About the program

Truth and Reconciliation

Victimology society of Serbia is the initiator and coordinator of the project „From memories of the past toward a positive future”. The main aim of the project is to initiate public discussion and coordinated action toward truth and reconciliation, which promotes tolerance of diversity, positive and proactive approach, involving different regions and social groups, such as victims of war, war veterans, youth, women, different ethnic groups, etc. In this way, VDS promote Third way to truth and reconciliation in Serbia, which bears in mind all the sacrifices, perpetrators and crimes, regardless of their ethnic origin and other characteristics. In order to further develop these ideas, as well as to develop cooperation between different sectors of society in Serbia, VDS initiated the establishment of the Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation, which was established on 10th June 2005. in Belgrade, by more than 20 small and medium-sized NGOs and individuals.

Development of Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation

2013

During 2013. the activities aimed at further developement of the Association continued, through the following activities:
• Work on promoting the idea of the Third way in the country, the region and the world, through the distribution of application forms, leaflets, brochures, yearbooks and journal Temida which contains articles on the work and development of the Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation on conferences, roundtables, etc. – self-financing activity;
• Updating mailing list and list of members of the Association;
• Realisation of the research Fostering victim-oriented dialogue in a multiethnic society, which is being implemented within the project „ALTERNATIVE“;
• Organization, together with the NGO Society for tolerance from Bačka Palanka, which coordinates the Forum ” Bridge of friendship “, of the roundtable Who and how works today on building inter-ethnic trust, which was held in Belgrade, on 28th September 2013. at the Hotel Palace.
Association currently have 113 members (individuals and organisations).

2012

During 2012. the activities aimed at further developement of the Association continued, through the following activities:
• Work on promoting the idea of the Third way in the country, the region and the world, through the distribution of application forms, leaflets, brochures, yearbooks and journal Temida which contains articles on the work and development of the Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation on conferences, roundtables, etc. – self-financing activity;
• The inclusion of new members in Association;
• Updating mailing list and list of members of the Association;
• Realisation of the research Fostering victim-oriented dialogue in a multiethnic society, which is being implemented within the project „ALTERNATIVE“;
• Organization of the tribune From conflict to reconciliation in a multiethnic society, which was held on 31st May 2012.;
• Organization of roundtable How NGOs in Serbia deal with inter-ethnic conflicts: experiences and planned activities, which was held in Belgrade on 23rd October 2012.;
• In 2012., two new members joined the Association, so at this point the Association had 113 members (individuals and organisations).

2011

During 2011., five new members joined the Association, so at this time Association had 111 members (individuals and organizations).

