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At the Human Rights House in Belgrade, 3rd May 2018 was held Belgrade roundtable of inclusive citizenship. This activity is being implemented as part of the program Balkan Roundtable on Inclusive Citizenship 2018, jointly implemented by the Oslo Minority Network, Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia. The discussion at the roundtable has for the subject a lesson learned from various Balkan countries on legal, institutional and procedural measures that can provide effective protection of equal rights for persons belonging to different religious and ethnic groups as well as other minorities. The key issues discussed at the round table were as follows:
- Do identity-based rights contribute to inclusive citizenship and equal human rights?
- Can “minorities within the minority” be protected with regional ethnic self-governance?
- How can involvement of ethnic and religious groups in reform processes contribute
to reconciliation and co-existence?
Through discussions at the roundtable, these issues have been considered from the aspect of the current context in the Balkans, especially with examples from ongoing identity politics at the national level and in various regions, with question how can education be a measure for co-existence and inclusive citizenship?
The Roundtable moderator on behalf of the Minority Network was Ingvill Plesner, Network Initiator and Project Coordinator. Behalf the Norwegian Helsinki Committee from Oslo, participation were taken by Gunnar Ekelove-Slydal, Deputy of Secretary of the NHC and Enver Djuliman, Head of Human Rights Education Department at the NHC. Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia was represented by Sonja Biserko, founder and chairman of the committee. Participation at the round table was taken by representatives of various civil society organizations from Serbia, Montenegro and Albania who presented their views and arguments relevant to the above issues.
Participation at the roundtable behalf Association of citizens Monitor was taken by Doc. dr Aleksandar Ivanovic, president of the association, who presented his views on issues minority rights in education in their mother tongue, religious education and education for peace.