Transitional justice is a key component of rebuilding a society after conflict.  It can punish perpetrators for their crimes, deter future crimes through fear of punishment, help families reconcile with the past and the crimes committed against family members.  But at the same time, transitional justice is also surrounded by a lot of debate.  How is justice adequately served in a post-conflict environment?  Does “too much justice” cause a country to dwell on the past for too long?  Is any form of punishment enough for a soldier that killed hundreds of civilians?  How do you ensure that trials aren’t a sham and just for show?

For those of you unfamiliar with transitional justice in the former Yugoslavia, here is some background.  Numerous atrocities were committed against civilians during the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990′s.  In order to prosecute perpetrators of war crimes, the United Nations Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1993.  ICTY has jurisdiction dating back to 1991 for all the territories of the former Yugoslavia.  The four crimes that it can prosecute are grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, violations of the laws or customs of war, genocide and crimes against humanity.

While the international community has generally deemed the ICTY as successful, an international tribunal is usually only one component of a country’s reconciliation with the past.  Serbia has tried to further its own transitional justice by also establishing a Special Court for War Crimes in Belgrade, the country’s capital.  While the ICTY prosecutes mainly high-level officials, the Special Court focuses on middle and low-level officials.

So far I have been able to attend two sessions of the Special Court in Belgrade.  It’s definitely exciting that I’ve been able to view such an important component of transitional justice in former Yugoslavia.  For now I will focus on the session I attended on Wednesday, June 10^th.  The session lasted about five hours and consisted of only one witness giving his testimony about events that took place in Zvornik in Eastern Bosnia.  In June 1992, 700 Muslims, including women and children, were killed in Zvornik.  Branko Papovic was the commander on trial for these crimes, while Dragutin Ilic was the witness providing testimony.  Papovic had been a commander in the Yuglosav People’s Army (JNA) in Eastern Bosnia and Ilic took over for him in June 1992.

During the trial, Ilic was asked about the Batkovic concentration camp in Bosnia.  His answer was pretty amusing as he claimed that he helped coordinate the camp in order to protect Muslims, rather than to execute them.  Anyone that knows anything about the Holocaust or any one of the numerous genocides that have taken place in our sad history, knows that concentration camps are never used for people’s protection.  His answer was enraging while at the same time humorous.  Did he really think he would get off the hook by acting oblivious in such a silly way?

Ilic also said that the 700 Muslims that were killed in Zvornik must have been armed.  Otherwise, the JNA would not have killed them.  Again, we know that when victims include a large number of women and children as they did in Zvornik, they are generally considered to be a civilian population.  Regardless, even the Muslim men in this situation were not armed, but instead murdered because of their identities.  While Ilic was not the one on trial, he still lost any chance of getting sympathy from trial attendees because of the outrageous comments he made.  If he had at least shown some honesty and remorse, we might be able to sympathize.  But the fact that he continued to deny knowledge of these crimes, or tried to justify the JNA’s actions, just made him more abhorrent.

Another important aspect of the trial was that it was taking place 17 years after the crimes were allegedly committed.  While justice delayed is better than no justice at all, it is sad that victims and their families have to wait so many years for justice to be served.  To have to wait 17 years and to continually relive the evils committed against them is unfair.  Here’s an example of why trials take so long: another witness was supposed to give testimony after Ilic, but due to time constraints, the judge rescheduled his testimony.  While that’s not a big deal, it is a big deal that his testimony was postponed until September 7^th!  That’s about a three month delay for just one person’s testimony.  I also worry about the accuracy of testimonies about events that took place so long ago.

Still, the Special Court is definitely a step in the right direction.  While international courts like the ICTY are really important and help increase the legitimacy of international law, we need to help post-conflict countries become self-sufficient and develop domestic capabilities for adequate transitional justice.

