MIP launches new cycle of workshops for history educators in Bosnia and Herzegovina

On 17 September 2022, the Mechanism Information Programme for Affected Communities (MIP) held a training exercise and workshop on the use of the ICTY and Mechanism archives for 25 history teachers from across Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The event was organised in cooperation with the European Association of History Educators (EUROCLIO) and the Sarajevo Information Centre on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and was held at the premises of the Information Centre in Sarajevo City Hall. Its aim was to train the participating teachers on how to effectively use judicially-established facts when creating educational material related to the 1990s conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.

In addition to the participating history teachers and MIP focal points, 10 representatives of history teachers’ associations from across the former Yugoslavia took part in the workshop, providing a valuable regional perspective in creating educational materials.

Through these workshops, history educators not only enhance their skills in researching the courts’ archives, but also expand their knowledge of the events of the 1990s conflicts, the crimes committed, and the adjudication of these crimes before the ICTY and the Mechanism. Once trained, these teachers and educators are better equipped to develop fact-based and engaging lectures about the region’s recent past, using documents and judicially-established facts from both ICTY and Mechanism cases.

Since 2019, more than 500 history teachers from the region of the former Yugoslavia have participated in such MIP trainings. Further, as a result of follow-up workshops held by the MIP, the teachers have utilised their knowledge by preparing and delivering more than 350 lectures for high school students. In some countries, this has presented an historic breakthrough and has opened new platforms for innovative local and regional initiatives to explore using the legacy of the ICTY and the Mechanism for educational purposes.

Trainings on the use of the ICTY and Mechanism archives for history educators form part of the wider MIP, which is funded by the European Union. The aim of the MIP is to improve the knowledge and understanding of citizens and communities in the countries of the former Yugoslavia about the crimes committed during the conflicts of the 1990s, based on ICTY and Mechanism cases.