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  • EASTERN BOSNIA - APRIL 2001: This are my grandmother’s hands. She survived two wars. 2nd World War and the Bosnian war for independence. Most of her family was exterminated in 2nd world war. Pretty much the offspring of the people that killed her family in 2nd world war committed atrocities in Bosnia in early 90’s. Eastern Bosnia is on the border with neighboring Serbia with river Drina as a natural border. Through the history Bosnia was always a border country between East and West, during the Ottoman period it was the border post towards Austrian empire, before that it was border between Eastern and Western Empire. This position made Bosnia quite a unique conglomerat of ckutures,traditions,religions. Other than that it didn't bring us too much good. When the war was over, a foreign journalist came to interview my professor of poetry, Marko Vesovic. Entering his appartment, the journalist noticed my professor's dog who was lying in a corner. 'What remarkable blue eyes he has,' the journalist said. 'Well, you see,' explained my professor, 'the dog used to eat the same food we ate during the war. Now he is blind. Dogs are ageing seven times faster than we do, so with us it is different. We still have to wait for the effects on us. I never witnessed a mortar shell exploding in front of the people in the market place or a sniper shooting someone in front of my high school. I was always a couple of seconds or minutes late, or I would pass by the market place just before the shell exploded and killed more than sixty people waiting to buy groceries, or I would be running in a dark street with broken glass falling on me. But I've seen people cleaning the streets after shelling, I've seen what was left of a young man after a thirty-kilo shell exploded near him, and I've also seen the face of woman who survived this unhurt. Lately, when I was in Jerusalem for the first time, I wanted to visit the Al-Aksa mosque. At the entrance I was stopped by an Israeli soldier, a native Russian, and an Arab guard of the mosque. 'You are not allowed to enter,' said the soldier. 'You are not Muslim.' 'But I am!' I insisted. They wouldn't believe me. In Italy, I told an acquaintance of mine that I was a Muslim. He was irritated. 'But then,' he said, 'you cannot be a European.' 'But I am!' I replied. The Turks have left us with an unsolved national question. Religion and culture have always been strongly intermingled in our country. When the Ottoman Empire conquered Bosnia in 1453, the strategy it used to establish its rule was Roman: Divide et impera. Religion was the vehicle. Favouring the Muslims helped the Turks run the country, but it divided the Bosnians. In the 19th century, during the era of Romanticism, when Central Europeans began to build up their ideas of nationhood based on concepts of cultural uniqueness, Bosnians developed their own cultural identities out of religious affiliations. But these cultural identities failed to develop into the idea of a Bosnian nation: Bosnian Catholics and Bosnian Orthodox were seduced by the ideas of a Great Serbia or a Great Croatia. Today Bosnia is a resort of moderate, autonomous European Islam. Actually most of the population are Christians: Orthodox and Catholics. The Arab countries were not too impressed by the Bosnian version of Islam and their help wasn't sufficient to help us defend ourselves against the former Yugoslav Army, one of the strongest armies in Europe. The body count in the recent war was almost all Bosnian Muslim, but for the first time in the last two hundred years we have a state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a language that is recognized….We've never been closer to a nation. I'm afraid that the fact that Bosnians are white helped us a lot. Probably that's why it took only four years for NATO to intervene in Bosnia. Before the fall of Srebrenica, the UN safe haven zone, foreign involvement was on the level of bringing humanitarian aid, mostly only where the Serbian Army allowed, and counting the shells and bombs falling on Bosnian cities. Then after the fall of Srebrenica and the massacre of Bosnian Muslims that followed it, NATO bombed the Serbian positions and brought peace. The first shelling of their positions around Sarajevo came at night. I remember our windows, covered with humanitarian nylon sheeting with UN signs instead of glass, opening because of the detonations, this time on the Serbian side. My mother cooked a pie to celebrate it. Our lives during the war were reduced to the basics. Having a bath with five-litre canisters and then using the water for the toilet. Making meat pie without meat. We became experts at peeing in the dark. The  path to happiness was very short, and the learning curve was steep. Once we all adopted these vital skills, and even got used to our little limbo and for a moment stopped talking about peace, our politicians signed the peace agreement. We have a new anthem now. We also have a new flag. It shows a dark blue ground on which is placed a golden triangle, a row of golden stars on one side. The triangle is meant to represent Bosnia and the row of stars I guess imply the European Union. Today we have to stand in a queue to get a visa for every European country. The writer Ivo Andric, one of two Bosnian Nobel Prize winners, described Bosnia in one of his novels as a 'valley of darkness'. The valley is surely dark; it is dark with Bosnian blood, it is darkened by American ignorance and European impotence, it is dark because of the clouds above. Yet it is our valley (Photo by Ziyah Gafic/Exclusive by Getty Images)

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KONKURS ZA OTVORENU POZICIJU: PRAVNI SAVJETNIK/CA U TRIAL INTERNATIONAL – UREDU U BIH

TRIAL International traži novog/u kolegu/icu!

Ako želite postati dio TRIAL International tima u Bosni i Hercegovini i ako ispunjavate uslove navedene u oglasu, prijavite se za poziciju Pravnog/e savjetnika/ce do 23. maja 2023. godine.

Sve detaljne informacije o navedenoj poziciji i neophodnim kvalifikacijama pročitajte u nastavku, ili preuzmite oglas sa ovog linka.

Terms of reference, TRIAL International – Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Position: Legal Advisor, based in Sarajevo

Job description:

  • Write submissions/complaints on grave human rights violations before domestic courts and international bodies;
  • Provide advice and answers, as well as information related to BiH legislation and international legal standards for human rights;
  • Conduct comprehensive research and prepare legal analysis related to the various issues that the association deals with;
  • Follow the implementation of activities related to all legal affairs and legal activities of the association;
  • Arrange the priorities and strategies for the association’s activities together with the Head of the Program and other members of the team;
  • Assist in the production of project proposals and strategic plans required for TRIAL International’s work, in cooperation with other team members;
  • Represent the work of the association to different actors at different levels and on events organized within and outside of the country;
  • Appear in media on behalf of the association;
  • Participate in the implementation of the association’s activities;

Conditions, qualifications and work experience:

  • Education: Law degree obtained in Bosnia and Herzegovina, strong knowledge of human rights law and criminal law; knowledge in the area of transitional justice with emphasis on reparations will be valued and considered as an asset, LL.M. in International Law will be considered as an asset as well;
  • Work experience: A minimum of 3 years of professional experience relevant to the position;
  • Languages: One of the official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a mother tongue, strong fluency in written and oral English;

Other:

  • Sensibility in working with vulnerable groups is very important;
  • Strong documentation, writing and advocacy skills, a demonstrated commitment and dedication to human rights, possession of a valid driving license.

APPLICATION

If you are interested in this position, apply by 23rd May 2023, by sending the necessary documents to the e-mail address: bh@trialinternational.org titled “Application for Legal Advisor”.

  • Motivational letter;
  • CV;
  • Optionally: A brief legal writing sample (academic paper, policy brief or memo, news article, blog post or web content).

Only complete applications will be reviewed and only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

TRIAL International is a non-governmental organization fighting against impunity for international crimes and supporting victims in their search for justice. The organization provides legal aid, files cases, develops local capacities and advocates the human rights agenda.

For more information, visit TRIAL International website at: www.trial.ba and www.trialinternational.org, and FB page.