LOCAL PRESS

 

 

SNV: Proof of secret lists for arresting Kosovo Serbs (Tanjug, 31.08.2014)
The Serbian National Council of Northern Kosovo and Metohija, said today that with the statement that arrest warrants for the current and former mayors of Zubin Potok, Stevan Vulovic and Slavisa Ristic respectively, EULEX proved that there are secret lists for arrest of Serbs.
Acting Head of EULEX Joel Vaster said earlier today that orders for the arrest of the Mayor of Zubin Potok Stevan Vulovic and former President of the Municipality of Ristic Slavisa were issued.
"With this statement, Vaster has deflated all previous statements of the EULEX leadership that such lists supposedly ‘do not exist’,” it is said in a statement of SNV from north Kosovo.
In an interview with Mitrovica's "Contact Plus" radio, Vaster stated that Vulovic is suspected of organizing the escape of prisoners, and Ristic for endangering the mission of the UN and Associated Personnel and aggravated murder.

 

What will the changes at in EU leadership bring to Serbia (Blic, By Tamara Spaić, 01.09.2014)
The election of Italian, Federica Mogerini, as the head of EU diplomacy is favorable for us; Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic told "Blic" that Mogerini is committed to Serbia's European integration
Federica Mogerini, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, met with Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic on July 28 and said "there are no negative scenarios for Serbia" Although Mogerini, during her recent visit to Belgrade, through her sentence that Serbia  must impose sanctions on Russia, left the impression that she likes to talk ultimatums, all “Blic ”interviewees  claim that it is actually the opposite.
What will the decision, of EU leaders to elect Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and current Minister Foreign of Affairs of Italy Mogerini to replace former President of the European Council Herman van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton, mean for Serbia?

- I salute their choice, I personally know them, they were both in Serbia at my invitation, and I know that they are very committed to Serbia's European integration. I'm sure we will have good cooperation - said Minister Dacic for "Blic".
To the additional question of whether this means that there will be no pressures and ultimatums, Dacic said he expects "good cooperation and mutual trust."
Female commissioner for enlargement
New Commissioner for Enlargement of the European Union has not yet been chosen, but as 'Blic' learns from its sources in Brussels, the decision will be published in the second week of September.
Due to the obligation that, at the European Commission, there should be at least about ten women, Blic’s Brussels source claims it is possible that we will get a female commissioner for enlargement.

We also learn that an assessment of "several serious candidates for Commissioner for Enlargement" is currently ongoing.
Serbian Minister Jadranka Joksimovic, in charge of EU integration in the Government did not want to specifically refer to the last messages of  Mogerini.
- Her choice is not unexpected. She has already come to Belgrade at the time of her candidacy, and hence this information should be taken into account when interpreting the then messages - Joksimovic told "Blic".
Since Mogerini will lead official talks between Belgrade and Pristina, Joksimovic said that she "expects continuation of constructive and impartial approach to the Brussels dialogue, as the EU is a system, though of course the format of personalities means a lot."
Mogerini was, during nominations for this high Brussels function, which is very important for Serbia, accused of being "pro-Russian minded" by many, and her messages in Belgrade could possibly be read in the context of her desire to deny it.
Aleksandar Senic, Head of the Committee for European Integration of the Serbian Parliament, spent a lot of time with her and says for "Blic" that Mogerini insisted that she "will not speak the language of ultimatums" and that "that word does not exist in the dictionary of the EU."
- Federica Mogerini told me that no one places ultimatums on Serbia and that something like that will not happen. Also, important is the fact that Italy is vitally interested in the construction of the South Stream pipeline – Senic explained.

The election of Mogerini was greatly influenced by the obligation of the new EC President Jean-Claude Juncker, that within the new EU government, there has to be at least nine to ten women. Aleksandra Joksimovic, Director of the Centre for Foreign Policy, told “Blic” -  one should bear in mind that "Italy is one of the major proponents of EU enlargement".
- Obviously, diplomacy can easily be left to women, since a woman succeeded Ashton. It is known that there were problems finding an adequate number of female candidates for certain positions, and the formation of the European Commission is a complicated process of harmonization between EU member states and the obligation regarding the number of female commissioners. An interesting choice is Tusk as a President of the European Council, not only because it will be the first from the Eastern bloc in that position, but also because it comes from a country that most fears Russia’s moves the most and perhaps will have a tough stance on the issue – Joksimovic told "Blic ".
Flexible toward Russia
Professor Dusan Sidjanski, advisor to current outgoing President of the European Commission, said that the election of Mogerini is "good because she will have a wider and more flexible view on Russia and about the crisis in Ukraine."
- She knows this is a dangerous situation, and that Italy has more than 500 significant industrial jobs and companies in Russia, so it will be flexible - said Sidjanski, an opponent of introducing sanctions against Russia, because he believes that they are equally harming EU countries.

