A round table discussion Education for Reconciliation: the Role of Education in the Process of Determining Responsibility and the Reconciliation Process was held in the National Library of Kosovo on Monday, 24^th March, 2014. At the round table, organized by the HumanitarianLawCenter and the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo, a collection of papers written by RegionalTransitionalJusticeSchool students was presented.  The round table was opened by Adriatik Kelmendi, journalist and professor at the AABUniversity in Pristina, and Bekim Blakaj, executive director of the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo.

Participants in the discussion raised several important questions, such as the need to introduce a transitional justice programme into mainstream higher education, the relationship between formal and informal programmes of this type, and what kind of educational materials should be used in teaching such programmes. Particular emphasis was placed on the role of the younger generations in the process of dealing with the past and on the need for education in the field of transitional justice within mainstream educational institutions.

The publication entitled “Collection of Papers by Regional Transitional Justice School Students” was presented by Genc Nimoni and Florent Spahija, attendees at the first Regional School for Transitional Justice.  In their papers, the students analysed a range of themes pertaining to the process of dealing with the past and transitional justice, such as the memorialisation processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, war crimes trials before the ICTY and Kosovo courts and the contents of history textbooks in BiH and Serbia.

You can download “Collection of Papers by Regional Transitional Justice School Students” here.

One of the objectives of the Regional Schools, organized for two years in a row by the Humanitarian Law Center, the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo and the Lawyers’ Association from Sarajevo, and in the context of which the round table discussions have been held, is to advocate for the introduction of transitional justice programmes based on facts about war crimes, into the mainstream academic institutions.

You can see a documentary on the Regional School for Transitional Justice here.