Balkan Activities

Our Activities in Balkan Region

JCCP’s Balkan office is located in the Macedonian capital of Skopje and since February 2009 JCCP has been implementing its ‘Promoting Social Cohesion’ project in Southern Serbian city of Bujanovac. The project focuses on peace promotion among Serb, Albanian and Roma school children with a view to creating a mutual understanding of one another.

The medium-sized city of Bujanovac is home to a population of 4,300,000, of whom 55% are Albanian, 34% are Serbs and 9% are Roma. Although their living areas are not segregated, there is very little opportunity for communication among the different ethnic groups. JCCP is working together with the Public Health Service to organize a number of cleaning projects, workshops and painting teamwork in order to promote understanding among school children at grass-roots level with a view to creating stability in the region and relieving the strained situation between the three groups.

Activities2010

Promoting mutual understanding of different ethnic groups to schoolchildren through cooperative workshops and city beautification activities.

After successfully promoting reconciliation among primary school children in Southern Serbia in 2009, JCCP implemented the Collaboration Project for Cleaning Struga City by School Children, an exchange programme among four primary schools in the ethnically diverse city of Struga. From January to September 2010, JCCP initiated monthly workshops and cooperative city beautification activities by the school children from different ethnic groups in the region.

Struga, an ethnically diverse town, is composed of 57% Albanian, 32% Macedonian and 6% Turkish. Even though all citizens share the same nationality, different ethnic groups speak different languages and come from a different religious background. In primary schools, students are relatively segregated by their mother tongue and religion, having almost no relations with other ethnic groups until the time they enter the town’s only high school. The goal of this project was to promote interaction among children and contribute to mutual ethnic tolerance and understanding among different cultures in the region.

Throughout the project’s 46 sessions, 2,557 4th to 7th grade students from four schools participated in workshops consisting of various cooperative activities, such as painting, theatre, learning origami and other arts and crafts, and singing, in which they learned the “Song of Struga,” a Japanese song adapted into four languages about the diversity of their town. Activities also included working together to clean up and paint dilapidated areas of Struga and a day of tree planting in the city in which more than 200 school　children participated along with their families and teachers.

Not only do the children learn about tolerance and understanding, but the impact spreads to adults in the region as well. All of the children wanted to participate again, and classes that hadn’t yet participated often asked when they would have the opportunity. After workshops, students were encouraged to perform the “Song of Struga” for their parents at home, teach their families origami, and tell them about their experiences with the people of other ethnic groups. This gives their parents a positive impression of the experience and promotes further understanding of all ethnic groups in the community. School teachers from other schools were also able to observe and participate in the activities so as to encourage them to implement similar programs in their own curriculums and promote cooperative activities between ethnic groups as a standard for schools in the region.

The Collaboration Project for Cleaning Struga City by School Children” was implemented through support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan’s Grant Assistance for Japanese NGO Projects and through the support of members and donors of JCCP.

Conflict Background

The history of conflict in the Balkan region is a long and complex one; it has deep-seeded roots in ethnic, religious, and political tensions and ongoing conflicts that have existed for generations throughout the area. These tensions were exacerbated in the post-World War I and World War II governments of Yugoslavia, where political power shifted between different ethnic groups (Serbs and Croats especially) and resulting in the oppression of groups without political power. By 1991, numerous ethnic minorities sought autonomy from the Serb-majority government, which at the same time was working to strengthen federal authority, and it was these tensions that led to the breakup of Yugoslavia and resulting conflicts. This decade of conflict can be broadly categorized into five separate conflicts:


1. The first outbreak of violence was in June of 1991 and known as the Ten-Day War or the War of Slovenian Independence. It began when Slovenia declared independence after a holding a referendum, and the federal government used military force to prevent Slovenia securing its borders with its own military. As its name implies, the conflict lasted only 10 days and ended after successful negotiations and a 3-month moratorium on succession from Yugoslavia.

