Ten participants from Albania, Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia attended BIRN’s three-day workshop on producing high-quality stories about the past centred on the experiences of war crime victims. The “Youth Memory Transfer” workshop held in Tuzla, Bosnia, from 25-29 July provided ten young people from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia with comprehensive training on fact-checking, storytelling and transitional justice reporting.

The workshop started with talks given by Marija Ristić, BIRN’s Regional Director, and Lamija Grebo, BIRN journalist, who shared with participants how to tell a story in compelling way while at the same time covering journalistic ethics and standards related to the reporting of war crimes, the culture of remembrance and other sensitive topics. The last day of the workshop was dedicated to interviews with survivors of the 1992-5 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After two days of preparations, group assignments and lessons, the participants interviewed ten people who had survived wartime atrocities from the Tuzla and Podrinje area.

This workshop is part of the Balkan Transitional Justice programme that aims to broaden public understanding of transitional justice issues in the former Yugoslavia, and is supported by RYCO within the fourth open call for project proposals co-financed by the European Union.