 

Ugljanin would like autonomy! (Vecernje Novosti, By E.V.N., 28 August 2014)
The SDA leader has sharpened his rhetoric and referred to the referendum on Bosniaks from the nineties; Ljajic: He is returning to his policy of 25 years ago; Babic: These are very dangerous ideas, the Constitution is clear
Former minister and the SDA leader Sulejman Ugljanin sent a message yesterday that it is normal that Sandzak gets autonomy from Serbia and it will be so!
Ugljanin has, announcing his candidacy in the elections for the national council, said that his statute "seeks autonomy for Sandzak".
- I was accepted into the Government with this view. On the autonomy of Sandzak, the citizens have already voted in the referendum - the SDA president told reporters and ended his address with "I will see you in autonomy"!
Ugljanin also accused leading Serbian and Bosniak politicians of narcissism.
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the SDPS Rasim Ljajic assessed for "Novosti" that, with this message, Ugljanin returned to his political roots:
- While everyone is pushing forward, he goes 25 years back in the early nineties. Luckily, his statement have no political significance. While he was in the Government for six years, Ugljanin was silent and did not even mention the letter "a" of autonomy. Nothing bothered him then.

DEMANDED A CONNECTION
Ugljanin referred to the referendum on autonomy, which was organized by the Muslim National Council of Sandzak, and conducted from 25 to 27 October 1991. Of the approximately 265,000 voters,187,000 participated in the referendum, some 183,000, i.e. 98.9 percent, voted for political and territorial autonomy of Sandzak with the right to link with one of the former SFRJ republics. Ljajic says that the leader of SDA of Sandzak is trying to mobilize voters in the worst possible way:
- While people have no jobs and can barely make ends meet, Ugljanin’s campaigns are about long gone issues. That is, at the very least, disgusting.
Head of the SNS parliamentary group, Zoran Babic says for "Novosti" that he respects diversity and the views of ethnic minorities, but that the Constitution, which clearly speaks of integrity of the country, is sacred:
- Ugljanin’s statement reminds me of a line from the movie "Black Bomber", which says - these are dangerous ideas.

These are dangerous statements that take us back years and decades. No council of national minorities nor any elections are worthy of such statements.
Historian Cedomir Antic from with the "Progressive Club," explains that the political leaders of Serbian Bosniaks and Muslims in the region of Novi Pazar accepted the status of national minority:
- This is the result of frivolous and irresponsible behavior of all Serbian governments since 2008. The Progresive Club has, back then, warned that parties and leaders who have not renounced the separatist referendum from the nineties are entering the government. As long as Serbia does not have a comprehensive and internationally recognized border and responsible national leadership, it will not be able to behave, towards those individuals carrying forward the concept of regional autonomy, in the same manner as it treats the mayors in Jagodina or Doljevac, who seek non-ethnic-based greater self-government.

 

COMMENTARY: Sulejman (Vecernje Novosti, By Vuk Mijatovic, 29 August 2014)
While he was in the Government, he was invisible and not seen or heard from in the "development of underdeveloped areas" for which he was responsible; Now, to the hungry people in Tutin, Sjenica and Novi Pazar, instead of bread, he once again offers games. Dangerous ones.
Suljeman Ugljanin was a minister for six years. He was as much without portfolio, as he was without results.
While in the Government, he was not seen in the "underdeveloped areas" for whose development he was responsible. Now, in the race for a seat at the National Council of Bosniaks, he is seeking autonomy for Sandzak, referring to the referendum in 1991. Back then, the Serbian Bosniaks voted for autonomy and demanded the right to join Bosnia-Herzegovina. It seems that Ugljanin slept through the last quarter of a century, during which the state, in which he sought autonomy, fell apart in the war, and new borders were drawn in blood. The area that he wants to secede from Serbia, based on a quarter-century-old referendum, is today a part of two countries – the states of Serbia and Montenegro. States whose constitutions Ugljanin is ready to trample on.
Because, what’s in a Constitution, the stability of the state and safety of the citizens, or on the other hand – a political ‘arm chair’. And what does it mean that Serbia has, in recent years, made ​​a huge step forward, when it comes to the rights of national minorities and set the standards in this area, for which some EU countries are lagging behind? Does he not confirm this progress with his participation in the elections for one of the 17 councils of national minorities, which are to be held in October?
Yet, in the absence of a better offer, he, for a handful of votes, serves up the outdated policies of the nineties to his compatriots. Ugljanin had the opportunity, earlier, to talk about autonomy, and from the highest places at that—in the Government. But why would he? He already had an arm chair then.