2. The Croatian War of Independence began in 1991 when Serbs in Croatia announced their succession from Croatia after they felt a change in the constitution made them a national minority instead of a separate nation. Because of a UN arms embargo on the region, the Croats had difficulty in procuring weapons, while the Serbs were supported by the Yugoslav Peoples’ Army, which was made up mostly of Serbs and supported a Unitarian government. The Vance-Owen Peace Plan set up separate areas for Serbs (called the Republic of Serbian Krajina) and led to a cease-fire, although tensions were still high and sporadic attacks still occurred. In 1995, the Croatian Army reclaimed nearly all of its territory, forcefully evicting and committing unprovoked violent acts against the Serbian population.

3. The Bosnian War started in 1992 when Serbs boycotted the Bosnian referendum to secede, leading to a vote of 99% supporting independence. Bosnia’s ultranationalist Serb faction then led an offensive to link the separated Serbian areas, and many war crimes were committed in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Within the Bosnian War was the Croat-Bosniak War, where Croats within Bosnia also fought against Bosnia and Herzegovina in an effort to expand their autonomous territory. A cease-fire between the Croats and Bosniaks was mediated by the United States, and the Washington Agreement was signed by both parties. NATO later intervened with military force, mostly against the Serbs, and in 1995 the Dayton Peace Agreement effectively ended the immediate conflict after leaders of involved parties were pressed by the international community to negotiate a full and permanent cease-fire.

4. The Kosovo War refers to conflicts within the Kosovo region from 1998-1999 between ethnic Albanians and a Serbian-led FR Yugoslavia. It began when a militant group known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) committed a series of attacks on Serbian military personnel as a response to persecution against ethnic Albanians by the government. After failed cease fires and numerous war crimes committed by both sides of the conflict, NATO intervened with a bombing campaign in Yugoslavia in 1999 aimed at forcing Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic to remove his forces from Kosovo. Although this, along with negotiations, eventually led to the peace deal that would allow Kosovo to become a partially-recognized independent state, the NATO military campaigns, combined with the already existing conflict, resulted in the forced displacement of over a million ethnic Albanians.

5. The insurgency in Macedonia began in January of 2001, when an Albanian militant group known as the National Liberation Front (NLF) emerged in Macedonia, taking over villages and forcing non-Albanian populations out. The NLF’s operations would quickly escalate to include attacks on Macedonian military and police targets, with civilians also killed in the crossfire. Such attacks fuelled strong anti-Albanian sentiment throughout the country, resulting in attacks on Albanian-owned businesses and mosques, as well as Albanian civilians themselves. However, a cease-fire was agreed to in August when the NLF and Macedonian government signed the Ohrid Agreement, which stipulated broader civil rights for the ethnic Albanian minority of Macedonia under the conditions that the NLF was to be dissolved and Macedonian institutions be recognized as official by all representative citizens.


Since then, the situation in the Balkan region has been relatively calm, but ethnic tensions remain high, and isolated incidents of violence between ethnic groups still occur. Because of this, the probability of further outbreaks of conflict exists throughout the Balkans, and so it is therefore necessary to do everything possible to repair the strained relations between ethnic groups and promote a peaceful future for the region.

FAQ

1.What is the current situation in the Balkan region?
While political conflicts over recognition rights of newly-formed countries from the Balkans conflict persist, the region has become relatively stable since the various cease-fire agreements went into effect and national borders were established. However, just because a cease-fire is in place does not mean that ethnic tensions have been quelled, and as a result of generations of conflict culminating in the decade of war from 1991-2001, tensions remain high between the different ethnic and religious groups within the region. Sporadic incidents of violence sometimes occur, but the potential for a large-scale conflict in the Balkan region remains as long as these tensions exist.

2.Why is there fighting and tension between the different ethnic groups in the region?
While it is impossible to pinpoint one specific moment in history or a particular incident that can be credited as the cause of ethnic tensions in the regiozn, it is important to understand that these strained relations exist as a result of aggression and persecution that spans generations. Over time, different ethnic groups have held power over others, and so at different points in history all groups have played the role of both aggressors and victims, further complicating the relations between ethnic groups that exist today.

