Tag: Bosnia and Herzegovina

The video testimony is part of “Lives Behind the Fields of Death”, a joint project of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BIRN BiH, and the Srebrenica Memorial Centre.

It was among 25 other works of art that were selected as the best within the NO-OBLIVION project this year.

The story told by Emina Hajdarevic was the only video selected, and it impressed the jury the most, so they decided to award it the first prize.

Presenting the video in front of nearly a hundred participants, Lamija Grebo said that “Lives Behind the Fields of Death” was one of the most special projects she ever worked on during a ten-year career filled with survivors’ stories.

“I am particularly proud of this award as a regional recognition, because a lot of effort has been invested in this project, and the survivors have placed confidence in us, for which I will always be grateful,” Grebo said.

According to her, personal stories are the point at which people can connect through the personal tragedy and pain inflicted by war, so it is important that projects such as “Lives Behind the Fields of Death” have a lasting life as testimonies to grave crimes.

“This award is also important because we witness the denial of genocide and other crimes as well as the glorification of war criminals on a daily basis, and art is one of the ways to fight against that,” Grebo said.

Her work will also be presented at the Reviving Balkan Arts Festival to be held in Croatia in early April.

In addition to the video, which is now part of the permanent exhibition of the Srebrenica Memorial Centre, this year’s online exhibition Remembering through Art also features posters, photographs and paintings by 24 authors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Greece, Portugal and Poland.

All the works are dedicated to preserving the lessons of history and promoting justice and reconciliation.

Second prize went to Vasilika Siatara from Greece for a painting called “Signs and Memories”, which got the same number of points as the award-winning artwork – but her prize will be of monetary nature.

Third prize went to Bosnian photographer Dzenat Drekovic for a photo essay “The Noise of Silence”, which tells the story of the notorious Omarska detention camp.

Fourth prize was awarded to Ioana-Cristina Bobe for “Trampled Pride”, inspired by the testimonial of Grozdana Cecez, a victim of wartime sexual violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The exhibition and prize competition are part of the NO-OBLIVION project, funded by the European Union, which focuses on remembering the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and ensuring that the voices of victims and witnesses are not forgotten.

The initiative is supported by eight European organisations that are fostering additional connections between those whose goal is to turn art into a special tool for dealing with the past.

Journalism has attracted her since high school, as has literature. “At that time, I did not think that I would work in an organisation like BIRN. However, I thought about journalism as an important profession, which I still think today – about journalists as heroes and as people who help others,” she says.

“I started working at university as a student on the radio and 20 years flew by like that. I also worked in many media where I learned about different types of journalism from very good journalists – but I have gained a unique dimension of work and skills through the years at BIRN,” Dzana adds.

Over the past 12 years, BIRN has evolved and grown, she says.

“The organisation grew in every sense, as did I, along with it. For example, BIRN BiH dealt with war crimes that year and slowly started to monitor corruption. Today, there is almost no segment we don’t report on besides this, from terrorism and human rights to discrimination, foreign influences and people on the move. Investigative stories now are at an enviable level and BIRN as an organisation is recognisable not only in the region but also beyond,” she explains.

Before joining BIRN, her great love was video journalism, and she worked on TV because it was a challenge and an opportunity to express creativity. She is especially proud of two of her documentaries, Pod zemljom (Underground) and Četiri zida (Four Walls), which she authored.

“Underground is a story about children who were born literally four meters underground, where a hospital was built during the [Bosnian] war. Around 500 babies were born and hundreds of lives were saved there. I was fascinated by the story, the heroism, and the strength of my interlocutors,” she says.

“The second film is about the relationship between our society and politicians in the region towards the LGBT community in which I made an effort to make viewers aware of the discrimination and violence that this community unfortunately lives with.

“I like to think about how to tell a story, show emotion and convey the actual situation to the viewer. Most of all, I like teamwork on documentary films with fellow editors, cameramen and others from whom I have learned much. I’m always grateful to people who share their life stories with us, and, as in other formats, when we work, I try to do it in the best and most professional way,” Dzana says.

