The fifth edition of the Srebrenica Youth School, held from 7-12 July in the historic eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, was organized jointly by the Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC) and the Srebrenica Memorial Center (SMC). This annual event continues to serve as a pivotal platform for young leaders and activists to engage deeply with issues of remembrance, prevention, and peacebuilding.
As early as 1992, the world had become aware of and alarmed by the sexual violence being committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, and sought to establish a tribunal that would bring perpetrators to justice.
Digital platforms pose huge challenges to reckoning with the past in the Balkans. Experts in transitional justice from the former Yugoslavia sounded the alarm at the Post Conflict Research Center (PCRC)’s conference on atrocity prevention “Building a Common Agenda for Prevention in the Western Balkans”. Their alarm, expressed in the conference held on 21-22 March in Podgorica, Montenegro, was concerned with the issue of genocide denial and distorted narratives on social media.
Healing from the past in the Western Balkans requires building a common narrative of the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s. Key tools to help achieve this include education and the proper addressing of intergenerational trauma. 25 years after the final guns fell silent in Kosovo, this goal is yet to be fully realized.
The survivors of the 1990s Yugoslav Wars are central to peacebuilding. Their testimonies serve as a reminder of the broken imperative, “never again”. Recognizing their rights includes reparations. Reparations are crucial for reconciliation and the prevention of recurring atrocities. Moreover, reparations will allow post-conflict societies to pull out the marginalization of war survivors from its roots.
Genocide denial and revisionism continue to hinder reconciliation in the Western Balkans. This is despite ongoing efforts from civil society and the international community. To counter this trend, joint action by representatives of civil society and the international community is necessary to build a sustainable system for atrocity prevention and reckoning with the past.