The Youth Initiative for Human Rights considers the position of the institutions and highest officials of the Republic of Serbia regarding the event in Banjska deeply wrong and harmful, and is concerned about publicly declared government support for violent paramilitary activity. Although this is not the first time that Serbia’s government representatives glorify persons for their criminal activities which are subsequently covered under the cloak of patriotism, the murder of a Kosovo police officer and several hours of fire exchange in Banjska threaten to deepen the conflict and continue tensions between Serbia and Kosovo.
YIHR Serbia and Hafiza Merkezi from Turkey organized a three-day workshop, "New Perspectives of Memorialization in Turkey and the Western Balkans," from June 21 to June 23 in Belgrade. The workshop was a unique opportunity for 15 memory activists from Turkey and five young memory activists from Serbia to exchange knowledge and learn from activist experience to become better acquainted with the memorialization process and the culture of commemoration of war and war crimes in Serbia and Turkey.
On June 19th 2023, the Toplica district of the Republic of Serbia informed the public that this year's “Car Lazar” charter, which this institution awards on June 28th, St. Vitus Day, will be given to the war criminal Vladimir Lazarević.
We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Generation Peace Activists Network, a groundbreaking initiative aimed at fostering positive change and meaningful collaboration between young activists from Kosovo and Serbia. This dynamic network will serve as a structured platform for communication, amplifying the voices of activists and promoting cross-border efforts and initiatives, with a particular focus on grassroots-level engagement.
Deeply concerned about the events in the north of Kosovo, we herewith invite the representatives of Belgrade and Pristina to urgently take the necessary measures to calm the situation and return to the dialogue process. To this end, we are looking for the full implementation of the three-point plan for de-escalation of the situation in the north of Kosovo, which was proposed by the European Commission and whose implementation was supported by all the countries of the European Union, the USA and Great Britain. We are also asking for an urgent response from the European Union and the Quint countries in order to implement this plan more quickly.