Dzana has won several awards. The European Union Investigative Journalism Awards and the Special Award of the European Press Prize have special meaning for her. They are also important at a time of attacks on independent media and denials of freedoms.

“For years, I was a journalist reporting from war crimes trials, interviewing victims from the past war, recording their fates and the searches for family members of the missing,” she says.

“I knew that these topics were not among the most read and that many people on social networks hid me because they said I always write difficult and sad things, but we worked on them for the sake of all those waiting for justice. So, when our newsroom received the European Press Prize for reporting on war crimes, it was an important recognition for me and all BIRN journalists,” she recalls.

“Awards for investigative journalism are really like wind at the back and a big plus. At a time of attacks on independent media and denials of freedoms, they are extremely important. And, let’s be realistic, such stories are often the ones that reveal things that are the work of the police or prosecutors,” she says.

Besides all of this, she trains young journalists and students at workshops on reporting on victims, missing persons, court reporting and investigative journalism.

“I do my best to pass on my knowledge to younger colleagues. Apart from the truth about our work, I try to show them that there is no better profession and greater satisfaction than when we help someone with our stories, discover something, or help them understand.

“I also try to present research as interesting and the work as fun because sometimes it is like that. It’s hard but it’s worth it, and I want to convey that feeling to them.

“I always leave the young with a new perspective on the topic we discussed because then they see things differently. They often remind me that we were all once young and inexperienced, and this is what I tell them – whoever works makes mistakes, and you won’t learn if you don’t try. But with reading, work, and education, progress will come.

“I am happy when I get a message from one of them whom I have motivated to do a story, when they get a job, or when they tell me that my mentoring meant something to them,” Dzana says.

She enjoys working on video and documentary stories the most. But it’s also the most difficult part of her work:

“As an editor, I generally miss the field, being more on set and talking to people. That’s what I love the most, though it’s also the most difficult thing for me because the stories about war crimes that we recorded are simply painful, human…

“Working with parents who have lost their children, with those who are still searching, and with victims of sexual violence is the most difficult, in that these stories follow you; you carry them home, you do not forget those fates, their words. But at the same time they motivate you to help them in the way that we journalists can, in the fight for truth and justice.

“When I’m driving around Bosnia and Herzegovina and I see signs with the names of settlements and villages, I start telling my passengers what happened there. Whether we like it or not, those stories have become a part of us,” she says.

The one thing she lacks is more spare time and time to do everything she wants to do – but journalism helps her with that, as well.

“Sometimes, we work at night and from home because that’s the nature of our work. I am a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, an aunt and a granddaughter… While I visit everyone, a little time is left for friends, the occasional movie, and a book.

“I like to travel; if I could, I would visit new places all the time. Luckily, journalism made it possible for me as well,” she concludes.

More than 300 guests from all over the region joined BIRN in Bosnia and Herzegovina as it celebrated the first 20 years of its existence.

Friends and partners but also others who have in some way shaped the work of the Detektor team over the past two decades enjoyed remembering key moments in the development of the organisation.

BIRN BiH Executive Director Denis Dzidic expressed pride in the work of the entire organisation and his own satisfaction over having worked for Detektor in various roles over the past 17 years.

“We are ready to welcome the third decade of Detektor’s existence with a new appearance of all our content. I remember the beginnings, when this was a small team, and today I can proudly say that we are a large organisation with an important mission, whose existence, idea and essence are my motive for its even greater growth,” Dzidic said.

Guests were presented with the new look of the Detektor.ba website, as well as the new logo that the organisation will present to the public from the beginning of 2025.

New trailers and jingles for the monthly episodes of Detektor TV and Detektor Magazine were presented, which will be part of the new appearance of the entire organisation.

In addition, a newsletter was presented as a new communication channel through which all Detektor followers will receive a weekly overview of the most important happenings in Bosnia, the region and the world, concerning all investigative pieces, analyses, multimedia, and other content produced by the outlet as well as a publication on journalists’ work so far.

