Aleksandra Vukčević
Programme Director of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights Montenegro
Aleksandra Vukčević
Programme Director of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights Montenegro
Graduated from the Law Faculty of the University of Montenegro. During the period of studies, she was an active member of ELSE, an international organization of law students.
She is Program Director at the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, a member of the Civic Alliance, where she gained experience and knowledge on war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, as well as dealing with the past. Aleksandra coordinated regional and national projects in the areas of human and minority rights, youth rights, refugee rights and asylum seekers.
Bojan Baća
MSCA Fellow, University of Gothenburg & BIEPAG
Bojan Baća
MSCA Fellow, University of Gothenburg & BIEPAG
Bojan Baća is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the Department of Sociology and Work Science at the University of Gothenburg and a member of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG). His research on civil society, social movements, and contentious politics has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed outlets including Sociology (forthcoming), Antipode, International Political Sociology, Europe-Asia Studies, among several others. His current research examines the relationship between grassroots and elite expressions of right-wing populism during turbulent times and, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the intersection of populism, pseudoscientism, and conspiracism in the digital public sphere.
Ana Gvozdić
Program Assistant, YIHR Croatia
Ana Gvozdić
Program Assistant, YIHR Croatia
Graduated from Macalester College (USA) with a B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies. Within her academic program, she focused on transitional justice in the Western Balkans, particularly the culture of memory through an Honors Project about the memorialization of children in war in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. Through internships with civil society organizations and engagement in her local community, she supported peace education programs and advocated against gender-based violence. She started working for the Initiative for Human Rights in 2021 as a program assistant supporting the justice and reconciliation programs.
Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield
Member of the European Parliament
Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield
Member of the European Parliament
Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2019, but has always linked local political action with commitments at the European level. Along with her colleagues in the Greens/EFA group, she defends a Europe of values, which is feminist and inclusive, and works to ensure that the action of environmentalists is beneficial to all. Her work in the European Parliament focuses on civil liberties and rule of law, digital rights, gender equality and constitutional affairs.
Donald Niebyl
Historical Researcher/Author, Spomenik Database
Donald Niebyl
Historical Researcher/Author, Spomenik Database
Donald Niebyl is an American historical researcher and writer, author of the 2018 book "Spomenik Monument Database" and the long-term digital online research project "Spomenik Database'', both of which focus on examining the historical legacy of the monumental art and architecture produced during the Yugoslav-era. Furthermore, Niebyl worked on a EU funded project to establish a touristic cultural route based around the Yugoslav monuments, while also giving TV interviews, being featured in documentaries/international media and delivering presentations around the world on this subject. He continues to work on writing, presenting, and researching the artistic and architectural heritage of the former Yugoslavia through his website, publications and social media.
Hristina Cvetinćanin Knežević
Feminism from the Gym
Hristina Cvetinćanin Knežević
Feminism from the Gym
Hristina Cvetinčanin Knežević is a sociologist, researcher and journalist, and she is currently studying for a doctorate in culture and media at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade. In addition to these formal titles, she is also a journalist, a member of the Journalists Against Violence collective and the initiator of the Instagram page Feminism from the Gym, which promotes the feminist concept of training as a process of women's empowerment in both physical and feminist terms. For her independent work through the independent project "Feminism from the Gym", which initiates and leads important discussions on Instagram on women's rights, from women's reproductive health, through aging, to eating disorders, she received the Jelena Šantić Foundation's Brave Steps Award in 2022.
Dritan Abazović
Prime Minister of Montenegro Government
Dritan Abazović
Prime Minister of Montenegro Government
Dritan Abazović is a Montenegrin politician who has been the prime minister of Montenegro since 28 April 2022. An ethnic Albanian, he heads the United Reform Action party. He previously served as deputy prime minister in the cabinet of Zdravko Krivokapić from 2020 until 2022.
Jasminko Halilović
Founder and Director, War Childhood Museum
Jasminko Halilović
Founder and Director, War Childhood Museum
Jasminko Halilovic is the founder and CEO of the War Childhood Museum, the world's only museum focused exclusively on childhood affected by armed conflict. His books have been translated into six languages and he was a keynote speaker at conferences and guest lecturer at universities in over fifteen countries. For his work with the WCM, which expanded to become an international organization with offices in four countries, Halilovic was selected for the Forbes "30 under 30" list.
