Round table discussion on role of education in the processes of determining responsibility with a view to reconciliation

On Friday, 28^th March 2014, a round table discussion Education for Reconciliation:theRole of Education in the Processes of Determining Responsibility and of Reconciliation, and the presentation of a collection of papers written by Regional Transitional Justice School students, took place in the Library of the Union University Law School in Belgrade. The round table, organized jointly by the Humanitarian Law Center, the Union University Law School and the Center for Advanced Legal Studies, was opened by Professor  Zlatko Stefanović, Dean of the  Union University Law School, and Marijana Toma, Coordinator of the Programme for Education at the Humanitarian Law Center. Participants included professors at the Union University Law School and Belgrade University, associates from various scientific institutes, alumni of the Regional Transitional Justice School, and Belgrade University and Union University students.  

Participants in the discussion raised several important questions, notably the much-needed introduction of a transitional justice programme into their respective academic institutions, and recognised the contribution of informal programmes of this kind to mainstream academic institutions. The responsibility of academic institutions for promoting themes like transitional justice amongst students and interest in such programmes among university students, were also discussed. The challenges of introducing such programmes were examined and the need for cooperation between formal educational institutions and informal educational programmes was highlighted. Also, possible models for such cooperation were suggested.

The publication entitled “Collection of Papers by Regional Transitional Justice School Students” was presented by Miroslav Keveždi and Danijela Ranković, attendees at the first Regional School for Transitional Justice.  In their papers, the students analysed the ways in which Bosnia and Herzegovina memorialise past events, the issue of reparation, war crimes trials before the ICTY and Kosovo courts, the contents of history textbooks in BiH and Serbia and the role of the media in transitional justice processes.

You can download “Collection of Papers by Regional Transitional Justice School Students” here.

One of the objectives of the Regional Schools, organized two years in a row by the Humanitarian Law Center, the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo and the Lawyers’ Association from Sarajevo, and in the contexts of which the round table discussion was held, is to advocate for the introduction of transitional justice programmes, based on facts about war crimes, into the mainstream academic institutions.

You can see a documentary on the Regional School for Transitional Justice here.