“This year, we presented two documentaries, Samir Mehic Bowie – Letters from Srebrenica and Justice and Truth. Both deal with the topics of memorialization, transitional justice and remembrance, and this is only the beginning because in the near future we will have premieres of many other films with different themes, which we have been preparing for years,” Dzidic announced.

The celebration was an opportunity for newer members of the team to meet those who have made a huge contribution to the existence of BIRN BiH over previous decades.

Nerma Jelacic, one of the founders of the organisation and president of the BIRN BiH Assembly, addressed the audience, expressing her joy about the growth of the organisation over two decades.

“I am glad to see all these people and how much the organisation has grown. I am happy with all the positive steps forward and I am especially grateful to all those who support BIRN’s work, and I hope they will continue to do so in future,” Jelacic said.

BIRN BiH is a non-governmental media organisation based in Sarajevo, specializing in monitoring and reporting on war crimes, corruption and terrorism trials.

BIRN BiH journalists have become a leading source for the public on transitional justice, the rule of law and extremism, as well as on malign foreign influences, cybersecurity, human and digital rights.

Over 20 years, almost 40,000 articles have been published on the Detektor.ba portal. They include numerous investigative pieces and analyses, documentaries, nearly 190 episodes of monthly TV Justice and Detektor Magazine, and more than ten publications and reports.

All content on the Detektor portal, as well as on its social media channels on YouTube, X (Twitter), Facebook and Instagram, is free of charge.

On the 20^th anniversary of the foundation of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BIRN BiH, a new documentary explores the pursuit of justice in Ukraine, where war is still ongoing, and in Bosnia, three decades since war ended there.

Pravda&Pravda, whose title combines the word justice in Bosnian and truth in Ukrainian, follows the experiences of three Ukrainian peacekeepers who were in Bosnia during the wear there in the 1990s – and are now back in Ukraine, in uniform.

The film can be seen on BIRN BiH YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbRuqYneEZo.

Thirty years ago, the three Ukrainians were part of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Bosnia; they did not expect they would have to don uniforms again in their own country.

After the 1992-5 war ended in Bosnia and Herzegovina, they testified before the Hague war crimes tribunal about their experiences in securing President Alija Izetbegovic’s convoy in Sarajevo and about coming face-to-face with Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic in Zepa later on.

When Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, they had to go to the front line once again.

In the documentary, authored by Denis Dzidic, they talk about how they perceive justice. The film features a Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Chief State Prosecutor for War Crimes in Ukraine, employees of the War Childhood Museums in Sarajevo and Kyiv, as well as other lawyers with experience of transitional justice processes in Bosnia and now Ukraine.

Detektor will release the film on BIRN BiH’s 20^th anniversary.

Detektor journalists Nino Bilajac and Enes Hodzic shot the film with Dzidic during their stay in Ukraine in the summer of 2024.

The film editor is Mirza Mokrovic, the music was done by Adnan Musanovic, the cameramen were Serhii Klymenko and Sergii Rozov in Ukraine, and Mirza Mrso and Anes Asotic in Bosnia.

The making of the film was supported by the Belgian foreign ministry.

As part of this project, BIRN BiH has also published a subpage https://tranzicijskapravda.detektor.ba/en/ containing an overview of the most significant successes and failures in transitional justice processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with lessons that Ukraine can draw from them.

The future of transitional justice in Europe lies in putting victims and their needs in focus but also in strengthening the cooperation between key advocates who must use the EU accession talks of countries in the region to put transitional justice back into public discourse, a conference organised by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina BIRN BiH on November 15 heard.

During the conference on the future of transitional justice in Europe, which BIRN BiH organised in Sarajevo ahead of the 30^th anniversary of the end of the war in Bosnia, participants discussed the problems facing all transitional justice actors in Bosnia but also in Ukraine, where war is still going on.

