Building trust: EU support to non-governmental organizations in Montenegro for transitional justice

 

The Western Balkans still bears the burden of the conflicts of the 1990s, with a significant number of unsolved cases of war crimes, traumatized victims denied justice, as well as growing divisions and historical revisionism. The regional initiative "European Union Support for Confidence Building in the Western Balkans" provides professional support to judicial and law enforcement authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo*, North Macedonia and Serbia in processing war crimes cases at the national level, and improves the quality of support for victims and witnesses. Over the next three years, the project will also empower local actors to raise public awareness of past crimes, including dialogue and exchange of views, especially among young people. Non-governmental organizations, which play a key role in that process and contribute to overall social cohesion, were given the opportunity to finance projects in the area of transitional justice promotion.

 

Gianandrea Villa, manager of the program for justice and the rule of law in the Delegation of the European Union in Montenegro, emphasizes that a broad dialogue on conflicts is a prerequisite for the improvement of the effective processing of war crimes, while respecting human rights and the needs of victims. "Although it is a regional project, the activities are adapted to national needs, which the European Union strongly welcomes," said Villa.

 

He reminded that the latest EU progress report emphasizes that Montenegro must be more proactive in the investigation of war crimes in accordance with international law. "The first step is to raise awareness and knowledge about conflicts through dialogue," he told civil sector representatives at the initial project event in the European House.

 

Two public calls for civil society organizations registered in Montenegro were open from June 12 to July 10, 2023, that is, from July 3 to July 31, 2023, and five projects with a total value of 375,362 euros were approved for financing.

 

The Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) project "Transitional Justice Initiative through Education and Art" will use creative workshops, exhibitions, educational camps, studio visits, documentaries and promotional campaigns to raise citizens' awareness of the past, while strengthening the capacities of the prosecution, the judiciary, civil society and the media on the investigation of war crimes. "Through the activities, we will especially shed light on the perspective of the female victims", explained the representatives of the Initiative, Vaskrsija Klačar and Marko Vukčević.

 

The goal of the project "Education for the Future - Transitional Justice for Reconciliation" of the Center for Civic Education (CGE) is a better understanding of young people about war crimes in Montenegro and on behalf of Montenegro, as well as upgrading the capacity of history teachers. Damir Suljević, on behalf of the CGO, pointed out that all analyzes and research indicate that young citizens are insufficiently informed about conflicts. Some of the key activities are the organization of the Transitional Justice School for young people, study visits to places where war crimes were committed, and the publication of reports and files from war crimes trials.

 

The project "Siege of Dubrovnik 1991-1992: Memories of the war so that evil does not happen again" will be implemented by Action for Human Rights (HRA) in partnership with the studio Empty Space. The focus is on strengthening cooperation with the Republic of Croatia in terms of transitional justice, establishing and documenting war crimes in Dubrovnik, as well as honoring the victims. "Besides the academic and journalistic research work, the backbone of the project and what will certainly be interesting to the general public is the production of a theater play about the attack on Dubrovnik. The piece will contain real motives and collected testimonies", announced Martina Mrkolović from Action for Human Rights.

 

Within the second Public Call, focused on supporting victims and witnesses, two projects were supported.

 

Through the "Culture of Remembrance for a Brighter Future" initiative, the Civic Alliance will research, map, and collect data on victims of war crimes and their needs, especially women victims. "Our main goal is to start a public debate and advocate processes of dealing with the past among various actors", said Ljubica Smolović and Jelena Ristić, presenting the activities. The project also includes strengthening the public dialogue on the culture of memory through research stories, documentaries, forums and the organization of commemorations for the crimes: Bukovica, Kaluđerski laz, Morinj, Deportacija, Štrpci and Klapuh.

 

The key goals of the project "Together to justice - legal, psychological and social support for victims of war crimes" which will be implemented by Action for Human Rights include achieving justice for victims of war crimes through free support in criminal proceedings and reparations proceedings, and creating better conditions for regional cooperation in solving crimes. Elizabeta Mrnjavčević from HRA presented the planned activities, among which are the drafting of a memory policy, the creation of a manual on the rights of victims of sexual violence and a campaign on the importance of memorializing war crimes sites.

 

In addition to grants for non-governmental organizations, a key component of the project "European Union Support for Confidence Building in the Western Balkans" is strengthening the capacity of judicial authorities and improving the strategic and legal framework for processing war crimes, said Jelena Mrdak, program manager from UNDP. "Our focus is also on supporting victims and witnesses of war crimes; as well as public opinion research and work with young people," Mrdak added. The fourth important segment is regional cooperation, and regional conferences will be organized in Montenegro this year with representatives of prosecutor's offices, courts and special police departments.

 

Additional information about the project is available here.