbs and that the facts about the crimes committed against the Serbs in are accepted by the Bosniaks.

The Coalition for RECOM will get the support of victims associations in BiH. Bosniaks from Prijedor will support RECOM, while the Serbs may not be so willing to do that (...). I’d like to hear both sides admit that the crimes have been committed against the other side (...). I’d like to hear them say ‘yes, they are different from me but they are still my fellow citizens’. They may both be against RECOM, I don’t know. That is the whole point of this story. (Ervin Blažević, Mladost Youth Association, Kozarac, BiH, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009.)

The priority is to enable victims from Knin testify in Croatia and bring the victims from Vukovar to testify in Serbia.

Let’s say that the testimonies of the victims from Knin should be heard in Belgrade, in Banja Luka, and in Zagreb, depending on the year (...) that the testimonies of the victims from and Prozor are heard in Zagreb, that the testimonies of the victims from Vukovar are heard in Belgrade, Niš, etc.

There are priorities, of course (...). It is not so important that the people in Zagreb listen about the Kosovo Albanians or the Serbs from Kosovo who were victimized, but it is important that we hear about the year 1995. It is important that we hear about the victims that not only the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) but the Croatian Army (HV) too, produced in Bosnia and Herzegovina. That is the key – the voice of the victims, the platform for victims’ testimonies should have a regional character. (Mario Mažić, Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Croatia, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009.)

How will RECOM treat those who lost their lives or became victims in other ways while waiting for the humanitarian aid or those who were killed in mine fields?

How will RECOM treat those who lost their lives or became victims in other ways while waiting for the humanitarian aid or those who were killed in minefields? Are they going to be treated as victims? (Ismar Kasapović, Youth Initiative for Human Rights in BiH, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009.)

Witnesses are disappearing and the truth is disappearing with them. Many witnesses are abroad and they need to be included in the process.

Witnesses who could tell the truth are slowly disappearing and the truth is going away with them. Also, many witnesses live abroad, there are 70 witnesses from Kozarac alone who live abroad and they should also be included in the process. (Rade Mrđen, Party of the Democratic Progress, Young People Council, Banja Luka, BiH, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009.)

There are many victims who moved away from the states in which they lived before the conflict and we have to think of ways to include them in the process because they can offer significant historical material and they have certainly had no place to talk about it. (Aleksandra Letić, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Republika Srpska, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009.)

RECOM is a substitute for everything institutions in the region failed to do in solving essential issues, especially in solving the problem of the missing.

These institutions did not demonstrate the ability to solve these problems; they just drove us even further apart from each other over the years. I have been waiting for them to find the remains of my brother who was 15 when he was killed and the remains of my father, grandfather, grandmother, and my whole family. I think that they never will, but RECOM will. (Mirsad Duratović, Prijedor ’92 Association of the former detention camp inmates, Prijedor, BiH, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009.)

It is encouraging that a lot of young people are taking part in the consultations process. That will represent a huge support for the creation of the commission once the proposed RECOM model is sent to parliaments. However, it is quite concerning that associations of former prisoners and civilian victims from BiH are ostensibly missing.

I am a member of a youth group of a political party (...) and I encourage young people belonging to various political parties to take a more active part in this process. I think it can help the Coalition for RECOM because politicians, whether we like it or not, have a significant impact on all major victims’ associations and also on some of the leading non-governmental institutions in this country. Their absence (...) at least here in BiH is easily noticed. I am talking about major civilian victims’ associations, associations of former detention camp inmates, and associations of the families of missing persons of all three nations. (Mirsad Duratović, Prijedor ’92 Association of the former detention camp inmates, Prijedor, BiH, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009.)

The ‘One Million Signatures for RECOM’ campaign should not be conducted at the time of the elections in BiH.

Maybe it is even counterproductive to tell the story of RECOM during the election campaign, which, as you can see for yourselves, is already underway. (Sudbin Musić, Prijedor ‘92 Association of former detention camp inmates, National consultation with young people on the Initiative for RECOM, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, October 17th 2009.)