Yaroslav Simonov, of Ukraine’s embassy in Bosnia, said they had realized that transitional justice was a process coming after the war ends – but it was very important for its institutions to be formed already. For Ukraine, the experiences of Bosnia are important, and they should learn from them that this is a way to heal war traumas and create a healthy society, he said.

He added that Ukraine has already adopted some legal acts and initiatives, but more was needed for a comprehensive system of transitional justice, especially while war is still ongoing in the country.

Alena Lunova, of the Ukrainian ZMINA human rights centre, said they had begun to think about transitional justice already after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

For them, the biggest challenge is that a quarter of Ukraine is still occupied, as well as a public discussion on whether Ukraine really needs transitional justice or not.

“Justice comes in many forms but it must not be delayed. We hope that international experiences will help us,” Lunova added.

Dialogue with victims is essential

Bosnia’s experience in this field is one of those that has inspired Ukrainians to start dealing with transitional justice in the middle of the war – although the process of working on the Transitional Justice Strategy in Bosnia is still in its infancy, said Sanela Latic, of Bosnia’s Justice Ministry.

The process of drafting the Strategy was suspended in 2010 due to a blockade from Republika Srpska, Bosnia’s Serb-majority entity. The challenges ahead include establishing a working body with representatives of non-governmental and governmental sectors, launching a range of new activities and the risk of a new blockade.

“We emphasized that there will be as many dialogues, debates and talks as possible, in order to collect inputs from all relevant entities for designing the strategy,” Latic said, adding that the funds for relaunching the process would become operational in 2026.

Transitional justice expert Adrijana Hanusic Becirovic said Bosnia has seen many successes in the field but victims still face numerous difficulties. Conducting dialogue with victims and listening to their needs is a foundation for designing transitional justice policies, she said.

“For victims, justice is getting support of society, seeing that war criminals are not glorified, that judicially established facts are not denied and that places of mass suffering are marked,” Hanusic Becirovic explained.

Ukrainian experts said it was important to encourage cooperation with civil society organisations, as they were potential advocates of solutions that the authorities need to adopt. This is especially important when considering the situation of populations in the occupied territories.

Representatives of victims’ associations also referred to the processes of transitional justice in Bosnia, stating that trust and dialogue were crucial, but that political obstacles had to be removed and that, using the experience of Bosnia, Ukraine would have to overcome obstacles if it wanted to achieve reconciliation.

They reiterated that victims must be at the centre of that process and involved in creating solutions.

‘Dehumanization’ is becoming institutionalized

Sofija Todorovic, of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, said that dehumanization, along with denial of crimes, was one of the most dangerous processes, and was being institutionalized in Serbia at present.

War criminals and topics from the past were the basis of election campaigns and in that way, Serbian society was trained in one narrative, she noted.

Speaking about global trends in transitional justice, she stated that they did not work in favour of activists, which was why it was time for societies in the region to rely more on domestic forces. “We have to stop relying on the international community and rely on each other, learn to talk, to cooperate,” Todorovic added.

BIRN BiH director Denis Dzidic expressed concern that fighters for transitional justice had become tired, and there was an urgent need not to come to a point where the process is irretrievably lost.

He also believes that the moment when countries from the region are negotiating on EU accession is ideal for additional efforts to be made in this field.

“I don’t say it will be easy, that we will make up for the 30 years lost, but this is the moment to fight with what we have, to insist on some things and to use mechanisms,” Dzidic said, urging civil society also to use the momentum.

Agnes Picod, senior advisor for human rights at the United Nations in Bosnia, said that, in the global trends of the fight for transitional justice, she saw a big problem with disinformation but also in the fact that dialogue and engagement in that topic are neglected, especially by politicians.

“At the heart of the transitional justice process lie the perspectives of victims and survivors, and I think we need to start from that. I think there are very few politicians who listen to victims,” Picod added.

However, she pointed out that there is also hope and that numerous programmes, such as the UN’s Peacebuilding Fund, support certain segments of transitional justice; the fight for a broader human rights framework can ensure the creation of a society that wants to promote truth and justice.

