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BIRN - Justice Report Participates in Berlin Conference

09 December 2009  Aida Alic, a BIRN-Justice Report journalist, participated at a conference on the Western Balkans, in Berlin, and at this year's Schwarzkopf Europe Award Ceremony, also in Berlin.

On the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Heinz Schwarzkopf Stiftung-Junges Europa, an NGO from Germany, organized a one-day conference on "After the wars: The Western Balkans facing the European Union".

On the eve of the conference, the Schwarzkopf Europe Award for 2009 was presented at a gala ceremony. The award was given to Mirsad Tokaca of the Research and Documentation Center, IDC, from Sarajevo, Vesna Terselic of Dokumenta from Zagreb and Natasa Kandic of the Humanitarian Law Fund, FHP, from Belgrade for their long-standing work on "the search for truth, justice and protection of human rights" in the Balkans.

This year's laureates were recognised for dedicating their lives and work to "fighting manipulations of history and promoting understanding" in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia, thus contributing to building peace among the citizens of these countries.

A special award, Young European 2009, was given to Sandra Orlovic of the FHP for her engagement in "the process of facing the past and her work on the List of Killed and Disappeared people and victims in Kosovo from 1998 to 2000".

Natasa Kandic said that the process of facing the past in the Balkans should contribute to bringing the countries closer to the European Union, adding that the establishment of a regional commission for determining the facts about war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia was "the best instrument for building democratic societies" in the region.

Kandic said that criminal trials of those responsible for grave violations of human rights during the wars in the former Yugoslavia were not enough, adding that representatives of political parties "should face the past and, in that way, contribute to bringing the countries closer to the European Union".

Terselic said that each citizen should have the right to truth and justice, as well as the guarantee that such crimes would never happen again, so that future violations of human rights would be prevented.

"Those who supported the crimes and praised them participate in the process of facing the past and determining the truth about the war," Tokaca said, adding that crime perpetrators are still glorified in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Conference participants said it was necessary for societies to face the crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia, also stating that support from Germany was particularly welcome due to its own past experience.