- Program Civil Society
- Program Area Special Initiatives
- Grant Amount $54,000
- Grant Period July 1, 2005–June 30, 2007
- Location Sarajevo, Bosnia And Herzegovina
- Geographic Focus Bosnia and Herzegovina
About this grant
The success of democracy in the Western Balkans depends upon its ability to address the past. Unresolved issues of blame, responsibility, acknowledgement and justice regarding the conflicts during the 1990s deeply divide societies and communities along ethnic and national lines and complicate the democratization process. The goal of the Research and Documentation Center Sarajevo is to develop a permanent institute for documentation and research of war crimes and human rights abuses in Bosnia and Herzegovina.Multiyear funding will enable the center to compile a list of victims; document war crimes and human rights abuses through oral histories; monitor war crime trials in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region; support victims and witnesses participating in war crime trials and other truth-telling forums; develop a database and information system to manage information archives; provide training and education for students, human rights activists, educational institutions and other non-governmental organizations; raise public awareness through the media; and increase cooperation with partner organizations in Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro.The center was established in 2004 to continue the work of the State War Crimes Commission, which was to investigate and gather facts, documents and data about genocide, war crimes and human rights violations during the war in Bosnia.