In the Balkans, a region in Eastern Europe (shaped like a bridge between Europe and Asia) was previously a country called Yugoslavia. War in the 1990s between different areas of the country caused Yugoslavia to split into five different countries. I have lived in two of them: Bosnia and Herzegovina (which is actually one state, even though it has two names!) and Serbia, where I’m writing from. The war, like all wars, was violent and destructive – war crimes and human rights abuses were committed by all sides. Human rights abuses are when people are harmed in ways that go against their basic rights. Every person in the world, including me and you, is born with rights just for being human – to be safe, to have a home, or to go to school. When these rights are taken away, we call these human rights abuses.
People were hurt, physically and emotionally, and that pain is passed on to the next generations. This means that even though the war happened over thirty years ago, the memory and trauma stay even with children your age. Some examples of how memories of the past continue are through families telling stories, museums, and what is taught in school.
