Danilo Milić
Local Programme Manager, Olaf Palme, Belgrade
To somebody who was a graduate of the Law School, as I was at that time, the Human Rights School was a very positive surprise and proof that there was something above the arbitrariness of states and the law of the more powerful. As I had for a long period before then been disappointed with the “range” of domestic law and compliance with it, as with international law and its current stage of development, the School poured into me a completely new energy and enthusiasm that I already thought was slowly disappearing. The young men and women that were my colleagues in the Human Rights School, as well as the professors I had the opportunity to listen to, were the best evidence that there was a group of people who believed that the existing system(s) was imperfect, but that there was room and opportunity for that to change. And that what was essential was for all of us who really wanted that change to not sit and mourn our evil fate, but to invest the energy and knowledge we possessed and improve the current situation.
And today, many years after finishing the School, when I think that we are surrounded by darkness and when I run out of faith in the possibility of change, I remember that there are those who give their all and thanks to whom there is even this slow progress. Because of that, I too am trying to be a part of that group and to apply what I learned in the School in my own work.
