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OAZA Bosniac Association.
The Oaza Bosniac Association’s mission is the development and improvement of civil society in Kosovo; with the particular aim of creating positive integration of the Kosovo’s Bosniac community into the country’s new post-war reality. The organisation trains people to address the problems of Kosovan post-war society, especially minority rights and refugee return and reintegration, as well as conducting awareness-raising campaigns. Established in 2002, it has 25 employees with the bulk of their activities maintaining projects to empower people to create positive solutions to the problems minorities in Kosovo face.
Some of their long term projects include:
- A school for young journalists;
- Return and reintegration of refugees in Peja region;
- Public debates on cooperation between NGO sector and authorities;
- Monitoring of public institutions.
Reintegrating the Serb Minority
The OAZA Bosniac Association has done extensive work in the village of Belo Polje to facilitate the return of Serbian refugees to their former homes. Reintegrating the Serb minority is an important part of transitional justice in Kosovo, and provides a strong example of peaceful inter-ethnic living for the region, showing that communities torn apart through ethnic conflict can be rebuilt.
Project activities have included the creation of a representative body, informing the refugees of their rights and freedoms, and helping the refugees to become independent and self-sufficient in the new post-war situation. The project provides information about actual and previous institutional development and training in the areas of human rights and conflict resolution.
The work the OAZA Bosniac Association is doing here is a ground stone for peacebuilding in this municipality and the surrounding region. The presence of Serbian refugees who have returned to Kosovo provides an example of a mutual and peaceful life. It encourages both other refugees to return to their previous communities and other municipalities to start making a positive situation for refugees to return to their homes.