The discussion was concluded by Todorovic and Dzidic, who stated that the transitional justice process must take into account all new factors, such as malign foreign influences, as well as the fact that as countries from the region negotiate on EU accession, it is an opportunity for transitional justice to become part of the public discourse again – but that this time it must not happen behind closed doors.

The conference was organised as part of the project “Strategic Review of Transitional Justice Process through the Media”, which is implemented with the support of the Federal Public Service for Foreign Affairs of Belgium.

As an organization with 20 years of experience in reporting on complex transitional justice topics in post war Bosnia and Herzegovina, we want to share our knowledge and skills related to high-quality reporting on transitional justice issues and other such sensitive topics with journalists in Ukraine who are facing challenging times in their reporting. BIRN BiH is organizing a three-day specialized training for journalists from Ukraine in Sarajevo, the capital of BiH.

We will select 10 experienced journalists and editors who are ready to follow the complex topics and extensive curriculum of the training. The specially-developed curriculum will aim to introduce the journalists to the concept of transitional justice and give insights into the challenges journalists face while covering transitional justice issues, including court reporting.

After the training BIRN BiH journalists will provide mentorship and editorial help to the journalists from Ukraine, who will be tasked with producing a total of four in-depth analyses (individually or in teams) from Ukraine about the ways in which the country plans to deal with each of the four pillars of transitional justice, as well as 10 news/media analyses (at least one piece per journalist/editor). Production of pieces after the training is obligatory for all journalists/editors who attend the training.

The journalists from Ukraine – who will receive comprehensive journalistic training as well as mentorship regarding the production of highly sensitive media content – will develop an in-depth understanding of what lies ahead for Ukrainian society in transitional justice processes as well as how to investigate war crimes, report on war crimes trials, contact and communicate with journalistic sources, conduct interviews with war crime victims, find human angles in the stories, counter disinformation and utilize investigative reporting techniques.

WHEN

The training will take place from September 16 to September 18, 2024. The arrival date is September 15 and the departure date is September 19.

WHO CAN APPLY

• Mid-career journalists from Ukraine
• Editors from Ukraine

WHAT WE OFFER

BIRN BiH will fully cover transportation, accommodation and meal costs.

Working language is English.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Interested journalists should send their:

• CV
• letter of interest
• if possible two written pieces related to transitional justice topics (Ukrainian or English language)

DEADLINE

All documents and any additional questions should be sent to Katarina Zrinjski at [email protected] by August 4, 2024.

Draft agenda

TRAINING: How and why to report about transitional justice

Sarajevo, September 15-19, 2024

Day 1, September 15

ARRIVAL DAY

Day 2, September 16

09:00 – 09:30 Introduction session

09:30 – 10:45 What is transitional justice – four pillars

10:45 – 11:00 Coffee break

11:10– 12:30 War crime prosecutions – how to monitor and report from the court

12:30 – 13:30 – Lunch break

13:30 – 14:45 Interviews with war crime victims – practical guidelines

14:45 – 15:30 Truth commissions – how to avoid mistakes from the former truth commissions: case study

15:30 – 15:45 Coffee break

15:45 – 16:45 Missing persons – how to report on missing persons

16:45 – 17:15 Summary and closing remarks

Day 3, September 17

09:00 – 10:00 Reparations – legal framework, focus on victims

10:00 – 11:00 Memorialization – challenges and recommendations

11:00 – 11:15 Coffee break

11:15 – 12:30 Role of media in post war countries

12:30 – 13:30 Lunch break

13:30 – 14:30 Institutional reforms – vetting

14:30 – 15:30 How to fight war crime denial; reporting on hate crimes

15:30 – 15:45 Coffee break

15:45 – 16:45 PTSD – dealing with war trauma

16:45 – 17:15 Summary and closing remarks

Day 4, September 18

Study visits to Srebrenica Memorial Center

Departure at 8am

Visiting exhibits; lecture on oral history; talking with genocide survivals

Day 5, September 19

DEPARTURE DAY