The EUD/EUSR in Bosnia and Herzegovina launched two new workbooks under the “Joint History Project” in Sarajevo on 19 January 2017 at a symbolic venue – the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The event launched the two history workbooks, covering the period from World War II to 2008, and discussed the importance of multi-perspective history learning as a means of reconciliation and peace building. The purpose of the project, funded under IPA and implemented by the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in South-East Europe (CDRSEE), is to change the way history is taught in high schools across South-East Europe.

On this occasion, Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, Head of the EU Delegation to BiH and EU Special Representative, highlighted that the people of the region have much more in common than they believe and that all stakeholders should provide more support for the next stage of the project, in particular, support for the translations of the workbooks into the local languages and support for the training of teachers. Ambassador Wigemark further noted that the national authorities should support the process of accreditation of the history workbooks and their adoption in the education curricula.

Dževdet Tuzlić, Journalist and Coordinator for the Joint History Project in BiH, pointed to the importance of the project for education in BiH and urged all stakeholders to support the project given its potential in making a difference for future generations in BiH and throughout Southeast Europe.

To date, four workbooks have been produced in 11 languages covering history up to World War II. In 2016, the two new workbooks, currently only available in English, dealing with the period from the end of World War II to 2008 were produced, involving 34 historians and 135 teachers from the region.

The two workbooks were initially launched at the European Parliament in Brussels on 15 November 2016, at an event hosted by Ms Ulrike Lunacek, Vice President of the European Parliament together with fellow MEPs Eduard Kukan, Tanja Fajon, Knut Fleckenstein, Giorgios Grammatikakis and Ivan Jakovčić, where Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn emphasised the importance of the project for “building highways for education”.