BIRN BiH director honoured in Japan

BIRN BiH director, Nerma Jelacic, was one of ten people from around the world who were named peacemakers of the year in Japan.

The honour was bestowed by Japan’s second largest daily newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, which has a circulation over 8 million readers a day.

The newspaper singled out Jelacic’s involvement in the promotion of justice and reconciliation.

BIRN BiH to run media and war crimes training in Uganda

BIRN BiH is to extend its successful training model to journalists reporting war crimes issues to Uganda.

BIRN BiH is to extend its successful training model to journalists reporting war crimes issues to Uganda.
 
BIRN Justice Africa project will mentor Ugandan journalists reporting the International Criminal Court, ICC. The one-week intensive course will see BIRN’s unique approach to training court reporters in the
Balkans adapted to Ugandan media’s and ICC’s needs.
 
The training in Uganda is the first time BIRN has transferred the experiences of Balkan journalists reporting on war crimes issues to colleagues dealing with similar issues in other post-conflict countries.

The first stage of BIRN Justice Africa is being supported by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, War Crimes Office in London and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
 
To find out more about BIRN’s activities in the transitional justice sector please contact Nerma Jelacic, BIRN BiH director at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>

Carla’s List Premieres in Sarajevo

On November 30, BIRN BiH director Nerma Jelacic moderated a panel discussion following the premiere of Carla’s List, a documentary about the work of Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Panelists included Del Ponte, Bosnian court president Meddzida Kreso and chief prosecutor Marinko Jurcevic.

The hundred-strong audience included representatives of victims’ groups from across Bosnia and Herzegovina, non-governmental
organisations, media and the diplomatic community.

Organised by the Swiss Embassy in Sarajevo, the screening marked the regional premiere of Carla’s List, which will also be shown in Croatia and Serbia.

BIRN BiH Director in Bijeljina

Nerma Jelacic, director of BIRN BiH, was a panelist on a live
television debate about dealing with the past in Bijeljina.

Organised by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Republika
Srpska, the series of debates screened on BNTV gather experts in the
field of transitional justice to discuss Bosnia’s struggle to deal
with the legacy of war.

Other panelists at the debate aired on November 25 included Mirsad
Tokaca of the Research and Documentation Centre; Dragan Banjac, a
freelance journalist from Serbia; Tamira Kaliterna, an activist with
Women in Back in Belgrade, and Zoran Pusic from Zagreb.

Nerma Jelacic on the Board of The Youth Initiative For Human Rights

BIRN BiH director Nerma Jelacic was elected to the governing board of
the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR), a Belgrade-based
non-governmental organisation.

On November 11, Jelacic attended the organisation’s general assembly
meeting at which she was appointed to the board along with Slavica
Brajovic, Argjentina Grazhdani, Zorica Trifunovic, Senad Sabovic and
Vukosava Crnjansk.

YIHR aims to include young people in the various processes of
transitional justice through the promotion of truth-telling
mechanisms, the protection of victims of human rights violations, and
the establishment of new bonds among post-war generations in the
region.

BIRN Celebrates First Anniversary

BIRN marked its first year of operation on November 9 with a reception at its Bosnia and Herzegovina office. Regional director Grodana Igric updated BIRN supporters and partners on the network’s achievements over the past twelve months.

Among the highlights she noted was BIRN’s first documentary on Kosovo’s final status and the organisation’s expansion into Croatia and Albania. BIRN Bosnia director Nerma Jelacic talked about the success of its transitional justice programme and Justice Report magazine which this week published its 35th issue.

Among those present were Jan Braatu, Norvegian ambassador to Sarajevo; Didier Chassot, Swiss deputy ambassador; representatives of the OSCE, OHR, US and UK embassy in Sarajevo; Senka Kurtovic, chief editor of the daily Oslobodjenje; Milan Trivic, director of state public service broadcasting; and Dunja Mijatovic, director for communication regulatory agency in Bosnia.

