engleski

Youth organizations in a post-conflict space

Research show that civil society has several important roles in the post-conflict societies (Backer 2003 ; Brahm 2007 ; Crocker 1999 ; Roht-Arriaza 2002). Their roles vary from peace building, reconciliation, transitional justice charity providing. In addition to these roles, civil society often enchases democratization and rule of law by gradually installing peaceful and democratic culture. Youth organizations, as a special form of organizations which are led by young people and working for the wellbeing of young people, have several specialties in comparison with other forms of civil society. In this paper, author examines the role, position and mechanisms that youth organizations use in a post- conflict space. In the first part of the paper, the conceptualization of contested spaces is offered, continued by listing of possible roles civil society has in such an environment. A special attention is put on the contextualization of youth organizations where author argues that, due to the characteristic position of youth in a society, youth organizations have different approaches that should be analyzed in the given context. The second part of the paper is a case study of one youth organization, namely Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR). In order to better understand the mechanisms and goals of youth organizations in the contested spaces, organization, objectives, mechanisms and the structure of the YIHR will be presented. The analysis shows that the YIHR is a paradigmatic example of a youth organization in the post-conflict zone that comprehends most of roles stipulated in the relevant literature and represents an relevant factor in the transitional justice process on the territory of former Yugoslavia.

Youth organization ; peace building ; civil society ; Youth initiative for human rights

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