 

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Jutarnji list: Serbia has taken over the leadership of the region from Croatia (Tanjug, 29.08.2014)
Berlin Meeting Changed Relations
None of the Croatian representatives in the European Parliament (EP) want to sit on the Committee that will negotiate with Serbia on joining the EU, ‘the Croatian daily ‘Jutarnji list’ writes. Europe has recognized this attitude and is slowly but increasingly turning toward Serbia as the key to further discussions about the future of the Balkans,  Zagreb's newspaper emphasizes.
In an article about the conference on the Western Balkans, held on Thursday at the initiative of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, ‘Jutarnji list’ states it has been proven that no representative of the EP from Croatia wants to sit on the Committee that will negotiate with Serbia on joining the EU, Tanjug reports.
"Although they account for almost half of the Board of BiH, to the amazement of their European counterparts, our representatives are actively avoiding to have anything to do with Serbia.”
EU officials see the summit on the Western Balkans in Berlin as a possible turning point for the future enlargement process of the European Union towards these countries, the newspaper said, noting that, as Germany has so far been among the biggest skeptics on continuing the expansion process, the fact that Berlin is now giving assurances that this process will continue in Brussels is seen as a "strong message at the right time."
Now, when the most important politician of Europe Angela Merkel brings together the leaders of the region in Berlin, and gives them a guarantee that one day their country will be in the EU if they fulfill the required conditions, the rest of Europe will be more positive and will look towards the region with less hesitation, the newspaper assesses.
Important investments
For the leaders of the region, the meeting in Berlin was an opportunity for self-promotion, but also for the presentation of projects for which they may receive part of the funds from various European sources, but also to attract private capital as an investment.
The EU said it was good that almost all delegations from the region advocated for joint projects. "It is important because it means that they realized it is the easiest way to get to EU funds, which follow the political goals," one EU diplomat, who took part in the meeting said, Jutarnji list writes.
The newspaper states that Serbia campaigned for modernization projects for the Belgrade–Bar railway line, for the construction of the highway from Nis to Pristina and the railway line Belgrade-Sarajevo.

"Croatia's position on the Berlin Conference in Brussels is seen as politically significant because Croatia as a new member of the EU, is seen as the voice of the region in the EU and the European voice in the region, and in some projects mentioned by the Prime Minister of Serbia, such as customs union in the region, or strengthening of mutual trade, Croatia because of its EU membership, cannot formally participate," Jutarnji list says.
A renowned British magazine The Economist, caused great excitement on the Croatian political scene when it claimed that Croatia is increasingly moving away from its region, leaving its leadership position, and increasingly turning to the European Union.
Croatian politicians have reacted and said that that was not the truth, but that Croatia is now more important than ever. But, just a day after the publication of the analysis by The Economist, another warning came from the EP - none of the Croatian representatives in the Parliament want to sit on the Committee that will negotiate with Serbia on joining the EU, Jutarnji writes.

 

In Bosnia, Hatred Towards Serbs Leads to an arm chair! (Vecernje Novosti, By M. Filipovic, 30 August 2014)
Radical campaign of Bosniak candidates for the member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H); Izetbegovic, Ceric, and Halilovic call on Bosniaks to “defend their country!”
Banja Luka - Candidates for the Bosniak member of the Presidency of B&H, according to the assessment of political analysts, entered the campaign with the most radical positions and messages of hate and intolerance against the Republika Srpska (RS) and Serbs in B&H! While Bakir Izetbegovic, Mustafa Ceric and Sefer Halilovic call for the "unity of Bosniaks" for "Defence of Bosnia" every day, Bosnian Serb and Croat candidates for their members in the Presidency lead a far more moderate campaign.
The pre-election meetings of the three front-running Bosniak candidates were dominated by the words "aggression", "genocide", "humiliation", and phrases "liberation of Bosnia", "threat to the Bosniak people," "continuing aggression", "struggle for sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country", which in Srpska, this is interpreted as an extension of the radical Bosniak wartime campaign.

