Representative of the ICTY’s Outreach Programme, Nenad Golčevski, today held a presentation about the Outreach Youth Project, designed for young people in the former Yugoslavia, before the full hall of the “Vladislav Ribnikar” Primary School in Belgrade. The presentation was attended by 40 high school teachers from throughout Serbia, as well as representatives of the Serbian Ministry of Education who organised this event, including Snežana Marković, Assistant Minister for High School Education.
Nenad informed the teachers about the project activities implemented so far and the content of the presentations held by Outreach in high schools in the region over the last four years. The aim of this meeting was to open a dialogue with high school teachers in Serbia, to hear their opinion and assessment of this project, as well as to get feedback about their possible interest for the presentations about the Tribunal’s work to be organised in high schools in Serbia.
The teachers were very interested in the presentation, especially in the footage of testimonies and guilty pleas. Following the presentation, they asked numerous questions, both about the project and the work and achievements of the Tribunal.
The teachers wanted to know whether the representatives of the Outreach Programme had encountered a situation during their high school presentations in which a student was directly affected by the topics through, for example, a connection with the victims or the perpetrators of the crimes discussed. Nenad explained that such situations have occurred, and that in such cases all students present showed an even greater interest in the topic. He also added that this shows the importance of presenting this topic to high school students in a systematic way, along with the need to openly and directly talk to them about the work of the Tribunal, fully respecting their position, to further develop their critical thinking.
The Outreach Programme will, in cooperation with the Serbian Ministry of Education, continue its efforts to include Serbian high school students in its Outreach Youth Project. This will allow students to find out more about the work of the Tribunal, international humanitarian law and the transitional justice process through direct contact with representatives of the ICTY.