Third Regional Forum On Mechanisms of Truth-seeking and Truth-telling About War Crimes Committed in the Former Yugoslavia

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), the Research and Documentation Center (RDC), and Documenta, are organizing a Third Regional Forum on Mechanisms of Truth-seeking and Truth-telling about War Crimes Committed in the former Yugoslavia (Forum) on 11 and 12 February 2008 in Belgrade.

FHP, RDC, and Documenta began the consultative process with civil society in May 2006 when they jointly organized the First Regional Forum titled Truth-seeking in the post-conflict period in Sarajevo. A consultation with artists from the region was organized in Belgrade in December 2006. The Second Regional Forum was held in Zagreb in February 2007. National and regional consultations with youth, journalists, and human rights organizations followed. National and regional consultations with associations of victims, women leaders, associations of war veterans, and professional groups will be held in 2008. Regional forums in Podgorica and Priština will also be held in 2008. The objective of the debate is to find a truth-seeking and truth-telling model, including HLC, RDC, and Documenta’s initiative for establishing a regional body for truth-seeking and truth-telling about war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia, which would be able to serve justice and guarantee non-repetition of crimes. We will share the civil society recommendations with national governments on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, the UN, the European Commission and Council of Europe.

250 individuals, representatives of the associations of victims, victims, human rights nongovernmental organizations and women groups’ activists, war veterans, journalists, artists, writers, political scientists, historians, archivists, members of parliaments, members of political parties, judges, prosecutors, high school and university students from the region will participate in the Third Regional Forum.

During the first day, Mirsad Tokača, President of RDC, will present the List of Individual Victims in BiH that was completed in 2007 and Sandra Orlović will present the HLC’s work on the Kosovo Memory Book. Participants will later participate in three workshops and discuss victims’ needs and expectations, the regional approach to truth-seeking and truth-telling about war crimes, and creating an environment for truth-seeking and guaranteeing the non-repetition of crimes

During the second day, in the afternoon session, victims will give accounts of the crimes and hardship that they endured. The forum will conclude with a plenary session in which moderators of the workshops will submit reports, and participants will discuss the conclusions and the future course of the consultative process.

The Speaker of the Republic of Serbia Parliament, Mr. Oliver Dulić, and the EU Parliament Special Commissioner for Serbia, Mr. Jelko Kacin, will open the forum.

Point of Contact:
Jelena Simić, Project Coordinator
phone: + 381 11 3444 314, 064 418 10 95
email: truthtelling@hlc-rdc.org