BIRN BiH director at judicial summer school

BIRN BiH director, Nerma Jelacic, spoke at a regional summer school on Transitional Justice for the judiciary on August 27 in Igalo, Montenegro. The event was organised by UNDP’s regional Transitional Justice Programme and included two seven-day training sessions for parliamentarians and the judicial representatives of the region. Jelacic spoke on the complimentarity of truth commissions and criminal justice systems in the region.

Other speakers included Sinisa Vazic, president of the War Crimes Chamber of the Belgrade District Court and president of Belgrade District Court, Meddzida Kreso, president of the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Dejan Anastasijevic, a journalist from Vreme magazine.

An abridged version of Jelacic’s talk is on BIRN’s website http://www.birn.eu.com/insight_47_6_eng.php . To find out more about BIRN’s Justice Programme, contact Nerma Jelacic at [email protected]

BIRN BiH Guest on “Arena” Talk Show

An editor of BIRN’s Justice Report magazine, Nidzara Ahmetasevic, made a guest appearance on the political talk show ARENA, in Belgrade on June 29.

The topic of the show was the Hague fugitive Radovan Karadzic. There was discussion of a number of issues, including the local consequences if he remains on the run and, more generally, the influence of the Hague tribunal on the region.

The show was hosted by the Forum for South-eastern Europe, a non-governmental organisation with headquarters in Zurich.

Other guests on the show were Biljana Kovacevic – Vuco, president of the Committee of Attorneys for Human Rights, Serbia; Djordje Mamula, senior official in the Democratic Party of Serbia; and Jelena Markovic, spokesperson of the Democratic Party.

GRACIJA MAGAZINE FEATURES BIRN BIH BiH

The BIRN team was featured in the June issue of the women’s magazine Gracija. Entitled “Women lead in Balkan Investigative Reporting Network”, the picture story presented the BIRN BiH team and its Justice Report service which is produced in Sarajevo.

For more about Justice Report or other BIRN BiH activities please contact its director, Nerma Jelacic, at [email protected]

Birn hosts third meeting of court reporters association

Members of the Association of Court Reporters who cover the Court of BiH held their third meeting on June 27. A list of proposals and suggestions aimed at improving the outflow of public information from the state judiciary was agreed and will be presented to the Court of BiH.

Members of the association, which is chaired by BIRN BiH, agreed on the following proposals:

* The possibility of introducing a live internet feed from
the courtrooms of the War Crimes Chamber should be explored. The system could follow the example set by the Hague tribunal. Such a service would not only help the electronic and non-Sarajevo based media to better cover the trials but would also make the justice process more open for the general public in BiH, the region and internationally.
* A rule book for journalists covering war crimes trials
should be produced in order to prevent misunderstandings and mistakes that jeopardise trials. It should be put together in cooperation with the Press Council and the Regulatory Communications Agency, as well as the Court of BiH.
* The importance of timely statements from court and
prosecution officials or their public information departments is once again reiterated. One of the reporters’ objections during the association meeting was that they do not receive the statements they request of the court officials on time, which diminishes the value of their report or results in stories being spiked.
Association members also repeated some of the previous suggestions to which they have not yet received a response from the Court of BiH.
* It is once again suggested that photographs from each
hearing are put on the appropriate section of the website which would contribute to the dynamics of reporting and increase the effectiveness of information coming out of the court.
* The association urges the court to adopt the practice of
publishing a weekly index/listing of motions and records filed in each case. While it is acknowledged that all public documents are available on request, it is clear that reporters and members of the public cannot make an informed decision on what motions are available to them without a listing. A similar procedure is already in practice at the Hague Tribunal.
* The association once again reiterates the need for the
introduction of weekly press briefings for the media where an update on events at the court is given to the public. This would improve the efficiency of communication between the media and the court as well as the quality of reporting. This proposal is also based on experiences of the Hague tribunal.

About the association:
The Association of Court Reporters was founded in 2005 in order to improve communication between the media and Court of BiH.

The work of the association is supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

If you have proposals for the association’s further work, please write to [email protected] or [email protected] . Find out more about the association on www.bim.ba