The partner organizations – Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Republika Srpska and Center for Equitable Regional Development – CenTriR, in the period from December 20-22, 2013, organized a seminar for 32 high school students from eight border municipalities and cities in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia at the Hotel “Park” in Ruma.

The aim of the seminar in Ruma was to provide the group of 32 high school students from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia with the chance to expand the knowledge and skills acquired during the first seminar organized in Bijeljina within the project “Youth – Most Important Driving Engine of our Region.” During the previous seminar in Bijeljina,  high schools students  from Bijeljina, Orasje, Gradacac, Doboj-Istok, Ruma, Indjija, Sremska Mitrovica and Stara Pazova were taught about human rights, the rights of national minorities and mechanisms for their protection, the concepts of interculturalism and multiculturalism, stereotypes and prejudice, non-violent communication and peaceful conflict resolution.

At the seminar organized in Ruma the participants discussed youth policies, activism and volunteerism, in order to define the actual problems in their local communities and to encourage others to be active in civil society. The participants of the seminar also had the opportunity to get informed on the results of the research conducted among the secondary school students in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia on the effectiveness of the mechanisms for the improvement of the status of young people in local communities, which was conducted during July – October of 2013. With the support of lecturers and a moderator a special attention was paid to the preparation of local action plans which the participants of the seminar will implement in their local communities in 2014. The action plans which were created according to the previously identified problems in the involved local communities will be realized in cooperation with Youth Commissions/Youth Offices and local authorities from respective local communities.

The funding for the project was secured by the European Union under the IPA Cross-border Programme Serbia – Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Additional information can be found here

Students about seminars held in Bijeljina and Ruma – Video: CenTriR i YouTube

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