A long – time tendencies for protecting cultural rights in Hercegovina region, town Stolac, resulted positively. HCHRBiH, with the help and assistance of The Norwegian Helsinki Committee, hold the International Conference „Human Rights and Destruction of Cultural Memory: the Stolac Case“in Sarajevo , 23 and 24 April 2004. The hosts are satisfied with the same Conference and with the final conclusions which were brought.

 

Conference has been prepared for a longer period. It started with historical lectures about Stolac, presented by eminent historians, professors and humanists from BiH , Norway , Croatia and Great Britain .

Stolac is an old Bosnian – and – Hersegovinian town, which has a special importance in our history. Some historical drawings which are 16 000 years old, also the town Daorson from Illyrian period, depose the history in this region. In later history until nowadays, remarkable differences found their full expression, where people of various religious and ethnic origins lived. The symbols of religious pluriformity, as churches, monasteries, synagogues and mosques throughout the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina meant the acceptance and recognition of collective differences within the same public space. The importance of the history here must be emphasized, because Stolac deserved a special place in it. 

Unfortunately, the period from 1992-1996 did not pass by Stolac. It was marked by systematic destruction people in Stolac and its cultural heritage. Broader violation of human rights of first generation, included torture, unlawful detention, killing, expulsions, and appropriation of property. The whole Muslim population-Bosniaks- was expelled in 1993, several thousands inhabitants of Stolac were detained in concentration camps and more than fifty civilians were killed in torture chambers, through which several hundred people passed.

Talking about the third generation of human rights, the destruction of cultural memory was systematic and long-time planned. Almost all the contents of the cultural memory of Bosniaks have been destroyed. Unfortunately, this phenomenon of erasing the cultural memory within killing and expulsion people is not unknown. It happens worldwide.

The organizers of the Conference appointed the necessity of establishing the civil trust and confidence in the municipality of Stolac , as a precondition to the return of people and getting the individual and collective human rights back to normal. Also they appointed the necessity for identification the political situation of apartheid. The inhabitants of this municipality must find a way to define their questions by themselves, and to have confidence established. Following that, they would need a continuous assistance from outside. “ Bosnia and Herzegovina experienced unconceivable destructions which have not happened since the II World War. Enormous violation of human rights happened. Respect of the cultural identity within one family, is the weapon for beneficiation of the cultural world in heritage. Hiding the through and avoiding it, results the lack of understanding between people” said Muhamed Dzemidzic, the executive director of HCHR BiH.

The final aim of the Conference is to remind people about the human rights and collective memory, initiate deconstruction of cultural monuments as well.

Hosts and attendees agreed that the only way to achieve this is to define the cultural rights religious rights, right to the identity, right to the public space, estate rights etc. through legal framework. That is why, they adopted the “Declaration of International Conference: Human Rights and Destruction of Cultural Memory – the Stolac Case” which expresses a new hope for understanding and compromise between people.