3.What are JCCP’s current activities in the Balkans?
JCCP’s current project in the city of Struga, Macedonia focuses on cooperation and understanding between ethnic groups through the facilitation of community-based activities and workshops that involve elementary school-aged children from different ethnic groups throughout the region. Through activities such as cooperative city beautification efforts, the children are provided with an opportunity to learn about each other and become friends. Additionally, as the children return to their households and tell their families of their experiences, adults can also gain a deeper understanding of other ethnic groups, further easing the strained relationships that have been left over from previous conflicts.

4.What activities has JCCP completed in the region?
Similar to the current activities in Macedonia, JCCP has previously conducted successful workshops in Serbia with elementary-school children of differing ethnic groups. In addition to the previously-mentioned city beautification projects, workshops included a wide range of cooperative activities and group projects for children, all of which used teamwork as both a basis and a goal.

5.What other international activities are being undertaken in the area?
Other activities include financial aid and support by other NGOs, as well as heavy involvement by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in various countries in the Balkan region, which has instituted a wide range of initiatives, including the strengthening of region-wide democratic and economic infrastructures, environmental projects, and poverty-reduction activities.

6.What are the challenges in resolving tensions between ethnic groups?
The biggest obstacle in relieving tensions between ethnic groups lies in the fact that the conflicts are deep-seeded and span generations; at some point in history, all sides of the conflict have persecuted the others, and likewise all have been victims of persecution as well. This long-standing and complex set of relationships makes it a necessity that all parties forgive each other, but in a situation with a history such as this one, along with forgiveness, education, and peacebuilding, time is one of the major factors in healing the wounds that remain from the conflicts. As time passes, it becomes necessary to ensure that a culture of forgiveness is promoted and spreads throughout the region and that parents do not pass down prejudices onto their children.

7.If the conflict in the Balkans is over, why is JCCP focusing its activities there?
Although the region does not see violence and war on the scale that it did nearly two decades ago, due to the strained relations between differing ethnic groups that have been left over from the conflicts, the prospect for violence in the future remains high. It is therefore JCCP’s goal to quell these tensions through education and peacebuilding activities in order to relieve current prejudices and negative feelings as well as minimizing the incidence that they are inherited by future generations.

8.What is the current situation in Macedonia?
While the insurgency in Macedonia subsided with the Ohrid Agreement, as in the rest of the Balkans, ethnic tensions remain high; it is difficult to repair relations between ethnic groups who have been both victims and aggressors in conflicts that span generations in such a short period of time. In 2010, incidents regarding illegal weapons possession by ethnic Albanian militias have been reported, and some of those arrested or killed by police wore uniforms with the Kosovo Liberation Army insignia. However, no major attacks have occurred in recent years.

9.Why did JCCP choose Macedonia to conduct its activities?
JCCP chooses and develops its projects through a thorough and involved process that is based on the activities of other organizations in the region (or lack thereof, i.e. identifying gaps in current regional initiatives), the amount of knowledge and expertise JCCP has regarding the area (so as to maximise the feasibility of a successful project), and, most importantly, on local needs. Through this process, Macedonia was chosen as a site for JCCP activities.

10.Why is it important for a Japanese organization to get involved in the Balkan situation?
In a region where ethnic tensions run deep, mistrust of both domestic and foreign workers involved in development activities regarding possible bias, their motives, and the distribution of benefits is high. Therefore, it is absolutely vital that, in order to successfully complete a project with meaningful results, the organization involved must have no historical stake in the ethnic conflicts of the region. As opposed to a local organization in the area, as a Japanese organization, it is easier to gain the trust of the participants of all ethnic groups in communities where activities are conducted, and therefore the likelihood of relieving ethnic tensions is greater.