Nerma Jelacic Speeks at Budapest Conference

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BIRN BiH director, Nerma Jelacic, was a speaker at an international conference in Budapest on May 17.

The conference, organized by the Hungarian Europe Society gathered Balkan and international experts to discuss social, political and security challenges in the region. Jelacic spoke about the media and war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia in the early Nineties.

She warned that many journalists who spread ethnic hatred during the war remain active in the media field. She called on the international community to see that the democratisation of the media is completed before pulling out of development programmes in this sector.

Other speakers included Dr Erhard Busek, Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for the South East Europe; Sonja Biserko, director of Helsinki Committee for Human Rights Serbia; Goran Svilanovic, members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia; Reinhard Priebe of the European Commission Enlargement Directorate General; Fernardo Gentilini, Council of the European Union; and Matthew Rycroft, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Bosnia and Herzegovina.