Jelena Milutinović
Head of Development YIHR
Jelena Milutinović
Head of Development YIHR
Jelena is a highly experienced professional in the field of human rights education and organisational development with more than 15 years of experience in the civil society organizations work. Her fields of expertise are human rights, human rights education and youth participation. She held two mandates as Vice-Chair of the European network Human Rights Education Youth Network from Brussels. Jelena finished her masters studies at the London Metropolitan University in the UK. She is a feminist and a passionate coffee lover.
Maja Davidović
Lecturer in International Relations, Cardiff University
Maja Davidović
Lecturer in International Relations, Cardiff University
Maja Davidović is a feminist academic and scholar of transitional justice who has a particular research focus on guaranteeing non-repetition of war and its atrocities in the former Yugoslavia. She has recently completed her PhD at Durham University and now works as a Lecturer in International Relations at Cardiff University in Wales, UK where she teaches on war and society. Maja has written and published academic work on different elements of transitional justice, including non-repetition, criminal justice, memorialization and reparations.
Maja Gergorić
Research Assistant, University of Zagreb
Maja Gergorić
Research Assistant, University of Zagreb
Maja Gergorić is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Sociology as well as a research assistant at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb focusing on social movements in post-communist Europe. She is also involved, as a researcher, lecturer and activist, in various Zagreb-based human rights, feminist and LGBT organizations.
Marija Bulat
Head of RYCO Local Branch Office in Belgrade
Marija Bulat
Head of RYCO Local Branch Office in Belgrade
Marija was a member of the Working Group for the establishment of RYCO, going on to take up the position of Head of the Local Branch Office of RYCO in Belgrade. Besides regional cooperation and reconciliation, youth policy and youth empowerment are the focus of Marija's work. She was a Secretary General of the National Youth Council of Serbia (2012-2017). Marija also worked as a consultant developing local and regional strategies, action plans, projects and activities, providing training in organizational management, youth participation and intercultural learning. Marija graduated International Relations and Project Management from the faculties of Political Sciences and Organisational Sciences at Belgrade University.
Marko Milosavljević
Program Cordinator YIHR
Marko Milosavljević
Program Cordinator YIHR
Marko Milosavljević is program coordinator at the Youth Initiative for Human Rights Serbia (YIHR Serbia). The focus of his work is education of young people on dealing with the war-time past in the Western Balkans, memory activism, and research of responsibility for war crimes, and activism against the glorification of war criminals. Marko is one of the authors of the publication and website “War in Serbia (1991-2001): It Did Happen” published by the YIHR Serbia.
Naim Leo Beširi
Executive Director, Institute for European Affairs
Naim Leo Beširi
Executive Director, Institute for European Affairs
During the professional engagement, in the last seventeen years, he has gained working experience in the state, private and non-governmental sectors, as well as in the international organizations. He started his career at the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia and before settling at the position of the executive director of the Institute for European Affairs he was working at the OSCE Mission to Serbia, the Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies and the Anti-Corruption Agency and for four years as a Team Europe member of the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia. He graduated in political sciences at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, where he also completed the studies of knowledge innovations in the field of European Integration, moreover he studied at University of Oslo, Nansen Peace Academy and at the College of Europe in Bruges, granted with the French government scholarship.
Nora Ahmetaj
Human Rights Activist, Feminist and Restorative Justice Researcher
Nora Ahmetaj
Human Rights Activist, Feminist and Restorative Justice Researcher
Nora Ahmetaj founded and directed the Centre for Research, Documentation, and Publication (CRDP) until 2015. During the Kosovo war, she worked for the Humanitarian Law Centre, conducting investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity. Ms. Ahmetaj, a long-time member of the Bosch Foundation Global Network, has studied human rights, peace and conflict transformation, and transitional justice at McGill University-Law School, Columbia University in New York, and Harvard University. She served on RECOM's Regional Coordination Council and has an MA in Peace and Conflict Transformation Studies from the University of Tromso in Norway.
Oana Cristina Popa
Head of EU Delegation to Montenegro
Oana Cristina Popa
Head of EU Delegation to Montenegro
Dr. Oana-Cristina POPA has been appointed Head of EU Delegation to Montenegro by the EU HRVP as of September 1, 2020.
Dr. Popa holds a Ph.D in History and International Relations (2001) and a BA in Psychology and Education (1994), both from the “Babes-Bolyai” University of Cluj, as well as an MA in International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, US (1996). In 2007 she received a certificate in Executive Education from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, US.
She has been involved in a number of civil rights campaigns, most importantly the one dedicated to the fight against domestic violence, both in Romania and abroad.
