البوسنة والهرسك

PEACE FESTIVAL 2024 is open!

The Festival began with welcoming speeches from Velma Šarić and Tatjana Milovanović (The Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC)), the Deputy Ambassador of Slovak Embassy in BiH, Patrik Turosik (Slovenské veľvyslanectvo v Bosne a Hercegovine / Ambasada Slovačke u BiH), and Glorija Alić (OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina).

The first day of our #PEACEFest24 is dedicated to rights of minorities, specifically the #Roma population with "On the Margins," a multimedia-educational program developed by the #PCRCBiH in partnership with the OSCE Mission to BiH.

#PCRCBiH, through the Anna Lindh Foundation - Bosnia & Herzegovina, is collaborating with Gradsko kazalište mladih Vitez for the third consecutive year.

Participants of #PEACEFest24 enjoyed last night's performance of "I'm Invisible," which explores and questions the relationship between the individual and the mass.

The individual portrays victims of abduction, violence, media lynching, emotional manipulation, and bureaucratic inertia, where their "hands are tied." In this case, the individual is powerless to fight against the ruthless society as a whole. On the other hand, society, due to its own superiority, oppresses, humiliates, belittles, ignores, intimidates, discourages, and discredits the individual, or the victim.

The executive producer of the play is Ivan Sajević, and graphic design is by Borislav Sučić.

#MIRFest #youth #Vitez Photo: Mitar Simikić

Balkan Diskurs SlovakAid #CFLI Al Jazeera Balkans OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina Etno selo "Čardaci"

This year's Peace Festival'23 ended with the concert "NEVER THE SAME FOREVER with Kontra", from which young people sent a message that they are committed to building sustainable peace and coexistence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

More than 40 young people through the contents of the Peace Festival'23, which include the performance "Contract" by the City Theatre Vitez, the documentary films "Colourless" by Aida Gavrić, "The Little Prince" by Jasmine Đikoli and director Muris Beglerović, "Ordinary Heroes" by the Centre for Post-Conflict research, the exhibition of the Centre for Post-Conflict Research and the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina at "Margina", the MIR magazine of the Centre for Post-Conflict Research, the publication "Peace as Seen by Young People in BiH" by the OSCE Mission in BiH, they discussed how they see peace, what is the connection between music and peace, i.e. how can music contribute to sharing peace with activist Amra Pandzo.

"What I liked most about the Peace Festival was that all the young people who attended shared the same opinion - peace is accepting the diversity of other people. I believe that this Festival has taught us that we are not less if we allow other people around us to have the freedom to think and express their characteristics and their belonging", said Lejla Karović from Sarajevo.

Karović added that what she liked most about the Festival was the fact that several young people with a common goal and vision were present in one place, and we proved that there is hope for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Ivana Ševarika from Banja Luka pointed out that she liked the panel discussion "How young people see peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina" the most at the Festival, because it talked about concrete problems that young people face and joint forces, "we realized that only by respecting others and respecting mutual differences we can contribute to lasting and sustainable peace."

"This Peace Festival was significant and a good wind at my back for further work in the community and then beyond. She only met a lot of people of all religions and ethnicities, which was no problem for anyone. We got the opportunity to share our opinions, give each other advice and learn from everything that was told," said Dženisa Joldić from Hadžić.

The participants of the Peace Festival'23 came from more than 20 communities, including: Gračanica, Donji Vakuf, Foča, Milići, Tuzla, Vitez, Bugojno, Banja Luka, Zenica, Velika Kladuša, Mostar, Uskoplje and Kakanj.

The specificity of this year's Peace Festival'23 was the visit to Žepč, i.e. the laying of flowers on the monument to all the civilian victims of the war, where together with the mayor Mata Zovko and other representatives of the municipality they laid flowers and paid tribute to the civilian victims of the war.

"A common monument to all victims of war promotes trust and peaceful coexistence," said Mato Zovko, the mayor of Žepče, explaining to the young people how and in what way the common monument for all civilian victims of war was built.

The Peace Festival'23 was organized by the Centre for Post-Conflict Research. Amina Sejfić, project manager of the Centre, said that such programs as the Peace Festival'23 are needed by young people in order to encourage them to become active in their communities and connect with other communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to appreciate and respect differences, but also helped the common future.

"Peace Festival'23 gives a clear message that even though we are all different, we must strive towards the same goal, that is, building trust and peace," said Sejfić.

This year's Peace Festival'23 was held in the ethno village "Čardaci", and the donors are the Slovak Agency for International Development Cooperation (Slovak Aid), the Sigrid Rausing Trust, the Rockefeller Brother Foundation and the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The partners of the Festival are Ethno Village Čardaci, Al Jazeera Balkans, City Youth Theatre Vitez and the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

PRESPA FORUM FOR DIALOGUE 2003

"Road to 2030" panel

Skopje, North Macedonia, May 8, 2023.

At the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia, Miralem Tursinović, ALF BiH HoN, was in Skopje from May 7 to 9, where he participated in the panel discussion "Road to 2030".

The panel was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, as a preparatory event for the PRESPA Forum for Dialogue, which will be held in Struga on June 15 and 16 this year.

During the presentation, but also in bilateral meetings with representatives of the Ministry, non-governmental organizations from the region, and representatives of international organizations and embassies, who attended the panel, Miralem Tursinović emphasized, among other things, the importance of networking, as well as the exchange of culture and dialogue between countries in the Western Balkans.

The EU enlargement process, from the perspective of EU candidate/accession countries, marked certain steps forward. North Macedonia and Albania opened accession negotiations, while Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine and Moldova received candidate status. However, despite these positive developments, there are still many obstacles on the bumpy road to Brussels.

Given these complex and unpredictable circumstances, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia is preparing the third edition of the Prespa Forum Dialogue 2023 (PFD2023) entitled "Extended European Family by 2030: Mission (Im)possible?" which will be held on June 15 and 16, 2023 in Struga, a picturesque town on the shores of Lake Ohrid.

Following the established tradition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized, as a precursor to PFD2023, a pre-event called "Road to 2030", whose goal is to exchange analytical thoughts and ideas that would serve as a valuable contribution to the session and panel discussions on PFD2023.

Given the global and regional challenges we face, we want to focus pre-event discussions on the EU's ability to act as a global strategic player by, among other things, completing the EU integration process. One of the most important concerns for the citizens of the Western Balkans is the membership of their countries in the EU. The vast majority of citizens believe that the process is too long and rather unfair, and with futile promises they argue the credibility of the EU. The people's support for EU integration has dropped dramatically.

Can we all work together, 20 years after the Thessaloniki summit, to change the paradigm of the enlargement process and the necessity of a strategic awakening by having 2030 as a common goal for EU accession? And yet, in the meantime, given the need for concrete and operational steps to accelerate the region's integration into the EU with a focus on its socioeconomic growth - that is, more integration before EU membership - what credible and temporary steps can be taken to gradually expansion of the European integration process? Given the relaunched Franco-German initiative on EU reform, what impact could it have on enlargement policy, especially given that current policy depends on the willpower of unanimity? To what extent can the extended European family by 2030 contribute to strengthening transatlantic security and shaping the new Euro-Atlantic security system?

More about Prespa Forum at: https://www.facebook.com/PrespaForum