Stemming the tide of unrest in The Balkans

This region is one of the world’s most culturally rich, highly civilised areas, enjoying a multiplicity of faith and language, and a diversity of culture.
With this in mind, The Humanitarian Forum decided to explore this wealth of knowledge, to highlight its great value as an asset to humanity. The Humanitarian Forum’s visit to Macedonia last week strengthened this view, that these riches should be brought to the international community.
When Muslims, Christians and Jews, ethnic Albanians, Macedonians and others, come together, you can see that there is a lot of common ground between them. And they bring the hope that together they can all build a stronger foundation for a better future and a safer Europe.
The energy shown by those groups during the our visit has left us deeply touched; their message is one of of peace, bridge building and looking for a better future for all.
With our experience and resources in the international community, we can help to pave the way and lay the foundation for an innovative, entrepreneurial solution, which we need not only for the Balkans itself, but to add to the mosaic of international partnership.
This spirit is not new. We’re simply highlighting and facilitating the existing role of the people in this area, taking into account the expertise and status of the newly emerging states. Our meeting in April will enable them to highlight the problems facing civil society, and to propose solutions for them. Our role should be to bridge the gaps between them as well as to let the international community listen to them and support their vital work, welcoming these new players who can enrich and advance the global civil society sector as a whole.
We are inviting partners from the Balkans and internationally help cement these relations and find a better prospect for the future. Our responsibility is to discover – together – the new pioneers of the 21st century form the Balkans as well as other regions.
Let us share our thoughts, exchange views and information, and support such initiatives for the betterment of developing a stronger civil society movement in the region which can include everyone.
We have witnessed too many wars over the last three decades, which have claimed the lived of hundreds of thousands, and caused the forced migration of millions. We need to learn how to replace the process of war with a future built on peace.