A two-day academic conference on “Accepting Diversity: Human Rights and the Challenges of Reconciliation” began in Sarajevo on last Friday.
The conference, organized by Sarajevo University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies (CIPS) in partnership with Bologna University and the CEI Network, celebrated ten years of successful implementation of the European Regional Masters Degree Programme in Democracy and Human Rights in South East Europe (ERMA). It was designed to promote human-rights awareness, and to serve as a forum for discussion among academics, practitioners, students of the ERMA programme and ERMA partner universities, and Alumni (ACIPS) and civil society representatives, especially those belonging to the CEI Network.
The ERMA programme is co-funded by the European Union through its EIDHR instrument supporting masters degree programmes in human rights and democratisation outside the European Union.
Boris Iarochevitch, Head of Operations at the EU Delegation to BiH, stressed that in the context of political challenges facing Bosnia and Herzegovina education and human rights are key strategic issues.
“There should be no discrimination in education,“ he said. “We will continue our efforts to fight against discrimination and against segregation together with other institutions.“
Iarochevitch noted that discrimination is not only an issue in Bosnia and Herzegovina but in other countries in the region, and in the EU.
“Now we have a new programme and a strategy for Roma because we see that there are problems with the education of the Roma population in Europe,” he said. “This is a very important issue, and one that concerns all countries.“
Italian Ambassador H.E. Raimondo de Cardona said the conference would highlight the fact that a diversity of ethnic groups in a population represents an asset for a country rather than a challenge.
“I am convinced that the region in general and Bosnia and Herzegovina in particular need a stronger civil society structure,“ he said.
Bologna University Professor Stefano Bianchini said the conference offered a great opportunity to establish direct relationships between, on the one hand, the academic body and students attending the programme and, on the other, civil society organisations and the political world.
“Our societies are becoming increasingly diverse, and we have to produce a democratic response to this, otherwise we run the risk of compromising democracy and the integration project,“ he said.
The CEI Network of Civil Society Organisations (CEI CSONet) began to receive funding following an initiative by Mevlida Rovčanin, a former student of the Center for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies. CEI CSONet brings together more than 50 civil society organisations and associations in Central and Southeast Europe to implement common programmes and strategies for strengthening civil society.
“The idea of CSONet is to engage with citizens in order to introduce them to their rights, so they can respond in a timely manner to any violation of their rights”, said Rovčanin.
Center for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies Director Professor Zdravko Grebo stressed that the conference encompasses different areas, ranging from democracy in the Athenian period until the present day, to human rights to tolerating diversity.