2010

During 2010. the activities toward further developement of the Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation continued through following activities:
• Work on promoting the idea of the Third way in the country, the region and the world, through the distribution of application forms, leaflets, brochures, yearbooks and journal Temida which contains articles on the work and development of the Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation on conferences, roundtables, etc. – self-financing activity;
• Submitting conclusions of the conference “Possible path towards reconciliation,” which was held in Belgrade in 2009., to state agencies and non-governmental organizations in Serbia, Bosnia and Hercegovina and Croatia, as well as efforts towards publishing conclusions in local media and NGOs publications – self-financing activity;
• The inclusion of new members in the Association;
• Seminar for strengthening the capacity of organizations, for organizations of victims of war. The seminar was organized in June 2010. The aim of the seminar was to help war victims organisations, members of the Association, to overcome the difficulties of writing projects, to find donors, to organize staff that will be working on projects, and to find appropriate partners. The lecturers were Jasmina Nikolić and Sanja Ćopić. Organization of seminar was financially supported by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung;
• In June 2010. in Belgrade, meeting of the extended Coordination Committee of the Association Joint action for truth and reconciliation- ZAIP was held and short film with the participants of the meeting on the topic “What is the meaning of the work of the Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation for you?” was made. The meeting was financially supported by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung;
• Workshop on reconciliation, camp of young social democrats, Bogovađa. Workshop was led by prof. dr Vesna Nikolić-Ristanović and Jasmina Nikolić. The workshop is financially supported by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung;
• Research on the most appropriate forms of remembrance of the past and the ways in establishing trust in the former Yugoslavia – during 2010. VDS has implemented a new (third in a row) research on the most appropriate forms of remembrance of the past and ways to establish trust in the former Yugoslavia. This time, the subjects were high school students in Belgrade. VDS wish was to examine the attitudes of young people about these issues. This was a self-supporting activity. Results of the latter, and comparison with the results of two previous studies, were published in the journal Temida: Petrović, N. (2010) Research about the most adequate forms of remembering the past and ways of establishing trust in the the former Yugoslavia. Temida, 1, p. 59-71.;
• Updating mailing list and list of members of the Association.
The Association had 106 members at that time.
During 2010., the activities aimed at further developement of the Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation continued through following activities:
• Work on promoting the idea of the Third way in the country, the region and the world, through the distribution of application forms, leaflets, brochures, yearbooks and journal Temida which contains articles on the work and development of the Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation on conferences, roundtables, etc. – self-financing activity;
• The inclusion of new members in Association;
• Updating mailing list and list of members of the Association;
• The meeting with representative of Association of disabled war veterans from wars since 1990. was organised – Meeting was held in VDS in Belgrade, on 31st May 2011.;
• The meeting with Željko Vukelić, president of the Executive board of the Association of participants of armed conflicts in the the former Yugoslavia- the meeting was held in premises of VDS in Belgrade, on 18th July 2011.;
• Study visits of prof. dr Vesna Nikolić-Ristanović in Australia and Germany, which were, among other things, important for the further development of the idea of the Third Way and Association:
   o Lectures:
      Lecture at the University of New South Wels, Sidney, Australia: The third way: bridging the gap between impunity and revange (Network for Interdisciplinary Studies of Law seminar);
      Lecture at the Berghof center for conflict research, Berlin, Germany War victimization and addressing atrocities in post-conflict period: toward holistic approach.
   o Getting to know with the functioning of the centers that deal with themes of war, conflict resolution and dealing with the past, as well as individual projects: Peace and Conflict Studies Center (Sidney, Australia), Berghof Conflict Research Center (Berlin, Germany), Projekat Peacebuilding compared, Australian National University (Kambera, Australia).
   o Expanding the network of contacts with important people and deepening existing ones, as well as getting to useful information and ideas for future work;
o Discussion of the results of the project about dealing with the past, reading materials and feedback information (Berghof Conflict Research Center).
   o Research:
      The way of documenting and presenting data on victimization and war crimes- human rights violations in Germany through direct insight into memorials and museum exhibitions in Berlin;
      The research of literature and syllabus about transitional justice, with a particular emphasis on documenting the victimization and war crimes, and models of reconciliation in the world;
   o Key direct outcomes of these activities of Prof. dr Vesna Nikolić-Ristanović:
      The beginning of work on the development of a joint project with the Berghof center, which would be a follow-up project, which is implemented based on the principles of the Third way;
      The sketch of work on models of reconciliation was made, with Prof. dr Jelena Srna, which will serve to further development of the idea of the Third way.

2008-2009

During 2008. and 2009., the activities aimed at further development of the Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation continued through the following activities:
• Printing and distribution of promotional materials of Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation;
o Printing and distribution of the application form: In January 2008. application forms came out from the press and they were distributed to members and potential members of Association. The aim of the application form is to formalize the relationship between the members of the Association and to encourage the inclusion of new members;
o In November 2008. the book “Possible path towards reconciliation in Serbia: Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation” came out from the press. Editors of the book are Prof. dr Vesna Nikolić-Ristanović and Prof. dr Jelena Srna. The book is accompanied by a promotional film about the Association called “Third way”. Book printing and making of the movie were financially supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation;
• The inclusion of new members in Association;
• Organization of meetings with potential members and members of the Association, as well as meetings of the Coordination Committee;
• Updating mailing lists and lists of members of the Association;
• Writing projects and applying for funds.
We also continued with the development of a resource center and researches, as well as activities aimed at increasing social visibility through media appearances and participation of members of the Association at professional and scientific meetings on which the idea of the Association and Third way was presented:
o The media marking of the day of founding the Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation – Prof. dr Vesna Nikolić-Ristanović and Katarina Pašić from Intermunicipal Organization of civilian war invalids from Valjevo were participating in the show “This is Serbia” on the RTS, on 13th June 2008. The program subject was Rights of civilian war invalids;
o Joint marking of the International day of victims of torture – Association of inmates 1991 from the former Yugoslav republics and their descendants and admirers and the Association ZAIP, on 26th June 2008. in Belgrade, organized a conference “International Day in support of victims of torture.” Prof. dr Vesna Nikolić-Ristanović and Peter Fjodorov had opening remarks.
o During August 2008. in collaboration with journalist and member of the Association Tatjana Manojlović, making the movie about the Association was realised. In the project were involved: Prof. dr Vesna Nikolić-Ristanović, Peter Fjodorov, Novica Kostić and Daniel Bjelica. Financial supported by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
During 2008. and 2009. efforts were made to promote the idea of the Third way in the country, the region and the world, through the distribution of application forms, leaflets, brochures, yearbooks and journal Temida which contains papers of the work and development of the Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation on conferences, round tables, etc. Also, in order to promote the idea of the Third way and the Association ZAIP to the representatives of the Humanitarian law center, Women in black and the Centre for nonviolent action, promotional materials (book and film) were submitted.
From 1st July 2008. to 1st May 2009. the activities on the Truth and Reconciliation program were implemented in the framework of the project Strengthening the capacity of non-governmental organizations and individuals dealing with issues of truth and reconciliation. The aim of the project was to strengthen the capacity of organizations and individuals who are dealing with issues of truth reconciliation in Serbia, through the development of dialogue, exchange of experiences and cooperation, as well as by increasing the overall level of knowledge and communication skills, and development of the capacity of the Association through its connection with similar initiatives in other countries of the former Yugoslavia. During the project, the following activities were realised:
1. Two joint and several individual meetings with representatives of the organisations of victims of war were held in order to include them in the Association’s activities (October 2008. and January 2009.);
2. One meeting of the Coordination Committee of the Association in Belgrade – January 2009.;
3. Three-days seminar of the Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation entitled “Neds of victims of war and how to achieve them” which was aimed at strengthening the capacities of victims of war to engage in reconciliation. The seminar was held on Zlatibor from 3rd to 5th April 2009. Facilitators and lecturers on seminar were prof. dr Vesna Nikolić-Ristanović, prof. dr Jelena Srna and Ivana Vidaković;
4. Presentation of the Association’s activities at domestic and foreign conferences.
Project realisation was financed by Open Society Fund.
In period between June and December 2009. the activities of the Truth and Reconciliation program were also realised in the framework of the project entitled Strengthening the capacities of organisations of victims of war for social dialogue and support to their social inclusion and reintegration. During the project, the following activities were realised:
1. Organization of a roundtable Activities of importance to victims of war in Serbia and their contribution to reconciliation in order to introduce with the resources that are available to victims of the war in Serbia – June 2009.;
2. The organization of the roundtable Perspectives of national and regional cooperation of organizations and services for victims of war and its significance for the truth and reconciliation with an emphasis on cooperation and networking of organizations and agencies of victims of war in Serbia and in the region – July 2009.;
3. The organization of the International conference Possible path towards reconciliation – from 12th to14th November 2009.
Realisation of the project was financed by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, and realisation of the conference was supported by Ministry of science of the Republic of Serbia.

