Young people's knowledge about the 1990s in Montenegro and the region is limited, fragile and based on informal sources, according to research by the Center for Civic Education (CGO).
CGO announced that the research indicated that the nineties in the collective consciousness of young people in Montenegro are mostly marked by negative events and consequently negative feelings, although there is also a layer of cultural and personal memories that make the perception of that period complex.
"There is a dominant belief that that period is important for our society, but this is not accompanied by adequate knowledge, in which the formal education system has particularly failed", is one of the findings of the CGO research presented today on the knowledge of facts and attitudes of young people about the nineties in Yugoslavia.
Maja Marinović, a program associate at CGO, said that respondents in Montenegro and the region most often associate the 90s with wars and conflicts, economic difficulties, but also with certain music and culture.
This, she added, indicates a complex, albeit mostly negatively colored, perception of that period.
Marinović stated that a significant number did not have a clearly formed association with the 90s, which may indicate a generational gap, lack of information, or emotional distance from that period.
"Young people's knowledge about the 90s in Montenegro and the region is limited, fragile and based on informal sources, mainly on the stories of parents, the immediate environment, as well as the media and social networks, while formal education is much less represented as a source of information," she said. is Marinović.
The CGO stated that in the framework of the research, the respondents were determined on the issue of responsibility for war events, the work of the Hague Tribunal, relations with NATO, but also that they gave a general view of the 90s.
Marinović said that the prevailing belief among young people is that individuals, not nations, are responsible for the crimes during the wars of the 90s, but also the perception that it was their nation that suffered the most during those wars.
"Young people are mostly of the opinion that the final judgments of the Hague Tribunal must be respected by everyone, with moderate agreement regarding the fulfillment of the basic goal of that court in the part of prosecuting those most responsible for war crimes and selectivity in work," said Marinović.
According to her, the prevailing position of young people is that NATO committed aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).
Young people, as Marinović stated, believe to a significant extent that NATO committed crimes during the bombing of Montenegro.
She said that the dominant view is that the ideologies and policies that led to war conflicts and crimes during the 90s still exist in Montenegro, as well as significant support for sanctioning Montenegrin citizens who committed war crimes.
"The dominant view is that young people should learn about the 90s during formal education, which until now has not been the case with the majority, although those who learned about it in the formal education system are mostly satisfied with the way it was done", they stated. from CGO.
As Marinović said, most of the young people who learned about the 90s at school learned about the NATO bombing of the FRY and the war in Kosovo, as well as the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the least about the operation "Bljesak" and the agreement in Kumanovo.
"There is a significant percentage of those who are unsure, or don't know if they learned about certain events," Marinović pointed out.
Coordinator of the Human Rights program at the CGE, Damir Suljević, said that two-thirds of the young respondents stated that Montenegro participated in the wars of the 90s on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, about a fifth believed the opposite, and about a fifth were undecided about the issue.
"Slightly more than half of the young people state that they heard about the attack on Dubrovnik in October 1991, and the majority of them believe that the attack was not a justified military action. "Among the young people who heard about the attack on Dubrovnik, almost two-thirds do not know how many Montenegrin citizens died there," said Suljević.
The CGE announced that the survey indicates that the largest number of those who do not know or refuse to answer the question of whether there were war crimes on the territory of Montenegro is 42,2 percent.
"Among the young people who answered yes to that question (38,6 percent), there are the most who heard about the cases of Deportacija (47,2 percent) and Štrpci (45,6 percent), and the least about the case of the Klapuh family (22,8, XNUMX percent)", said that non-governmental organization (NGO).
Suljević said that a large number of respondents, 73,8 percent, were familiar with the events in Srebrenica.
As he said, when asked whether genocide was committed in Srebrenica, 66,9 percent answered affirmatively, 14,6 percent answered negatively, and 18,4 percent were undecided.
"Among those who deny the genocide in Srebrenica, three lines of opinion are most common - that it is a matter of war and suffering, that it is a crime, but not a genocide, and there are also those who completely deny the events and conspiracy theories, such as that it's all staged," said Suljević.
He said that the approximate number of young people who did not and those who heard about the military action Storm from 1995 is about 40.
"61,7 percent of young people among those who have heard about Storm believe that Operation Storm is a joint criminal enterprise, as stated in the judgment of the Hague Court," said Suljević.
He stated that 57 percent of young people are not familiar with the Lora case, that 17 percent are, and 26 percent do not know.
"Four fifths of young people are familiar with the NATO bombing of the FRY, but the majority of them do not know or refuse to answer the question about how many people died in Montenegro during the NATO bombing," said the CGE.
As the NGO said, 90 percent of young people had not heard of the anti-war movement that existed in the region in the 63,2s, and 68,8 percent of the same respondents had not heard of the anti-war movement in Montenegro.
The research, as announced, also showed that young people have limited information about the memorial culture related to the victims of the wars of the 90s, both in the region and in Montenegro.
CGO said that most of the young respondents are not sure or refuse to say whether Montenegro has faced its wartime past from the 90s.
As they stated, among those who declared, slightly more believe that the country has faced the past - 30,8 percent compared to those who believe that this is not the case - 28,4 percent).
Suljević said that the majority of respondents, 44 percent, support the process of dealing with the war past of the 90s in Montenegro, but that there is a significant number of young people who do not support it - 26 percent or have no opinion - 30 percent.
"When asked if they know that any of the citizens of Montenegro was accused of war crimes committed in Montenegro or outside of it during the 90s, the majority of those who do not know the answer to that question" stated from the CGE.
The research was conducted from September 17 to 23 this year, using the CAPI method, on a stratified random sample of 500 respondents aged 18 to 25.
Professional support in conducting the research was provided by the DAMAR Institute.
The research is part of the project Museum of the 90s - a regional center for reconciliation, education and future cooperation, which is carried out by the CGE and the Cultural Front from Serbia with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
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