It is, in fact, as our interlocutors say, the well-tried Bosniak political recipe - the greater the hatred towards Serbs and Srpska, the more votes come in at election time. This idea is almost always accompanied by a story about the threat to B&H and Bosniak national interest.
The Chair of the B&H Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic, who is the Bosniak SDA candidate for the member of the Presidency of B&H, said that the goal is "to preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of B&H". – We will not give up B&H! There will be no splitting of B&H, no federalization, and no new entities or sub-divisions. We shall preserve the sovereignty and integrity, the symbols and institutions using all means - Izetbegovic said at a rally in Buzim.

Even more radical is the former head of the Islamic Community in B&H Mustafa Ceric and a candidate for the Bosniak member of the Presidency, who says: "Muslims will not allow a new genocide".
He argues that Bosniaks have a choice - either honor or humiliation. – RS President Dodik, by spreading the fear of Islam, has been trying to impose blame upon Bosniaks for their faith, which they have already paid for with a genocide. Bosniaks, the choice is ours – either upright or supplicant! And let everyone know that we worship the one and only exalted Allah - said Ceric and urged Bosniaks toward unity. Bosnian Serb MPs strongly condemned certain elements of hate speech which seeped out from the Bosniak candidates.

SNSD parliamentarian in the B&H Parliament Lazar Prodanovic told "Novosti" that Bosniak candidates for their member of the B&H Presidency knowingly radicalize the political and security situation using such incendiary rhetoric.
- Their entire program is based on the sustaining hatred against Serbs. It is a destructive policy that harms everyone in B&H – considers Prodanovic.
The SDS parliamentarian in the B&H Parliament Borislav Bojic claims that Bosniak candidates are consistently using war rhetoric and spreading fear among Bosniaks.
- Nobody understands who threatens B&H and its sovereignty, although Bosniak candidates persistently talk about this. Their justifications are pathological, intolerant and anti-constitutional, because they often threaten with new conflicts - concluded Bojic.
HALILOIVIC: WE MUST REACH THE DRINA!
The former general of the Army of the wartime ‘Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina,’ and a candidate for the Bosniak member of the Presidency of B&H, Sefer Halilovic, even threatened to launch new conflicts in the country, if the unseen enemies "do not give up their attack on the sovereignty of B&H!". – The secession of Srpska, or creation of a third entity, would mean a declaration of war. No one can even think of what that will herald. We have to get to the Drina. If we do not get to the Drina river, they will come to us on Miljacka – Halilovic said.

 

Josipovic pushes for Bosnian Croats' equal status (Dalje.com, 20 August 2014)

Croatian President Ivo Josipovic on Friday evening held talks with the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH), Dragan Covic on the status of the Croats in that country.

"We are interested in seeing the Croats enjoy the status of a constituent people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is important to us to make sure that the Bosniak community in Croatia lives well and gives its contribution to our country. In the same vein, it is important to us that Croats are equal with the other nations (the Bosniaks and the Serbs)," Josipovic told the press after his meeting with Covic in Siroki Brijeg, southern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Josipovic described Bosnia and Herzegovina as Croatia's most important neighbour, describing the bilateral relations as friendly.

We share 1,000 kilometres of the joint borderline. According to some estimates, a third of Croatia's population has origins in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina is also one of our top trading partners, the Croatian president said explaining the reasons why he deemed Bosnia and Herzegovina as the most important neighbour.

Covic said that the status of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina was a strategic issue.

We must find ways to make sure that the Croat people, who are a constituent nation, is also on an equal footing (with the other two constituent peoples), Covic said.

Under the Dayton agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina has three constituent nations: Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Croats and Serbs.

 

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

War Crimes Court in Focus at UN Kosovo Debate (BIRN, By Nektar Zogjani, Gordana Andric, 29 August 2014)

At Friday's UN session on Kosovo, the formation of a special court to try war crimes committed by Kosovo Albanian fighters in the 1990s will be on the agenda.

The issue of a special court to try former Kosovo Albanian fighters is expected to feature in UN Security Council session that meets on Friday to discuss Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's latest quarterly report on Kosovo.

Petrit Selimi, Kosovo's outgoing deputy foreign minister, told BIRN that the report will also focus on the success of the last general elections in Kosovo, “because for the first time [ethnic Serbian] citizens from the northern part of Mitrovica took part.”

In the general elections held in June, the Serbian List, a Belgrade-backed party, won 5.22 per cent of the votes.

Ivica Dacic, Serbia's foreign minister, will meanwhile ask UN members to support the establishment of a special court to handle war crimes committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, in 1999.

