Open Letter:
„Tear down this board!“ (1)
“Advance reconciliation, mutual understanding and tolerance and refrain from divisive events, actions and rhetoric, including the glorification of convicted war criminals, historical revisionism and the provocative use of symbols” claim Communiqué of the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council (07/06/2017).
In the spirit of reconciliation and overcoming our difficult past, Network for Building Peace (Mreža za izgradnju mira) calls on the concrete application of the PIC's recommendations in the case of name and symbolism regarding the Student Dormitory in Pale.
To be reminded: On March 20, 2016, Mr Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska, honoured Karadžić by opening a student dormitory named after him unveiled an official board at the entrance of this public institution bearing Karadžić’s name.
Arrested on 21 July 2008, Karadžić was found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica, war crimes and crimes against humanity, 10 of the 11 charges in total, and sentenced to 40 years imprisonment, on 24 March 2016.
At the latest by the remembrance day of his arrest, 21 July (2008), for the sake of all victims Mr Karadžić was found guilty of, and in the name of the human dignity and fundamental values, Network for Building Peace asks you, and us all in the same time, to publicly call Mr Dodik by this:
Mr Dodik: TEAR DOWN THIS BOARD!
Representing 112 nongovernmental organisations all over BiH and continuously working on peace building in this country, Network for Building Peace remains committed to support turning declarative peace statements into acts.
(1) Tear down this wall!” is a line from a speech made by US President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987, calling for the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open up the barrier which had divided West and East Berlin since 1961
Complete letter: Open Letter to OHR and PIC by the Peace Network, June 2017