|
|
|
|
|
|
Special Report |
LAST UPDATE June 9, 2007
|
|
| site design imagesparkle.com |
| April 19, 2007 |
Balkan International Students – Sabina Cudic and Maja Stojanovic |
|
| |
 |
| Guest Educator Jan Kulenovic with International Students Sabina Cudic and Maja Stojanovic (L-R) |
Between Kenya and Spain, Sabina Cudic from Bosnia and Maja Stojanovic from Serbia joined Peace Boat to carry out discussions and to talk about the current issues facing young people in regions affected by the Balkan conflict. Peace Boat offers this leadership training programme to active youth to give them the opportunity to exchange ideas and participate in reconciliation and conflict prevention workshops.
As a political science assistant at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology, Sabina Cudic has experience in working with youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the challenges that come with this. “The outdated higher education system discourages students from participating in public discourse, structural problems are accompanied by generally passive and apolitical youth. Young people need to be a part of a learning cycle where they are active participants and not only passive recipients and observers of the educational process.” Some people say that the peace in Bosnia is a superficial one, because people are living life but the war wounds still remain. The war’s aftereffects impact the youth even today. |
site design imagesparkle.com |
 |
| Sabina and Maja give a talk on the Yugoslav conflict |
An outline of the effects the Balkan conflict has had on young people:
Approximately 67% of young people want to leave the country
Unemployment is high, among the highest in Europe
Education system is severely outdated and ethnically divided
Students are paying dues for wars they did not fight
No education law on a national level – there is no consensus even though a law was drafted
Some possible solutions to existing problems include:
Dialogue and debate in education
Dealing with the past in order to have a common future
Argument above authority
New models of education
Critical and logical thinking
Inclusion of students in the decision making |
| |
 |
| Maja in a play on conflict with Peace Boat participants and staff |
Unemployment is a problem in both Serbia and Bosnia. In 2005, 47.7% of young Bosnians were unemployed, almost three times higher than European Union (EU) countries. Maja Stojanovic, a computer science student from Serbia, reiterated that the poor education system greatly contributes to unemployment. In addition to social issues, the young people and their general outlook also pose an obstruction to employment. “The problem we face every day is apathy of those people whose attitudes and thinking could lead us to civil, modern society. Young people in Serbia have to take responsibility and start to influence important issues in our country in order to foster changes that will lead to resolution of everyday life problems and obstacles.” |
| |
 |
| IS with participant Hiroshi Maruta in an informal chat session |
On Peace Boat, Sabina and Maja joined internal sessions where they tried to explain to the other what was happening in their region, from the basics to the more complex. They tried to understand the differences of various sides of the conflict. What is different? What is the same? Jasna Basnic, journalist and facilitator of the IS programme, guided them to consider practical ways they can contribute to conflict resolution. Sabina says, “the learning part goes both ways, as we taught the [Peace Boat] participants about our parts of the world we also learned about them. All of you forced us to think about our conflict objectively, to express our conflicts to people who didn’t have the same background as us.” Both Sabina and Maja plan to work together in future projects, including Maja visiting Sabina’s university to give a series of lectures on Serbia and youth issues. |
| |
|
|
|
