The International Conference “Dayton Legacies: 30 Years of Peace” was held in Vitez on December 1, 2025, organized by the Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC), with the support of the OSCE Mission to BiH and the ProPeace organization. The Conference was co-financed by the European Union.
The Dayton Peace Agreement, signed in Dayton, Ohio on November 21, 1995, and initiated in Paris on December 14, 1995, brought peace to BiH and established the country’s current constitutional and legal framework. The conference critically reviewed the functioning of this framework 30 years later, analyzing how it adapts to contemporary challenges in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The conference also discussed the importance of peacebuilding in education, and the role of young people in peace programs across different spheres of social, cultural and political life.
At the “Working with Youth: Peace Education in the Future” panel, moderated by Tatjana Milovanović, Professor Larisa Kasumagić-Kafedžić (University of Sarajevo) presented the “Peacebuilding Pedagogies in Higher Education” international research project, and the strategic and pioneering work of the Peace Education Hub. She argued that universities must institutionalize peace research and teaching, sharing specific strategies for teacher development based on her many years of experience of working within formal and non-formal education settings. Alongside three fellow educators (Đuldina Kurtović, from Treća gimnazija Sarajevo; Milica Jošić-Milinović, from the University of Banja Luka; and Goran Šimić, from the University of Vitez), she highlighted the essential roles of critical thinking and media literacy in engaging youth through both formal and non-formal education. Emphasizing that universities have a fundamental obligation to teach and research peace education, she detailed various programs and strategies for pre-service and in-service teacher development. She further underscored the imperative of institutionalizing and internationalizing peace education, which is an integral element of the Peace Hub’s vision. The panel also explored the importance of youth engagement, critical thinking, and critical media literacy within both formal and non-formal educational frameworks.
By combining panels and workshops with high-level dialogue among activists, local teachers and educators as well as with the international officials, the conference not only equipped youth who participated in the event with future oriented skills but also reinforced a collective commitment to preventing further division in BiH.