2006-2007

In period from 1st November 2006. to 31st July 2007., the project Developement of Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation and the increase of the visibility of the idea Third way, was realised.
During this period, the following activities were realised:
• Activities directed toward development of the Association:
o Organization and holding of two meetings of the Coordination Committee of the Association in Belgrade (1st February and 21st June 2007.);
o Organization and holding of meetings and seminars of the Association in Vranjska Banja from 30th March to 1st April 2007. The main aim of the seminar was the completion of work on defining Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation, it’s goals and methods as the basis for a clearer and more effective promotion in the public and the further spread of ideas and membership. The seminar was consisted of three workshops: Association – structure and action, defining elements of the Third way and the mission of the Association and My injuries – my right and my responsibility;
o The gradual inclusion of new members (at this time the Association had 80 members), as well as expanding mailing list;
o Distribution of leaflets and brochures on the Third way and the Truth and Reconciliation;
o Creating and filling the application form for Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation.
• Development of a resource center and research:
o Archiving reports as well as data and materials obtained through the media;
o Collection and systematization of printed and audio visual materials about truth and reconciliation, and their availability to members and researchers outside the VDS and the Association;
o Processing answers to the questions in the booklet about truth and reconciliation, in order to collect data for a new publication;
o Collection, entry and systematization of data on activities of members of the Association that were implemented in the period from 1990. to 2006;
o Analysis of all of the the material activities of the Association, from its founding to the meeting of the Coordinating Committee on 21st June 2007., on which Vesna Nikolić-Ristanović, Jelena Srna, Jelena Grujić and Nataša Hanak work. The aim is the book about the Association, and possibilities of implementation of experience on its development in the wider society.
• Activities towards the increasement of social visibility, collaboration, and promotion of the idea of the Third way in other republics of the former Yugoslavia.
Furthermore, on 11th June 2007. VDS sent to members of the Association and the media a report on the occasion of the second anniversary of the existence of the Association Joint Action for Truth and Reconciliation in which it requested from the government the adoption of a strategy for dealing with the past, resolute prosecution of the perpetrators and the improvement of the situation of victims of crime. Report was published by Beta, Press and Studio B.
In the implementation of the project and other activities of the Association, besides members of the Association, are directly involved: dr Vesna Nikolić-Ristanović, mr Nataša Hanak, Danijela Bjelić and Sanja Jović.

Contact

 011 2288040

 065 5486421

 063 356613

 E-mail: vdsrbija@gmail.com

 www.vds.rs

Every working day from 10:00am to 20:00pm

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