However, implementing international and domestic courts is not enough for a country to move forward.  In Serbia, there are many officials that were in power during Milosevic’s regime that are still in power now (for information on Milosevic, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slobodan_Milo%C5%A1evi%C4%87).  That’s a big problem that will not be solved by either the international or domestic court.  Such officials need to be taken out of power in order for the country to truly move past its evils.

I attended a session of the Special Court for War Crimes yesterday and definitely want to tell you all about it.  However, some events and conversations took place yesterday that raised many questions in my head about the lifestyles of activists.  I won’t go into detail about what stirred these questions, but I will tell you that I have a lot more questions than answers for this post.

An activist generally has a passion for something and is dedicated to bringing about change, whether that change is about a specific issue or an issue that engages society as a whole.  But unlike many other careers in which you can have a distinct work etiquette and distinct out-of-work lifestyle, the lines are a lot more blurred when you work as an activist.  In other words, at what point does an activists’ personal lifestyle become hypocritical and contradictory towards his or her work. 

For example, it may be obvious that an advocate working for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) who conducts demonstrations against animal cruelty probably should not be wearing leather boots to work.  But what about the receptionist at the PETA office?  Is it hypocritical of her to work at PETA and be wearing leather boots over the weekend?  Or to take a better example, what about an activist that is trying to lower the consumption of fast food, and thus obesity, but occasionally indulges in a meal at McDonalds’s?  Or what about an institute dedicated to democracy that does not have a democratic structure with in its own organization?  If you think about it, it’s pretty difficult to have democratic systems at the organizations we work at.  We have been taught over and over again that we need leaders in order to get things done.  And generally, organization leaders are not elected based on an employee vote. 

There’s also the situation in which an activist believes in changing the world on many facets, but only changes his or her lifestyle in a few of the issue areas.  While activists generally want to do all good things for the world, can one person transform his or her life drastically enough to be contributing to all the causes he or she believes in?  Is it necessary to be living in harmony with every single one of one’s beliefs?  Are activists hypocritical when they make choices that are not directly in line with their advocacy and viewpoints, or is everyone allowed to have their vices?  Is this all a matter of personal choice?  At what point do we draw the line? 

As I said, I don’t really have the answers to these questions, but invite you to comment and tell me your thoughts.  I’ll fill you in on the Special Court soon!

When was the last time that you went three days without being able to use your cell phone or access internet?  Well that was me this weekend in Leskovac (pronounced Les-ka-witz).  In Leskovac, I attended a three day conference hosted by Women in Black Belgrade and attended by individuals from the larger Women in Black Network.  We left Friday morning by car and got plenty lost before finally finding our way to Leskovac.

Upon arrival, we met with activists from the WIB Network and participated in an anti-military demonstration.  This demonstration consisted of activists holding banners promoting peace, illustrating the hierarchical nature of the military and showing that the military can be broken down.  During the demonstration, WIB created a pyramid using boxes that listed names of various war-torn countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, The Sudan, etc.  One by one, activists removed a box from the pyramid until it eventually tumbled down, conveying that militarism can be conquered.

After this show of anti-militarism, WIB activists marched around town exhibiting other symbols of peace.  For example, at one point they walked under a caterpillar costume, each activist being a bump of the caterpillar.  Through this the activists were illustrating that while peace processes may be slow, peace does eventually come and win over evil.  The activists also displayed a military parachute that was decorated with peace symbols illustrating that the military should be rebuilt into an instrument of peace.

After this creative demonstration ended, we packed ourselves into a bus and headed up into the mountains to reach our hotel, where we also lost all connectivity with the outside world.  We spent the rest of the day attending a WIB workshop on alternatives to militarism.  During the workshop, we broke into groups and debated what alternatives to militarism that countries could use and discussed them with the larger network that was present.  The international attendees, including me, tried to participate as much as we could with the help of translators.  Whoever told me that I didn’t need to learn Serbian to come to Belgrade was wrong. J  I’m hoping to learn enough to get around in the next few weeks.

