What was the topic of the discussion and how was organised?
The main topic of the discussion was transitional justice and prosecution of war criminals. It was so because participants showed biggest interest in this due to their area of study.
The discussion was organized at International University of Sarajevo mainly for students of International Relations, but all interested in it were free to come and take participation.
Explain the reaction of the participants on your speech.
The participants were very much surprised because young people took participation in the program. They were quite curious at why we got involved in it and what we think is going to be our impact and change in the society.
Despite coming from other countries (not from the region) they understand quite well importance of everything we discussed in Belgrade and topics we covered during our peer to peer education.
Have you notice the impact of your lecture on the participants? Explain.
In our opinion the impact will be most visible if any of them apply for fourth year of Youth Reconciliation Ambassadors programme since we presented it as well. The impact also lies in rising awareness that no matter how difficult some topics seem to be, the youth is willing to discuss them and work on their solution. We show them that we started making bridges in order to develop our country, but that we need their help in order to finish it.
What were the questions posed by the participants and how did you react?
Since the topic focused on transitional justice and prosecution of war criminals, questions focused mostly on what impact these prosecutions will have? Who, where and when will be prosecuted (by whom as well)? And also, whether these prosecutions are done in order to improve our position in the EU talks or in order to show respect to victims?
Our reaction was just to give them answers to these questions as best as we could without forgetting reality and without raising hopes in vain. We explained that prosecution is long lasting process and that the focus is on everyone, no matter from which group he/ she is coming. The bigger cases might be taken to ICTY and that smaller will be dealt in regional courts (in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia) depending from case to case.
