Publications

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo invites university students from diverse communities to apply for a five-day Youth Camp, focusing on Cultural Heritage Trails. This hands-on training, guided by an international expert, will take place from 11-15 November 2024 and will offer practical experience in cultural heritage preservation. Since 2018, these camps have provided young people with unique opportunities to protect and promote cultural heritage. Apply to be part of this experience, by 20 October 2024 CoB.

The mandate of the OSCE Presence in Albania is to promote democratization, the rule of law, and human rights as well as to consolidate democratic institutions in line with OSCE principles, standards and commitments.

The Toolkit is a practical document for start-ups with valuable information into their establishment, incorporation and activity in accordance with the applicable legislation in Albania.

This report provides an overview of school dropouts data from non-majority communities from the Kosovo education system between 2020 and 2023, analyses the causes behind individual cases and looks into successful initiatives to return children to school, as per the OSCE’s mandate to monitor and promote human rights.

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina developed, and, during the period from October 2019 to March 2022, implemented the project “Quality Education through Curriculum Reform”, funded by the governments of the Kingdom of Norway and the Italian Republic. The Project aimed to support education authorities in answering to an urgent need for change (PISA 2018, TIMSS 2019, and the struggles of online teaching amidst the COVID-19 pandemic) by improving inclusivity and quality of education through reforming curricula in line with the BiH Common Core Curriculum based on Student Learning Outcomes. This factsheet contains brief summary of project results.

The 1990s conflict in BiH resulted in vast displacement and consequently ethnic homogenization in many areas. In an attempt to reverse this process and encourage the return of refugees and displaced persons, the practice of ‘two schools under one roof’ was established as a temporary measure in three ethnically-divided cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Zenica Doboj Canton, Central Bosnia Canton, and Herzegovina Neretva Canton). This interim measure provided children of different ethnicities, who had previously studied in separate, often inadequate private premises (houses, bars, or restaurants), an opportunity to at least receive education in a single school building. Unfortunately, the temporary has become permanent without any systemic solution in sight to transition to integrated schools.

The Handbook, supported by the OSCE Mission to Serbia, provides guidelines for school police officers and community police officers on their roles in school environment in respect to drug prevention, juvenile criminality and responsibility of minors, police communication, community policing. The Handbook is available in Serbian language.

Education as a fundamental human right must be ensured without discrimination on any ground. It is therefore crucial for every society, including Bosnia and Herzegovina and all its levels of government, to recognize and combat discrimination in education. Two decades after the war ended, many children in BiH are still faced with discriminatory practices in education and a subsequent lack of inclusive quality education. This, in essence, challenges their right to education. Education policies and practices in BiH still uphold ethno-national divisions as opposed to promoting mutual understanding, tolerance, and respect for diversity. A key objective of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina is to strengthen and support the efforts of BiH education authorities to ensure non-discriminatory inclusive quality education for all children.

Education is crucial for the development of sustainable peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), as it contributes to shaping the views and attitudes of young people. Despite changes over the past two decades, the teaching process remains based on outdated curricula and teaching materials. Combined with a heavy ethnic, religious, and gender bias, this means that schools often fail to equip students with the competencies they need for life in a dynamically changing and diverse society. Current education practices hinder reconciliation and jeopardize long-term stability, because they do not foster competencies, such as critical thinking, multiperspectivity, inclusivity, and respect of diversity, innovation and collaboration among the young generations.