Balkan Investigative Reporting Network
Nerma Jelacic, director of BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina, gave a two hour presentation on post-conflict justice and reconciliation to about 20 students from Lebanon.
The presentation took place on December 27 in BIRN’s Sarajevo offices.
Students of human rights, journalism and film visited Bosnia and Herzegovina in an effort to compare reconciliation experiences here with those in their own country.
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 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]>
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.
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.
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 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, 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]
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.
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]