ENCOURAGING CIVIC ACTIVISM IN SANDŽAK

Project leader: Aleksandar Resanović
Financing: HEKS, Switzerland

This three-year programme (2003-2005) should, in the long run, contribute to the respect for human rights and freedoms, development of better inter-ethnic relations and tolerance, preservation of national and religious differences, and development of the culture of peaceful conflict resolution. In the short run, the aim of the programme is to enable efficient implementation of international-legal standards for the protection of national minority rights, contribute to the spreading of knowledge of human rights and national minority rights and efficient implementation of legal standards in local environments, as well as to inform the public of the status and problems of members of national communities in Sandžak and possible directions for the resolution of these problems.

Programme activity fields are the following: 1. Local self-government, 2. Regionalisation, 3. Inter-ethnic relations, 4. Religious relations, 5. Education and
religious instruction in schools, 6. The use of language and alphabet in education, information and work of state authorities and courts, 7. Lustration, 8. Management and local self-government, 9. Inter-town and inter-municipal cooperation, 10. Status of women in society, 11. Direction of future economic development, especially of smallscale economy, 12. Representation of members of national communities in public services, and 13. Promotion of the position of rural population.

Basic forms for implementing these activities are: round tables, workshops, educational seminars, programmes on local electronic media and legal counselling.

In the first one-year stage of this three-year programme emphasis was placed on the following fields: inter-town and inter-municipal cooperation, inter-ethnic relations, education and religious instruction in schools, future economic development, especially of small-scale economy, and lustration, particularly in the police and state administration.

In the six months of the first one-year stage 11 activities have been carried out (round tables, workshops and educational seminars).