Bihać, 12 February 2013
In the midst of a snow-storm in the north-west Bosnian town of Bihać, the local Gymnasium offered a warm welcome to Outreach representative Almir Alić, who met with a group of fourth-year students to discuss the work of the ICTY.
Bihać was greatly affected by the conflict in BiH and the students were keen to engage in discussion with Almir, voicing a collective opinion that all war criminals should be brought to justice, no matter which side of the conflict they came from.
Almir introduced the students to the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), which will take over responsibility for certain judicial functions from the ICTY once the Tribunal closes its doors. He also explained about some of the MICT’s other important tasks, such as the preservation and management of the ICTY’s archives, the protection of victims and witnesses, and the supervision of enforcement of sentences.
The students were eager to hear about Almir’s experiences from similar school presentations in other ethnic communities, and were glad to learn that their contemporaries across the ethnic divide also agreed that bringing war criminals to justice is a fundamental part of the post-conflict recovery process.