Paths of Memory: Srebrenica Genocide Exhibits at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington,DC

Abstract

After the horrors of the Holocaust the world said “Never Again”. The promise that echoed for decades was broken during the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1995) and its culmination on 11 July 1995 in Srebrenica, a UN designated safe area, when Serb forces led by General Ratko Mladi? captured the town and killed over 8000 Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys. The International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Court of Justice ruled the massacre in Srebrenica as genocide. In 2005, an exhibit of Bosnian photographer Tarik Samarah's work about the Srebrenica genocide opened at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC (the Museum). A few years later the Srebrenica genocide was included in the special exhibition “From Memory to Action: Meeting the Challenge of Genocide”. This article examines the installation and importance of both of the Srebrenica genocide exhibits at the Museum. It shows that the inclusion of the Srebrenica genocide at the Museum bears witness to the importance of genocide prevention, education and memorialization. It highlights the purpose of the Museum and the decision to expand its educational program to include post-Holocaust genocide cases. The conclusion emphasizes that the presence of the Srebrenica genocide is directly contributing to the importance of “keeping the memory alive” with regard to the Holocaust and genocide studies in general.     

Applying Islamic Norms in Europe: The Example of Bosnian Muslims

Abstract

Is Islamic law still valid in Europe? This paper argues “yes”—though not in the form of hard “law” but rather in the form of soft “norms” which are not state-sanctioned, but still carry heavy significance for practicing Muslims. The paper examines cases where Islamic moral, ethical and in some cases legal norms can be applied in a secular country without clashing with state laws. It further demonstrates that, based on fatawa issued by Islamic scholars in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Islamic norms may still apply for Muslims living in secular European states, although they are not legally binding. This may be illustrated by classifying norms into religious (God's commandment to fast, pray, give alms), moral–ethical (consumption of alcohol, dressing properly) and Islamic legal norms (marriage, divorce, inheritance). The conclusion is that a vast majority of these norms can be adhered to by Muslims either within the scope of guaranteed religious freedoms in civil society or may otherwise be applied without clashing with secular civil laws.     

Aiming for transitional justice? Diaspora mobilisation for youth and education in Bosnia and Herzegovina

ABSTRACT

Education is acknowledged as a component of transitional justice processes, yet details about how to implement education reform in postconflict societies are underexplored and politicized [King, Elisabeth. 2014. From Classrooms to Conflict in Rwanda. New York: Cambridge University Press]. Local and international actors often neglect the complicated nature of education reform in postconflict societies undergoing transitional justice processes [Jones, Briony. 2015. "Educating Citizens in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Experiences and Contradictions in Post-war Education Reform." In Transitional Justice and Reconciliation: Lessons from the Balkans, edited by Martina Fischer, and Olivera Simic, 193–208. New York: Routledge. Transitional Justice]. The role of the diaspora in transitional justice has been increasingly explored as a participatory transnational actor with influence and knowledge about local dynamics [Roht-Arriaza, Naomi. 2006. The Pinochet Effect: Transnational Justice in the Age of Human Rights. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press; Haider, Huma. 2008. “(Re)Imagining Coexistence: Striving for Sustainable Return, Reintegration and Reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. ”International Journal of Transitional Justice 3 (1): 91–113; Young, Laura, and Rosalyn Park. 2009.“ Engaging Diasporas in Truth Commissions: Lessons from the Liberia Truth and Reconciliation Commission Diaspora Project.” International Journal of Transitional Justice 3 (3): 341–361; Koinova, Maria, and D?eneta Karabegovi?. 2017.“ Diasporas and Transitional Justice: Transnational Activism from Local to Global Levels of Engagement.” Global Networks 17 (2): 212–233]. This article bridges academic literature about diaspora engagement and transitional justice, and education and transitional justice by incorporating the role of diaspora actors in post-conflict processes. Using empirical data from multi-sited field work in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and France, it examines diaspora initiatives which aim to influence local transitional justice processes through translocal community involvement in education and youth policy. It argues that diaspora initiatives can provide alternative and intermediate solutions to the status quo in their homeland, with some potential for contributing to transitional justice and reconciliation processes. Ultimately, diaspora initiatives need support from homeland institutions in order to forward transitional justice agendas in post-conflict societies.     