Workshops continued for the rest of the weekend and engaged women and male activists from the network.  But the highlight of the weekend was the party held on Saturday night.  That’s when the women of WIB let loose and danced the night away.  Since the majority of the women are in their fifties and sixties, I didn’t expect much dancing to go on.  But they surprised me.  There was definitely more hip-shaking than I expected.  I was shocked by how much energy they all had, but another activist explained to me that their energy came “from their pain.”

So on Sunday, after a few more workshops, our weekend in Leskovac came to an end.  Before it was over, Donna and I got invited to the homes of many activists whom we could stay with while doing work outside of Belgrade.  We’re going to be interviewing many WIB activists, both in and outside of Belgrade, so we’ll probably be taking them up on their offers soon.  I’ll keep you updated on how it goes!

I landed in Belgrade yesterday and I’m currently sitting in the Women in Black (WIB) office!  I haven’t seen too much of the city yet but have gotten glimpses on the way from the airport and on the way to the office.  It seems like a nice city but it will take some time to get used to and some time to get to know my way around.  I can already tell that it will be a challenge being a pescetarian here!

Donna (my co-fellow) and I are currently staying with Jennifer, who also works at Women in Black.  We are going apartment hunting today and tomorrow and hoping to have something set by this weekend.  But let’s see how long it takes.

I slept for about 12 hours last night to get over my jet-lag, but I’m apparently still tired.  I think it’ll take a few days to get adjusted.  But right now I’m enjoying a cup of black coffee (another thing that will take me time to get used to!) that was just given to me.  In Belgrade it is assumed that if you’re at the office, you want a cup of coffee at multiple points in the day.

I came into the office briefly yesterday but today will be my first full day.  I’m going to be spending a good part of my day reading through Women in Black’s literature to get myself more acquainted with the organization.  I have yet to meet Stasa, who founded the Belgrade division of Women in Black, but I have met other office staff and I’m already looking forward to working with them.  Once I meet and sit down with Stasa, my priorities and responsibilities for the next two months should become clearer.

But I’m already excited for this weekend because we’ll be making a trip with WIB to South Serbia on Friday.  WIB will be conducting street performances and a series of educational seminars on militarism and women’s fight against militarism around the world.  Donna and I will be documenting their efforts this weekend and bringing them to light in the U.S.  I can’t wait to see, and be part of, my first Women in Black on-the-street demonstration!

I’m sure I’ll have lots to share with you this weekend from South Serbia, and even next week once I’m all settled in and have time to explore Belgrade.  Will keep you posted!

Street Corner

Street Corner

I have had the honor of being selected as a 2009 Peace Fellow for The Advocacy Project (AP).  Through this fellowship I will have the opportunity to intern with an anti-violence woman’s organization called Women in Black, located in Belgrade, Serbia.  This fellowship will allow me to have many experiences that I have wanted.  First, it will give me the opportunity to work for an organization dedicated to both the empowerment of women and to the enhancement of their role in peace processes.  Second, it will provide me with international experience in a country that has suffered from tumultuous times and that is still recovering from bad leadership and genocide.  Finally, it will provide me with my first practical experience in the non-profit and human rights sectors.

I’m currently in Washington DC for AP training and I’m really excited to start working for Women in Black next week.  I leave on Monday, June 1st for my flight to Belgrade.  I won’t deny that I’m starting to get some jitters about being away from home for two and a half months.  But at the same time, I’m sure this trip will be a wonderful experience and a great chance to learn remarkable things about the human rights field.  It will also be an enhancement to the Masters in Global Affairs that I’m currently attaining at New York University.

I hope you will follow me and my experiences in Belgrade through this blog.  A major objective of mine is to spread awareness about the women of Serbia and the ambitions they have for their country.  By taking the time out to read this blog, you will be helping me realize my goal.  I arrive in Belgrade on June 2nd and plan on blogging soon upon arrival.  Stay tuned!

Looking forward to my trip!

Belgrade, Serbia