According to the Serbian news agency Tanjug, Ban Ki-moon’s report will call on Pristina and the EU to form the special court at the beginning of the next year at the latest.

On a positive note, the report is also expected to praise Serbia's and Kosovo's commitment to the EU integration process, descriving it as a driving force towards the normalisation of relations between them.

In his previous report on Kosovo, the Secretary General welcomed steps taken towards the full establishment of new municipal governments in Serb-run northern Kosovo, following the local elections in 2013.

However, the report also noted challenges regarding implementation of the political agreement between Kosovo and Serbia on the future of the Serb-run north of Kosovo, in particular relating to the establishment of an association of Serbian municipalities in the north.

Hundreds of Bosnian Pupils Fail to Start School (BIRN, By Elvira M. Jukic, 1 September 2014)
Unresolved rows over school curriculums and unrepaired damage to buildings after major floods in May meant that hundreds of pupils missed the first day of the new school year.
Several dozen children from Vrbanjci near Banja Luka in Republika Srpska did not start school on September 1 due to their parents' boycott of the school system which does not allow Bosniaks to have their own curriculum at the local school uses the Serbian-language teaching programme.
Republika Srpska’s Education Minister Goran Mutabdzija said that the issue was being politicised ahead of elections in October and was causing Bosniak children to miss out on vital education.
"When the elections are over, these children will stay on the utter margins," Mutabdzija said.
The row began last year when a group of Bosniak parents from Konjevic Polje in eastern Bosnia protested that Republika Srpska did not allow Bosniak children to be taught under the Bosniak curriculum.
Even though they all speak essentially the same language, there are three different school curriculums in Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bosniak, Serb and Croat.
As Republika Srpska is dominated by Serbs, Bosniaks from places like Konjevic Polje and Vrbanjci decided to stop their children going to school until they are allowed to choose the Bosniak curriculum which differs in a few subjects such as history and language.
One of the political problems behind the boycott is that Republika Srpska officially does not recognise the term 'Bosnian language' but refers to it as 'the language of the Bosniak people', while in the Federation entity, where most of citizens as Bosniak and Croat, the term is used.
Dozens of pupils from the Konjevic Polje primary school did not finish the last school year because of the row, but instead went to classes at an improvised school in nearby Nova Kasaba, where they were given lessons by teachers from Sarajevo.
Because their parents' demands were not resolved, the children went to school in the same alternative classrooms on Monday.
Meanwhile in the Zenica-Doboj Canton, several schools did not open on time because they were not rebuilt after the devastating floods and landslides that hit the region in May.
Mirko Trifunovic, the Zenica-Doboj Cantonal Education Minister, said that ten schools in Maglaj were not ready to open on time because of the flood damage, as well as several other schools in the Zenica and Zepce area.
It is not yet clear when they will be able to begin lessons this term.

Croatia Threatens Serbia’s EU Path Over Wartime Missing (BIRN, Josip Ivanovic, 1 September 2014)

Zagreb said it could obstruct Serbia and other Balkan countries’ paths to EU membership if they do not provide more information about Croats who went missing during the 1991-95 war.

Croatia’s veterans minister Predrag Matic warned on Saturday that Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro must pass on all the information they have about missing Croats or Zagreb will attempt to block their way to the European Union.

“Some of our neighbours want to join some European associations... However, until they prove their honest intentions and provide us with the full information that we have reason to believe they have in Belgrade, Bosnia and Herzegovina and a part of it in Montenegro, Croatia will not allow their EU accession,” Matic said at an event to mark the International Day of the Disappeared in Zagreb.

“There are no higher priorities for any government than to finding out what happened to the people went missing during the [1991-95] war and burying them with dignity,” President Ivo Josipovic told relatives of missing persons at the same event.

“The relations with our neighbours will depend on the commitment of all of us in the search for missing persons,” he warned.

He said that around 18,000 Croats disappeared during the war, and 1,628 had still not been found.

On Friday, the presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia signed a landmark declaration aimed at speeding up the search for around 13,000 people from the region still missing from the 1990s conflicts.

The declaration is intended to boost cooperation between states and make the process of finding and identifying the bodies of the wartime dead less traumatic for their families, giving them rights to demand an investigation into the disappearance of their loved ones.

But Ljiljana Alvir, the head of the Associations of Families of Imprisoned and Missing Defenders of Croatia, questioned whether Serbian president Tomislav Nikolic was sincere in his promise to help find Croat victims.

“I saw that as one of the countless false promises we have seen in the past,” said Alvir.

