Human Rights House, Selska cesta 112c, 10000 Zagreb
Zagreb
Croatia
- Democracy and community development
- Human rights
- Research
In their endeavor to initiate the process of dealing with the past and the establishment of a factual truth about the war and contribution to shifting discussions from the level of disputes over facts (number of fatalities and similar) toward a dialogue on interpretations, the Centre for Peace, Nonviolence and Human Rights Osijek, Centre for Peace Studies, Civic Council for Human Rights and the Croatian Helsinki Committee decided to found Documenta – Centre for Dealing with the Past (hereinafter: Documenta). Our team is composed of 17 highly-motivated people – sociologists, lawyers, political scientists, journalists, archivists, mathematicians, IT technicians…, and more than 30 volunteers and associates. Managing Board: 5 people Assets for our activities are granted by: - Academy for Educational Development (AED / USAID) - Charles Stewart Mott Foundation - Embassy of Canada in the Republic of Croatia - Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Rep. of Croatia - Embassy of the Kingdom of the Norway in the Rep. of Croatia - Embassy of the Kingdom of the Sweden in the Rep. of Croatia - Embassy of the United States of America in the Republic of Croatia - National Foundation for Civil Society Development - Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Open Society Institute - Quaker Peace and Social Witness - Republic of Croatia - Government’s Office for Human Rights - Republic of Croatia – Ministry of Education - Robert Bosch Stiftung - Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs - The Balkan Trust for Democracy (German Marshall Fund) - United Nations Development Program (UNDP Croatia) Expected incomes in 2009: around 400.000 EUR In the realization of its goals, Documenta cooperates with the organizations of the initiators, organizations of families of missing persons, war veteran’s organizations, other civil initiatives, governmental institutions, international institutions and organizations, institutions of state and local self-governments, scientific-scholarly institutions, religious communities, media, and other interested parties. Benefits of Documenta’s work could be fully extended only if outputs will be widely used in Croatia and wider region, therefore nurturing existing network, like cooperation with founding organizations, the Centre for Peace, Nonviolence and Human Rights Osijek, Centre for Peace Studies, Civic Council for Human Rights and the Croatian Helsinki Committee and Documenta’s regional partners The Humanitarian Law Center from Belgrade, the Centre for Documentation and Research from Sarajevo, while at same time building new ones, like Coalition for Dealing with the Past, is essential. Documenta involves media, victim organisations and governmental institutions in its activities.
The main objective of Documenta is developing social and individual processes of dealing with the past in order to build sustainable peace in Croatia and wider region through achieving following sub goals: - Deepening public dialogue on dealing with the past (in wish to contribute to shifting discussions from the level of disputes over facts (number of fatalities and similar) toward a dialogue on interpretations, - Affirming public policies that promote dealing with the past (in wish to contribute to education policy, policy of reparations and influence commemoration culture etc.), - Collecting documentation on war events and establishing searchable data base (documenting factual truth and recording personal memories), - Advancement of judicial praxis and legal standards due to the continuous monitoring of war trials in Croatia and the region (in wish to support processing of individual accountability for war crimes and challenge impunity)
In cooperation with the Humanitarian Law Center from Belgrade, and the Research and Documentation Center from Sarajevo, Documenta is implementing the following regional projects: - development of a compatible database on war incidents, on those involved in wars, victims, survivors and possible perpetrators - monitoring the court proceedings for war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia - support to victims and witnesses which encompasses the inclusion of the families of those killed and missing in the following of judicial processes, proposing measures for the protection of witnesses, legal aid and preparation of witnesses for testifying - collecting personal memories on war (oral history) - putting together regional lists of those missing, with personal information and brief information on the circumstances of the disappearance of all persons missing in the wars from 1990s - putting together regional lists of those killed and murdered