Predrag Zenović
Lecturer at Humanistic Studies, University of Donja Gorica
Predrag Zenović
Lecturer at Humanistic Studies, University of Donja Gorica
Predrag Zenović, PhD (1986) is a lecturer and researcher in political science at the Humanistic studies of the University of Donja Gorica in Podgorica (Montenegro). After completing his doctoral studies awarded by the European Union in the field of political theory and the EU studies at LUISS (Italy) and the University of Geneva (Switzerland), he was a fellow at the New Europe College in Bucharest (Romania) with a project on citizenship and constitutional identity that included a study visit to the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin (Germany). He has received a prestigious Fulbright Scholar Fellowship for 2020/2021 for a research project in the field of feminist political theory at the New School for Social Research in New York. Dr Zenovic has authored a book of political and philosophical essays and published academic papers in domestic and international journals mainly on citizenship, constitutionalism, identity, gender studies and other areas of normative political theory.
Ramadan Ilazi
Head of research at the Kosovar Center for Security Studies (KCSS)
Ramadan Ilazi
Head of research at the Kosovar Center for Security Studies (KCSS)
Ramadan Ilazi, is head of research at the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS) and holds a PhD in Politics and International Relations from the School of Law and Government of the Dublin City University (DCU) in Ireland. His dissertation examines statebuilding approaches of the European Union (EU) in post-conflict societies, focusing on Kosovo as a case study. From 2015 until 2016 he served as a deputy minister for European integration in the government of Kosovo and was actively involved in the process of visa liberalization dialogue, promoting the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), and the development of the European Reform Agenda (ERA) for Kosovo.
Samir Beharić
Research Officer, Balkan Forum
Samir Beharić
Research Officer, Balkan Forum
Samir Beharić is an award-winning youth activist from Bosnia and Herzegovina and a Research Officer at The Balkan Forum. His human rights activism was recognized by the OSCE honoring him with the 2018 Max van der Stoel Award for his efforts in the prevention of further ethnic segregation of schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Beharic is currently pursuing his PhD at the University of Bamberg in Germany.
Serbeze Haxhiaj
Journalist, BIRN Kosovo
Serbeze Haxhiaj
Journalist, BIRN Kosovo
Serbeze Haxhiaj is an investigative journalist and news editor based in Pristina, Kosovo, who focuses on corruption, human rights, security issues, religious extremism, terrorism, and war crimes. She is currently an editor at Radio Television of Kosovo and a journalist at the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN). Haxhiaj previously worked for the daily newspapers Rilindja, Zeri, Lajm and Koha Ditore and was the correspondent in Pristina for Le Courrier des Balkans. She has recently been published in The Financial Times, Der Standard, Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Voice of America, World Politics Review, and Al Jazeera. She also has worked for five years as a researcher for Navanti, an American research, and analysis company. For her reporting on war crimes, organized crime, corruption, human rights, and violence against women, she has received 16 awards from various local and international organizations, including a 2020 EU Award for Investigative Journalism.
Teodora Stolevska
Executive Director, Youth Educational Forum
Teodora Stolevska
Executive Director, Youth Educational Forum
Teodora Stolevska is the Executive Director of Youth Educational Forum, a civil society organization that provides non-formal education to young people in North Macedonia, creates researches and advocates for the creation of youth policies that improve the quality of life of young people in the country. Through it's online youth medium - Radio MOF, the organization informs young people and shapes them into active citizens.
Daria Mustafina
Founder and Director, NGO "Institute of Partnership and Sustainable Development".
Daria Mustafina
Founder and Director, NGO "Institute of Partnership and Sustainable Development".
Daria is a great example of responsible leadership. Changemaker, mentor, educator, SDGs promoter. Mrs. Mustafina has a great expertise on local and international project development and implementation in 3 main fields:
1. Women Empowerment and Entrepreneurship
2. Safeguarding democracy in the digital age, protecting civil society organizations from online interference.
3. Community Engagement Projects.
Daria formerly served as a Leadership Board member of the Europe/Eurasian region at World Youth Movement for Democracy, One Young World Ambassador of Ukraine. Mrs. Mustafina conducted research on SMEs and PPPs development for EBRD, UNDP; was adviser on GiZ project on development sectoral and cross-sectoral export strategies in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy.
Arber Fetahu
Research Fellow at GLPS
Arber Fetahu
Research Fellow at GLPS
Arbër Fetahu is a Research Fellow at the Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS). His work is primarily focused on foreign policy, public policy, democratization, European integration, and governance. Arbër is a master graduate in Global/International Studies at Missouri State University as part of the USAID Transformational Leadership Program. His studies focused mainly on international relations theory, foreign policy analysis, comparative politics and the politics of various world regions. Arbër finished his bachelor studies in political science at University of Prishtina.