Accepting Diversities: Human Rights and the Challenges of Reconciliation

Venue: Center for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies (CIPS)
              Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Period: Apr. 29-30, 2011

The University of Sarajevo, CIPS, the University of Bologna and IECOB, the CEI Network of civil society organizations present the conference “Accepting Diversities: Human Rights and the Challenges of Reconciliation” which will take place in Sarajevo in the premises of CIPS on the 29th and 30th of April 2011.
 
The conference aims at promoting the spirit of human rights awareness and providing space for discussion among academics, practitioners, students of the European Regional Master Degree Programme in Democracy and Human Rights in South east Europe (ERMA), alumni and civil society representatives. The conference, besides raising the visibility of the ERMA programme and the issues that it deals with, will also provide the occasion to establish a CEI Network of Civil Society Organizations.

The discussion will be organized in 6 panels: PANEL 1: ICTY Decisions and National Narratives: Facts vs. Myths, PANEL 2: Accepting the “Otherness”: Challenges for Education and Civil Society, PANEL 3: “Ethnizenship” and the Right of Non-belonging, PANEL 4: Gender and Transitional Justice in SEE, PANEL 5: Rethinking journalism: The role of media in post conflict societies, PANEL 6: Challenging Homogeneity within Ethnic Communities: a room for dialogue.
 
 
Who launched this initiative
The initiative of this event has been launched by:
ERMA – the European Regional Master in Democracy and Human Rights in SEE, carried out by the Universities of Sarajevo, Bologna and their Partner Universities: Belgrade, Bochum, Graz, LSE, Montenegro, New Bulgarian, Peloponnese, Priština, Skopje, and Zagreb in cooperation with the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.

Together with the
Central European Initiative (CEI) Network on Civil Societies Organizations – representatives of the Civil Society organizations coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Belorussia, Ukraine, Italy, Austria, Moldova and other non CEI countries.
with the joint support of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Central European Initiative.
 
What is the challenge we seek to respond to
We recognize, that in present Europe, and particularly in South East Europe, despite of the many attempts already made, diversities of human beings – between and within social groups, national and religious communities, as well as  ideological, cultural and other preferences – are often not been recognized,  or even rejected.
In some cases, those differences are simply ignored, in others the reasons for them are confused or mistaken or even artificially imposed. In South-East Europe they are often considered a source for deep contrasts within societies. In other words, and most troubling, in many cases, those differences as such are seen as a problem, while we believe, that, instead, human diversities are a matter of fact and a wealth for the development of the societies and the prospect of the European integration. Rather than being blamed, they lack democratic governance for the benefit of peace and development. In the specific case of SEE, this governance is a crucial key for reconciliation.
In order to spread this sensitivity the present conference has been summoned under the belief that we see an important advantage of working together with our Alumni and other institutional organizations, complimenting therefore our resources for working out better solutions for SEE and the European Policy-Making

Main goals of the event:
1. Organize the dialogue among three categories of participants:
a)       University Academics
b)       European policy-makers
c)       Civil Society Activists of SEE
on the problematic issues of democracy and diversities and finding possible solutions.
2. Expose the front-line social research, produced in the Universities to the broader social audience, hence, proving that Universities retain a role as intellectual driving force for social innovation and active social role as  Res-Publica
3. Discuss the relevance of training in Social Sciences and in Human Rights in particular both at the University level and for democratic citizen education by reinforcing the relations between Academic programs and civil society organizations
4. Suggest new ideas for better policy-making in diversity management and governance on local, national and Pan-European level
5. Offer a great opportunity for meeting Alumni (ACIPS) and building networks of civil society organization in SEE, particularly in the field of Human Rights defense and promotion, reconciliation, new development strategies, by strengthening existing civic networks and promoting new ones.
 
Planned outcomes
1.             Establishing better understanding and creating a common communication environment between University Academics and Civil Society activists
2.             Dissemination of the newest results of innovative social research to the broad audience of active citizens
3.             Strengthening networks of civil activists in SEE and throughout Europe
4.             Contribution to the advancement of social science by academic volume publication of conference presentations
5.             Improvement of the Curricula for Human Rights teaching and civic education throughout SEE.

See the program of the conference.

Why should you participate?
For academics: present your newest research to a demanding audience of academic colleagues and social practitioners;
For policy-makers: learn about existing best practices in diversity management and grab new ideas for democratic governance;
For civic activists: share your best experience in diversity management and democratic citizen education, establish the CEI network of CSO and join networks as a method of work.
 
Participants' list:

Fill in the registration form that can be downloaded from the website and send it to diversities2011@gmail.com.

tel.: 00387.(0)33.668.683
E-mail: diversities2011@gmail.com