BHS / ENG

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Contact:
anisa@birn.eu.com

www.birn.ba

www.birn.eu.com

Current living place:
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Anisa Sućeska Vekić

Director BIRN BIH

  • My organization:
    BIRN (Balkan Investigative Reporting Network) BiH was established on a non-profit, philanthropic basis to support the development of high quality media and civil society in BiH, and thereby to contribute to the development of a citizenry fully active in the governance of its country. BIRN BiH places much emphasis in its work on the issue of dealing with the past, particularly justice for victims of war crimes committed during the 1992–95 war, since delay in doing so constitutes perhaps the greatest obstacle to BiH's recovery, development and European integration.
  • Examples of concrete activities I have organized/am organizing in the field of “dealing with the past”:

    The Justice Program - BIRN BIH aims at bridging the gap between judicial institutions, security organizations, local authorities and citizens of BiH through providing a timely, objective and reliable reporting about the crimes from the past and institutions and mechanisms competent to work on them. In 2006, BIRN BIH established the Justice Report, a specialized reporting agency dedicated to war crimes trials and dealing with the past. BIRN is the only organization in BiH which has noted down every single testimony and trial before the Department for War Crimes of the BiH Court from its inception to date, creating an archive of written reports about the trials before the Department for War Crimes of the BiH Court. In December 2009, BIRN started producing its first TV program on the fight against impunity.

  • Concrete challenges I am facing in my “dealing with the past”-related work:
    • Lack of transparency of judicial institutions
    • Lack of responsibility of media and reporting on subjects of dealing with the past
    • Political influence on media and judiciary
    • Lack of equate education and capacity of media to follow and deal with this topic
    • Low number of donors supporting the activities in this field in the Balkans.
  • My personal link to/interest for the topic of “dealing with difficult pasts”:
    As a director and one of the founders of the BIRN Justice Program, I have participated in all program activities of BIRN in BiH, but also initiated regional program of transitional justice before the BIRN Regional Network which encompasses the monitoring of war crimes trials, analysis and investigative reporting in all countries of former Yugoslavia. I believe that the processes of dealing with the past are key to establishing basic progress, economic development, education and this, all social processes which lead to the strengthening of trust between people in the Balkans, at the same time strengthening states in any other aspect.