POSITION OF CITIZEN AND CIVIL RIGHTS IN SERBIA

Kragujevac, October 18 – 22, 2006

12/08/2006

The 32nd in the series of “Schools of Democracy”

The project “Building up Democracy and Good Governance in Multiethnic Communities,” realized thanks to the support of the European Commission – Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights

The same as other young people attending schools of democracy and seminars over the past three years, 19 students of Kragujevac secondary schools and gymnasia spoke highly of the course’s curricula and keynote speakers. According to them, what added special quality to educational outreaches as such were the opportunities to speak one’s mind, discuss the topics that attract their attention, keynote speakers’ understanding, new information obtained, etc. All of them also said they would miss those schools once the project was over. “Such schools are, in a way, my window onto the world…I don’t have a PC or access to the Internet, I have no money to buy papers or to travel. This school helped me to better understand the community I live in, world developments and other peoples’ way of living. It might sound stupid but that was a most precious experience for me,” said a trainee.

Ksenija Lazovic discussed the topic “Identity and Differences in Serbia” with the trainees on the first day. Her experience from post-graduate studies attended on three different continents motivated young people to pose scores of questions and thus extend the original topic to the issue of identity and differences throughout the world. Deprived of traveling opportunities and mostly uninformed about other states, nations and cultures, the trainees seized the occasion to obtain answers to scores of questions – ranging from lifestyles and education of young people in faraway lands, through various political systems to relations between different peoples and different religious, and the modes of overcoming differences.

Next day the trainees talked with Branislav Kovacevic about the issue the issue “closer and more familiar” to them – the position of a citizen and civil rights in Serbia. Interestingly, though many of them were under age, the trainees were most interested in the referendum campaigning and the draft constitution that were in the focus of public attention in Serbia at that time.

The third day was dedicated to trafficking in human beings. The trainees listened with attention to the information about the number of victims of human trafficking, its modes and channels, psychological profiles of both victims and traffickers, and the relevant situation in Serbia and the region. Their dilemmas mostly related to distinction between prostitution and forceful exploitation, legal aspects of children’s trafficking for all forms of exploitation and some ethnic groups and communities’ customs of selling children. Given that violence marks all types of human trafficking, the great majority of the trainees’ questions and considerations dealt with state mechanisms for abating violence that is, as they put it, widespread in Serbia.

Young sociologist Ivan Kuzminovic based his introductory address on three books – “The Origins of Totalitarianism” by Hannah Arendt, “ Hitler’s Voluntary Executioners” by Goldhagen and “Ordinary People” by Browning. The purpose of his lecture was to present young people with certain facts about people and events that marked the 20th century. In this context, he explained the notions such as Holocaust, anti-Semitism, ethnic stereotypes, authority, totalitarianism, elites, etc. The processes that have enthroned Hitler and triggered off the Holocaust and war are, unfortunately, similar to those taking place in Serbia in 1990s, said the keynote speaker. The trainees showered him with questions, particularly about the wars in the territory of ex-Yugoslavia.

On the last day, Ljiljana Palibrk broached stereotypes and ethnic prejudice, and the manner they are being misused for political purposes.

HCHRS

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