Background on the organization
Since it was founded, on the 10th of May 1996 in Bijeljina, the work of this non-governmental organization was dedicated to promotion, protection and monitoring of the condition of human rights in B&H and the region. The activities of the organization are also directed towards education of citizens, especially youth, about the basic values upon which human rights wer
e founded, including the field of Transitional Justice. The Human Rights education sector within the organization has realized a sequence of different educational activities for young people, professional groups, future decision makers, media and religious leaders. In the period 2001 – 2005, the HCHR established the cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and realized significant joint activities through which the work of the Tribunal was presented in the local communities in which serious war crimes were committed. After the establishment of the War Crimes Council of the Court of BH, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights became a member of the BH Court Support Network, working intensively on the promotion and support to the work of the National Judicial System in war crimes trials. The Transitional Justice sector has realized different educational activities for media and youth including the publications from the domain of Transitional Justice. The HCHR has been a member of different national, regional and international networks such as BIRN, Regional Human Rights Education Network, HREA, Coalition for the International Criminal Court, Justice Network of BH, NGOs Coordination Body and National Court Support Network. A special attention is paid to the gender and nationality balance during the recruitment process. The most important goals of the Helsinki Committee are: To monitor systematically the situation in RS, BH and the region in the domain of human rights; To establish a database on human rights violations; To propose concrete measures to improve the situation in the domain of human rights; To provide expert and concrete help to the victims of human rights violations; To establish the cooperation with all interested parties, which tend to improve the condition of human rights in these countries.