Psychosocial stressors at work, psychological stress and musculoskeletal symptoms in the care for the elderly

This study was conducted in order to determine how occupational stressors (psychosocial stressors and physical load) are related to psychological stress (symptoms) and musculoskeletal symptoms among staff of Finnish residential homes, nursing homes and home help services (n = 204). Data obtained from questionnaires was used to test two hypotheses: that psychosocial stressors (time pressure, troublesome patients with dementia) are associated with psychological stress, and that musculoskeletal disorders are associated with physical load. The authors also tested whether psychological stress has a mediating effect between psychosocial stressors and musculoskeletal symptoms. The findings supported the hypothesis regarding the mediating effect of psychological stress.     

Development NGOs and Political Participation of the Poor in Bangladesh and Nepal

This paper examines the role of development NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) in furthering the political participation of the poor, with data from Bangladesh and Nepal. The topic is discussed from three aspects: the role of NGOs in prodemocracy movements, the issues raised by antiglobalization movements, and the extent of NGO involvement in local government elections. The paper draws on fieldwork conducted in two villages—one in Bangladesh and the other in Nepal. It is concluded that development NGOs tend to contribute more to elite interests than to the democratic political participation of the poor.     

Small Theories and Large Risks—Is Risk Analysis Relevant for Epistemology?

Ought we to take seriously large risks predicted by “exotic” or improbable theories? We routinely assess risks on the basis or either common sense, or some developed theoretical framework based on the best available scientific explanations. Recently, there has been a substantial increase of interest in the low‐probability “failure modes” of well‐established theories, which can involve global catastrophic risks. However, here I wish to discuss a partially antithetical situation: alternative, low‐probability (“small”) scientific theories predicting catastrophic outcomes with large probability. I argue that there is an important methodological issue (determining what counts as the best available explanation in cases where the theories involved describe possibilities of extremely destructive global catastrophes), which has been neglected thus far. There is no simple answer to the correct method for dealing with high‐probability high‐stakes risks following from low‐probability theories that still cannot be rejected outright, and much further work is required in this area. I further argue that cases like these are more numerous than usually assumed, for reasons including cognitive biases, sociological issues in science and the media image of science. If that is indeed so, it might lead to a greater weight of these cases in areas such as moral deliberation and policy making.     

Protection of Migrants from Extradition in Serbia due to Risk of Persecution

In December 2017, the Serbian Minister of Justice ordered the extradition of A.C. to Turkey despite serious claims that he is threatened with persecution in his country. This case, along with some previous cases of asylum seekers in extradition detention, has revealed a lack of consistency of Serbian authorities in application of the principle of non‐refoulement. Thus, the extradition authorities do not take into consideration this principle, believing that a decision on this matter ought to be made by bodies involved in the asylum procedure. On the other hand, in most of the cases, asylum authorities apply the "third country concept" and do not take into consideration that an individual is being extradited to their country of origin. Therefore, the authors conclude that the principle of non‐refoulement is not adequately applied in practice and that it is necessary to undertake certain measures in order to prevent any future similar cases.     

A Bivariate Beta-Gamma Autoregressive Process (BVBGAR(1))

In this article, we introduce a bivariate autoregressive process with Gamma marginal distributions using the form of the BGAR(2) process (Risti?, 2005 Risti? , M. M. ( 2005 ). A Beta-Gamma autoregressive process of the second-order (BGAR(2)) . Statist. Probab. Lett. 73 : 403 – 410 . [Google Scholar]) and the Beta-Gamma transformation. Some properties of the process such as the autocovariance matrix, the autocorrelation matrix, and the spectral density matrix are derived. The unknown parameters of the process are estimated using the method of moments and the method of conditional least squares. Some numerical results of the estimators are given. We investigate nonparametric and parametric estimation of the spectral density matrix of this process.     

The REBMIX Algorithm and the Univariate Finite Mixture Estimation

The REBMIX algorithm is presented and applied to estimation of finite univariate mixture densities. The algorithm identifies the component parameters, mixing weights, and number of the components successively. Significant improvement is achieved by replacing the rigid restraints with the loose ones, which enables improved modelling of overlapped components. The algorithm is controlled by the extreme relative deviations, total of positive relative deviations, and information criteria. It enables also the modeling of multivariate finite mixtures. However, the article considers univariate normal, lognormal, and Weibull finite mixtures solely. The REBMIX software is available on http://www.fs.uni-lj.si/lavek.