In 2020 on December 10, the International Human Rights Day, the Network for Building Peace, despite the pandemic, announced the winners of the Peace Award. The award ceremony itself was postponed for some safer and happier moments. Since 2020, the Network’s Peace Award bears the name of Goran Bubalo, in memory of a great man, his great merits, selfless work and sharing with which he has indebted us all and built for all of us the path of peace and nonviolence, which we now walk and live and will continue to walk in the future.
The Peace Award is awarded in several categories, and Zehida Bihorac Odobašić, from Velika Kladuša, received the Peace Award “Goran Bubalo” for her personal work, as an individual who reacts to every kind of injustice she sees in society, an individual who opens to the citizens of Velika Kladuša window to a better tomorrow. The Peace Award was awarded in Velika Kladuša on May 26, 2021.
Through her long-term volunteer activist work, Zehida Bihorac Odobašić significantly contributed to the development of her local community, both through her work at the First Elementary School in Velika Kladuša, and through the extracurricular activities she initiated. Through her activist work in her local community, she has always provided citizens with the opportunity to get to know “other and different”, to read live books within the living library, to break the stereotypes and prejudices they have, to broaden their horizons and become better people. Through the educational process, she has always listened to the needs of the vulnerable individuals among us, encouraged the process of inclusion, found ways and means for children with disabilities to be not only formally involved in the teaching process, but also accepted by peers and the entire community and society. Zehida Bihorac Odobašić could not remain immune to the position and suffering of people on the move who are staying in BiH, and especially in the area of Una-Sana Canton, where she lives and works. Humanitarian work is part of the very nature and being of Mrs. Bihorac Odobašić, and for several years she has been engaged in providing assistance and support to people on the move, in the desire to make their stay and journey through BiH a worthy experience, to restore their faith in humanity, when numerous fellow citizens neglected it. Due to her engagement and assistance to people on the move, Zehida Bihorac Odobašić experienced threats and attacks, which spread from the online sphere to the offline sphere, starting with the status on social networks, posting photos, spreading hatred, hostile views, and then pushing out of cash registers line, people ignoring her on the street, and serious physical attacks. Mrs. Bihorac Odobašić experienced the most serious physical attack in September 2020, after which an investigation was launched, and she received the protection of the Frontline Defenders, an international organization that protects activists at risk around the world, activists that fear for their activist and humanitarian work and their own safety.
The work of Mrs. Bihorac Odobašić is recognized all over the world, she is the winner of numerous awards, and for the Peace Award “Goran Bubalo” she points out that it is a great honor and pleasure that such award came to her city of Velika Kladuša and that it came to her at the time she experienced the most serious attacks because of her activist work and actions. For Zehida Odobašić Bihorac, the Goran Bubalo Peace Award is an indicator that good news can be sent from Velika Kladuša, and it provides additional motivation for further action because it is an indicator that the engagement of activists does not remain invisible and is valued. Since receiving the Goran Bubalo Peace Award, Zehida Bihorac Odobašić notes that the situation is slowly changing for the better, as she says “Someone rewarded our Zehida for something we are attacking her for.”
Zehida Bihorac Odobašić is the first individual to bring the Peace Award of the Network for Building Peace to Velika Kladuša and the first individual to receive the Peace Award named after Goran Bubalo. Zehida Bihorac Odobašić showed with her actions that the threat, fear and disapproval of society is never an obstacle on humanity, building peace and making the world a better place for all of us.
Mrs. Zehida Bihorac Odobašić’s message is a warning to all of and our patterns of behavior we live by, in order to create a quality society in our country, in which opportunities are equal for all of us.
About the award
The Peace Award of the Network for Building Peace, which has been named after Goran Bubalo since 2020, was established in 2013 as an award for individuals and schools that stand out in their work on peacebuilding and the promotion of human rights issues. The purpose of the award is to recognize outstanding creative achievements in promoting tolerance, human rights and peacebuilding. The emphasis is on achievement. The ultimate goal is to draw attention to successful people and schools that can serve as role models for others in the areas of tolerance and peacebuilding. The award thus recognizes efficiency as well as vision. The Peace Award is awarded to people who stand on the defense of human rights and work to spread the principles of peace and solidarity in the world, and who have made an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace, and interreligious cooperation. The award is dedicated to the effective implementation of the principle of tolerance in the public and private spheres, especially in activities that contribute to peace building in the fields of arts, education, culture and science.
Laureates in 2020
– In the category of schools, the expert jury decided that the Peace Award in 2020 belongs to the Public Institution General Grammar School “Bosanska Krupa”.
– In the category of individual/activist, it was decided that the Peace Award will be awarded posthumously to our deceased colleague Goran Bubalo.
– A special award/certificate of appreciation this year was awarded to the kindergarten “Sunčani most” from Mostar
– In the individual category, the award was given to Zehida Bihorac Odobašić, from the First Elementary School in Velika Kladuša
The following persons were part of the expert jury:
- Vahidin Omanović – Center for Peacebuilding Sanski Most
- Aleksandar Žolja – Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Banja Luka
- Nataša Maksimović – Network for Building Peace
- Nerzuk Ćurak – Faculty of Political Sciences Sarajevo
- Azra Pita Parente – PUBLIKA
- Damir Šaćiragić – Riječi mira
- Dženana Alađuz – Info House
- Sead Đulić – Mostar Youth Theater