 

In Bosnia's schools, three different people learn three different histories (WorldEurope, By Kristen Chick, 31 August 2014)

Two decades after Bosnia's brutal civil war ended, reconciliation is still out of reach. And the country's education system is only widening the divide.

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina — When Daniel Eror studied World War II in high school, his textbook included one sentence noting that the Croatian fascist Ustase regime ran a concentration camp during the war.

Only much later did Mr. Eror, now a university graduate, learn that the Jasenovac camp was the site of the murder of up to 100,000 people. He was shocked that his school had glossed over such a significant historical event.

“They were trying to hide it,” says Eror. "If we're talking about reconciliation we need to be honest."

Two decades after Bosnia's brutal civil war ended, reconciliation is still a dream, one the education system is pushing further away from reality. Bosnia Serbs, Bosniak Muslims and Croats typically study in schools with curricula tailored to their ethnic biases. World War II is hardly the only period that receives wildly different treatments depending on the school.

“If it's difficult to talk about the Second World War, you can imagine how difficult it is to talk about this recent war,” says Eror, who studied the Croat curriculum at a Catholic school.

Drifting apart

Bosnia's civil war ended with the Dayton Accords in 1995, which divided Bosnia into two largely autonomous entities, the mostly Serb Republika Srpska, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is populated mostly by Bosniak Muslims and Croats. Education policy has been in the hands of local governments since and consequently there are 13 ministries of education in Bosnia.

As a result, each ethnic group is taught a Bosniak-, Croat-, or Serb-specific curriculum, complete with its own textbooks, that often portray the other groups as aggressors and its own as victims. Serb textbooks describe the Ottoman period as a cruel time, while Bosniak textbooks call it a golden era. "National" history in the Serbian curricula is a history of Serb people and of Serbia, not of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Problems only multiply when dealing with recent history. Semir Hambo, who teaches history at a school in Sarajevo that uses the Bosniak curriculum, says textbooks and teachers skirt controversial issues by giving a simple overview with just facts. For example, when covering the civil war, “the main points of the war are (told), just enough so the children know it actually happened,” he says.

Many say this education system is pushing Bosnia's citizens further apart.

“If you don't have a common curriculum, if you don't agree about history, how can we make a modern political culture?” asks Dubravko Lovrenovic, a prominent historian and former deputy minister of education in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. “How can we create citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina? How can we talk about a common future? We can only talk about division.”

But politicians here seem to like the educational divide. Dr. Lovrenovic says he tried to implement a common curriculum in the Federation more than a decade ago, but was rejected by Croat-majority cantons.

Damir Marjanovic, who spent nearly a year as minister of education in Sarajevo Canton, says some politicians use the nationalist issue as an excuse  to avoid reforming any aspect of education, even the non-controversial subjects.

"A neutron is a neutron in any language," he says. But “most politicians are using the story about language, history, and religion to do nothing about chemistry and biology. It's a political issue."

Avoiding controversy

Katarina Batarilo-Henschen, a research fellow at the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research, says that teachers have been urged to use a multi-perspective approach, particularly for contested issues. And multiple attempts to improve textbooks have resulted in incremental changes, such as removing terms considered offensive or presenting contested issues in a less controversial way.

But the multi-perspective approach has been difficult to implement in classrooms, and significant problems remain with the texts, Dr. Batarilo-Henschen says.

Some nongovernmental organizations are trying get around the bureaucracy and politics by publishing supplemental workbooks for teachers.

The Center for Democracy and Reconstruction in Southeast Europe (CDRSEE) produced a booklet for history classrooms throughout the Balkans that uses primary sources to present differing perspectives on historical events, hoping to open students' minds and promote critical thinking. The organization is now in the process of producing a book that will cover more recent history, including the wars of the 1990s. The European Association of History Educators is also releasing a multi-perspective history workbook in Bosnia and other Balkan countries. Both organizations also conduct teacher training.

Batarilo-Henschen says such supplements and teacher trainings are beneficial. But she adds that the ideal solution may not be to force all students to use the same textbooks, but improve all curricula.

“I think it’s OK to have your own curriculum and your own history textbook," she says, but you have to use "the right approach to history teaching that will help you not to see the other one as a perpetrator, as an enemy.... [You have to teach] that many many events in history are being perceived differently from different views.”

 

 

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Media summaries are produced for the internal use of the United Nations Office in Belgrade, UNMIK and UNHQ. The contents do not represent anything other than a selection of articles likely to be of interest to a United Nations readership.