Democracy and Human Rights

The uproar raised in the general public by the rare attempts, even in the critical media,to move the events at Košare from the mythical framework into the field of political discussion, indicates that the dominant narrative about this event corresponds to the needs of significant parts of society, as well as that it goes beyond the public’s views of the current regime. In this sense, one can speak of the constitution of a new political myth that relies on the already existing cultural framework and political discourses.

This publication is a Report on illegal actions against queer people in 2022, which Da se zna! has documented during this period. The structure of the documented illegal actions still shows that safeguarding the right to physical and psychological integrity remains the queer community's greatest challenge, while the scope of discrimination has reduced, or the need to report it has lessened. 

After the devastating wars on the territory of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in recent decades, we have observed that the (re)construction of national historiographies is also driving societies further and further apart. Despite the gloomy picture drawn in this publication, coming to terms with the region’s traumatic history could be an essential contribution to European unification. With this publication, we hope to provide an impulse to that end.

 This publication is a report on illegal incidents aimed against queer persons which took place in 2021, which Da se zna! has registered during this period. The Report segregates data from reports on these incidents so as to include an analysis of: the source of the incident report; the location where the incident happened; the type of injury sustained by the survivor, their personal characteristics and their intersection, as well as the status of the reported incident in process before the authorities.

Recommendations and expectations for German and European policy. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has direct and significant implications for the Western Balkans. The lack of a consistent and convincing EU perspective and U.S. engagement in the region opened up space for other actors and scenarios aimed at recomposing the Western Balkans as well as promoted regressive tendencies throughout the region.

In addition to detailing instances of hate-motivated incidents against LGBT+ people in Serbia between 2017 and 2020, this report also provides a legal and social context for the Serbian judicial system's treatment of these issues (or lack thereof).

For the past three decades, Western Balkan countries have been going through a dynamic period of consolidation of new states, economic transition and transformation of social values. This process of regional and internal consolidation is unfinished and the legacy of conflict is still powerful; yet the outlook of EU accession is the one positive project offering a perspective to societies and economies while settling the wounds of the past.

In 2020, a number of international conferences and talks marking the 25th anniversary of the Dayton Accords brought the country back into the international spotlight. On this occasion, the Heinrich Böll Foundation's office in Sarajevo captured numerous voices on how to deal with the dysfunctional system.

Recent developments in Southeastern Europe are diminishing the image of the European Union and its perspective of the region. The long history of the dispute over the history of the region of Macedonia, the identity of ethnic Macedonians and the question of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria is threatening the EU integration of North Macedonia, but also the entire Western Balkan 6.

“In the midst of the pandemic, Kosovo became a country left with a caretaker government, crippled parliamentary competencies and entered a new political crisis” - An insight into the current situation in Kosovo.

This analytical report presents the results of research of political orientation of political parties and voters in Serbia in the period preceding parliamentary elections held in the spring of 2020. The analysis is based on data gathered through implementation of complex methodology set created by Netherlands based company Kieskompass.

Rarely, if ever, has a genocide been as normalized as the genocide against the Bosniaks. It is a process which began simultaneously with the genocide itself—not only with the expansive cover-up campaign of its perpetrators, but with the rhetorical onslaught of minimization undertaken by the international community.

This report is our Office's contribution to a wider effort by the Heinrich Böll Foundation to utilise its international network to produce global, values-based insights into the way various governments and political and economic systems have handled the COVID-19 crisis, and what its consequences might be.

This publication analyzes Serbia’s secondary school students’ statements and value orientations on a range of important issues, and compares the results to a similar study conducted in 2011.

As the EU’s focus has shifted away from the region, the situation in the Western Balkans has deteriorated. In addition to Russia and China, the Western press has frequently highlighted Turkey being particularly interested in exerting its influence, which could potentially disrupt the EU’s approach in the region. But how much, in reality, is Turkey willing, ready and able to influence the countries of the Western Balkans? This paper will try to provide a summary of relevant issues regarding Turkey’s position in the Western Balkans as a baseline for discussion at the upcoming November 6th roundtable in Belgrade.

The problem of civic, legal and political emancipation of Jews in 19th century European societies is one of the critical processes in modern European history. What was the status of Jews in 19th-century Principality of Serbia, and how does it compare to other countries in the broader European perspective? This brochure attempts to provide a concise answer to this question, emphasizing the singular position and role that the citizens of a town in Serbia played in the process of Jewish emancipation at one point in history.

The richness of the multilayered historical reality, the authentic multicultural context of everyday life and the specific regional peculiarities of Albanian-Serbian relations in Kosovo have been unjustly simplified for decades by being reduced to episodes of intense interethnic violence. Even a casual conversation with people from both ethnic communities in Kamenica, Gnjilane, Šilovo and Ranilug reveals a more complex picture of mutual relations. From the perspective of ordinary people, the memory of coexistence and a common life together, mutual respect and tolerance in socialist Yugoslavia and in the aftermath of the 1999 war in Kosovo prevails over the notions about ethnic distrust and ethnically motivated violence.

Twenty years on from the Kosovo War, the collective memory of both parties in the conflict remains burdened by myths and incontestable truths about what actually took place. The process of reconciliation and building longstanding peace is being undermined, primarily, by political elites in both countries, whose populist policies amplify the prejudices between Kosovar Albanians and Serbs. In this issue of Perspectives we aim to highlight the fact that Kosovo is not just a toponym, but a country burdened by its recent violent history, where common people are struggling to rebuild the broken societies that the conflict has left behind.

The “Strategy Group for a political, societal and economic European integration of the Western Balkans Six” is a group of legal, historical and political researches from all WB6 countries organized by Heinrich Böll Stiftung’s Belgrade, Sarajevo and Berlin offices. Its aim is to credibly advocate for a more effective European integration of the Balkans in European as well as Balkan capitals.