Arijana Aganovic
- Islam
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Female
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Southern Europe
- KAICIID Fellows
Biography Narrative
Associate Officer on Freedom of Religion or Belief, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)
Arijana was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She graduated from the Department of Comparative Literature and Library Science at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Sarajevo. She obtained her MA in religious studies at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Sarajevo. Between 2007 and 2016 she was engaged in different civil society organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, focusing her work on human rights and interreligious dialogue in post-conflict society. In the period 2016–2020 she worked as the Human Rights Officer at the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina and was responsible for coordinating activities in relation to protection of freedom of religion or belief and interreligious dialogue.
Interreligious Activities and Initiatives
Learning about interreligious dialogue as tool of young politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina for strengthening a cohesive and democratic society
A publication is created with the aim of bringing inter religious dialogue and the religions’ peace potential closer to youth who are involved in politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Religion is often covered as a topic in political life, but in a negative context, using stereotypes and prejudices in order to create an atmosphere of intolerance and gain profit for political purposes. Therefore, this publication will try to compensate for the lack of resources on inter religious dialogue and the peace potential of religions and their importance for the advancement of political dialogue. The publication is intended primarily for young politicians and activists from civil society organizations who deal with issues of political responsibility and political participation. It will serve as a manual for including the peace potential of religions and inter religious dialogue in the political engagement of youth. In addition, the publication includes a pilot study conducted among 25 participants of the Academy of Political Responsibility, which has been organized by the Boris Divkovic Foundation for eight years. These young people answered a series of questions that assessed their knowledge and attitudes about religions, diversity, dialogue, political cooperation and their general vision of the future and cooperation among members of different political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which also carry many different identities, and among which religion is one of the important elements. The handbook includes texts written from a sociological, inter-religious, and perspective of peace studies and theology.