ABOUT THE JUSTICE EDUCATION COMPONENT
Not all high school and university students will pursue a career in law, but good governance in Kosovo will not be possible unless all students understand and embrace their rights and responsibilities of citizenry. Therefore, the D4J program will partner with key oversight institutions (Ombudsperson, Anti-Corruption agency, Office of Disciplinary Council) during its initial outreach efforts in Pristina, Peja, and Prizren schools with the goal of creating a sustainable space in Kosovo’s public education system to ensure all students are given the opportunity to develop into responsible, active citizens able to enforce their social contract with Kosovo’s government, parliament, and judicial actors.
D4J’s justice education component is implemented in cooperation with Youth Initiative for Human Rights Kosovo, Community Building Mitrovica and NGO AKTIV from Mitrovica North. Partners will teach high school and university students about legal rights, access to justice, judicial accountability, and related reform processes—not only to equip young citizens with human rights knowledge, but also to empower them to take action to prevent violations of such rights by promoting judicial transparency and accountability.
Goal
The goal of the justice education component is to demonstrate how informed, engaged citizens can foster the emergence of a more accountable justice sector by demanding impartial, equitable, fact-based, rational judicial and prosecutorial determinations worthy of the public trust.
Objective 1
Develop and deliver a school curriculum focused on Access to Justice, Accountability and Judicial Reform through lectures to high school and university students in D4J target municipalities.
Objective 2
Organizing activities such as court monitoring and Karl Popper debates that will empower students to contribute to D4J transparency and accountability goals as they learn to think & write critically and tolerate different points of view.
Objective 3
Offering students opportunities to develop projects in the fields of education, monitoring and advocacy via “Idea Farm” sub-grants from 1,000 USD up to 2,500 USD.
Youth Initiative for Human Rights - Kosovo (YIHR KS) was established in 2004 as a local nongovernmental and non-profit organization, convinced that human rights and civic values are the basis of every open and progressive society. In its work, YIHR KS is dedicated to dealing with the past, protecting victims of human rights abuse, promoting the rule of law and strengthening the role of young people in the societies of the Western Balkans. For more information on YIHR KS, see WEBPAGE http://yihr-ks.org/
Community Building Mitrovica (CBM) is a local non-governmental organization operating in the field of peace and community building in the wider region of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo. The overall aim of CBM is to facilitate contact and dialogue between citizens in the whole of Mitrovica municipality. CBM’s staff consists of devoted citizens – both Serbs and Albanians – who grew up in this region and want to restore the previous confidence and even friendship that war and politics have destroyed. For more information on CBM, see WEBPAGE http://cbmitrovica.org/
NGO AKTIV was founded in the divided city of Mitrovica in 2009. Since its creation, AKTIV has successfully implemented an array of projects and has become an active part of local civil society. It has cooperated with a number of both regional and international NGO’s and has played a vital role in the political and social development of N. Kosovo. With a growing presence in the local community and with an expanding network of partners, AKTIV has been able to increase the scope and scale of its projects. For more information on NGO AKTIV, see WEBPAGE http://www.ngoaktiv.org/.