Tag Archives: bosnia herzegovina

Michal Siewniak

I AM because YOU ARE – Remembering Srebrenica

By Michal Siewniak | Mon 15th July 2024 - 5:47 pm

Living in the UK gives me incredible opportunities to work and meet people from every corner of the world. Although some disagree, this is in my opinion one of the British greatest assets and advantages; the mixture of talents, skills and ethnicities. I think that I was lucky enough to be well prepared for my life in a very multicultural British society, especially during my studies in Croatia. My stay in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, made a huge impact on my personal development. This is where, for the first time, I actually experienced living among a diverse community and encountered many people, who were displaced by the recent war. I’ve learnt the language, which also helped me to integrate better and understand the complex elements of Croatian history and heritage. It is still one of my favourite parts of Europe.

Since coming to Hertfordshire and Welwyn Garden City, almost 20 years ago, I was blessed and privileged to get to know a wonderful Bosnian community and members of the Bosnian Saturday School in Borehamwood, many of whom are my friends.

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Michal Siewniak

Remembering Srebrenica

By Michal Siewniak | Sun 11th July 2021 - 10:03 am

Imagine, just for a moment, that you don’t eat for a month.

Imagine that for months, if you are lucky, you have one “meal” a day; meal meaning a watery soup.

Imagine that when or if you are lucky enough to board the plane, you have no idea where and when you will land.

Imagine that you have no choice, none whatsoever.

Imagine that you are taken, against your will, to a concentration camp, without knowing whether you will walk free again.

Imagine that you are unable, for months, to contact your loved ones.

Imagine that if you are lucky to survive, your traumatic experience lives with you forever.

Imagine that you have NO choice or freedom.

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Posted in Op-eds | 7 Comments
The Voice

Sarajevo remembers Paddy, while new think tank builds on his work

By The Voice | Mon 2nd March 2020 - 11:00 am

Robert Woodthorpe Browne has tweeted a photo of this memorial to Paddy, which was unveiled in Sarajevo on February 27th, which would have been Paddy’s 79th birthday:

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The Voice

Paddy Ashdown on Bosnia and Herzegovina: “These are dangerous times; they are very dangerous times indeed”

By The Voice | Sat 25th October 2014 - 3:55 pm

Paddy Ashdown talks on "The global power shift" in Brussels March 1st 2012 - Some rights reserved by PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE Lord (Paddy) Ashdown, former international High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2002 to 2006, led this week’s House of Lords debate on the situation in the country following its recent election. Here’s what he had to say…

Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon (LD): My Lords, a few months before the last election in the last months of 2009, my right honourable friend William Hague and I—well, at least he was not my right honourable friend then, but he is today; he was then the shadow Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs—wrote a joint article for the British and foreign press on Bosnia and Herzegovina. We complained bitterly that Bosnia was stuck, that the progress that we had made during the previous 10 years had gone backwards, that the tone of nationalistic rhetoric had risen, that this was dangerous and that Bosnia remained stuck in a mire of dysfunctionality and corruption.

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Posted in Europe / International and Parliament | Also tagged | 9 Comments
Max Atikinson

Last call for entries: Speechwriting competition – can the right words fend off protestors?

By Max Atikinson | Sat 26th February 2011 - 4:44 pm

Writing speeches with Paddy Ashdown sometimes happened at difficult times, like when we’d spent weeks preparing his announcement that he would run for the leadership in 1988 – only for it to dawn on us that we’d have to produce another one for the next day, then another, followed by almost a speech a day for the next three weeks.

Nor was it much fun when the party was at 4% in the opinion polls or, and this was probably the most difficult one of all, working on his first speech as High Representative to the parliament of Bosnia Herzegovina.
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