No Smear Campaign Can Stop the Dialogue in the Region

In the twenty years of the work of Youth Initiative for Human Rights, we were committed to dealing with the past by advocating for the rights of victims and dedicating ourselves to respect of the established facts. In light of the misuse of the video created during our exchange program ”This is Kosovo” in early 2015, that targets one of the programme’s participants, Djordje Bojovic, we feel the need to address this issue.

We deeply believe that young people have the right to ask questions they are interested in, to express their opinions, and to question dominant narratives imposed by the political elites. Their role in dealing with the past is also to build a democratic culture that is inclusive, and allows conversations that respect the victims. Young people who participate in our programs have the right to engage in debates with stakeholders and ask questions.

As YIHR Network we stand with our former colleague and an activist Đorđe Bojović who was part of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights. We strongly believe that such attacks are wrong, damaging and should not be tolerated.

YIHR will always stand with young people in our visiting programs asking difficult questions and engaging in debates with politicians and institutions. No smear campaign can stop the dialogue in the region. We will fight any of the attempts to do so, as we did for the past twenty years.

YIHR Regional Network:

YIHR Kosovo

YIHR Croatia

YIHR Bosnia and Herzegovina

YIHR Montenegro

YIHR Serbia