Lejla Mamut
Human Rights Coordinator, Track Impunity Always (TRIAL)
- My organization:
TRIAL has been dedicated to the fight against impunity that individuals who have committed or participated in international crimes (genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture, enforced disappearances) too often enjoy. In doing so, it has devoted a great deal of energy towards defending the interests of victims of these crimes before the appropriate legal bodies.
- Examples of concrete activities I have organized/am organizing in the field of “dealing with the past”:
TRIAL files individual claims on behalf of victims of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina whose suffering is being prolonged by the inaction of local authorities and state institutions to the European Court for Human Rights and the UN Committees. In this way TRIAL aspires to help improve the situation of the victims and pressure the state institutions to resolutely act in order to help these victims. In this way, by addressing the suffering of the victims of gross human rights violations and their relatives, and by helping in establishing the facts about what happened during and following the war, ACT prepares the ground for other reconciliation and long-term peace-building efforts to take place.
- Concrete challenges I am facing in my “dealing with the past”-related work:
- Victims associations are unwilling to cooperate with ACT for different reasons;
- Trustees of associations are not willing to have their cases brought before the ECHR or the UN Committees which speaks about the lack of action and will of people who have been victimized for years;
- The media in Bosnia and Herzegovina do not pay sufficient attention to the work of ACT and the plight of the victims due to the existence of other topics which are more interesting and sexy for readers and editors;
- Government representatives lack willingness to work on the improvement of the situation of victims of war.
- My personal link to/interest for the topic of “dealing with difficult pasts”:
My view is that this process is a most important thing for the future generations living in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a future citizen of this country and a professional dealing with the topic, I have a strong connection to it and a need to do everything in my power to contribute to it in different ways. It is my strong will and personal choice to work on this topic through the NGO sector which can be the only driving force for this process in a society where state institutions are lacking the interest and capacity for it.
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