Centre for Nonviolent Action

The Centre for Nonviolent Action, commonly known by the abbreviation CNA and the Serbo-Croatian name Centar za nenasilnu akciju, is a regional peace organisation focused on sustainable peace in the countries of the former Yugoslavia. It was established in Sarajevo in September 1997, in the aftermath of the Yugoslav Wars, when social relations remained deeply shaped by ethnic division, displacement, political nationalism, and unresolved memories of violence. The organisation began as an initiative intended to bring people from communities that had recently been positioned as enemies into sustained contact and dialogue. Its founding was supported by Kurve Wustrow, a German educational organisation working on nonviolent action, while the Berghof Research Centre for Constructive Conflict Management provided supervision and advisory support during different periods of CNA's development. CNA expanded its institutional presence to Serbia in 2001 by opening an office in Belgrade. From its two main bases, it developed cross-border programmes involving participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Kosovo. Its central purpose is not simply the absence of armed conflict, but the development of societies in which diversity is valued, people think critically about inherited narratives, citizens accept responsibility for their communities, and individuals are willing to reconsider their own assumptions. Dealing with the past is therefore a core element of its peacebuilding work. The organisation uses peace education, facilitated dialogue, public forums, publications, documentary production, and activist training. Its training programmes have involved teachers, journalists, social workers, youth workers, activists, political-party participants, students, and representatives of civil-society organisations. Basic and advanced courses address prejudice reduction, trust-building, nonviolent communication, and approaches to contested histories. CNA also works with former combatants from the wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. This work began in 2002 under a dealing-with-the-past project and seeks to create conditions in which veterans from different sides can meet, reflect on their experiences, and contribute to reconciliation rather than nationalist mobilisation. Veteran engagement is significant because former combatants can have influence in local communities and media that is not always available to conventional peace activists. CNA has organised trainings, public meetings, and visits involving veteran associations from different parts of the former Yugoslavia. Its annual Mir-Paqe-Мир training, held since 2015, places particular emphasis on the interconnected political and social contexts of Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia. Other programmes are directed at students in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the longer-term aim of developing peacebuilding capacities among future public opinion leaders and policymakers. Film and video are another part of CNA's methodology. Its documentaries and short films use personal testimony, simulated dialogue, literary adaptation, and encounters between former adversaries to explore wartime suffering, displacement, responsibility, reconciliation, and the difficulty of changing entrenched views. Notable works include Traces, Visits of Veterans, Not a Bird to be Heard, All Wish to Cast the Stone, It Cannot Last Forever, The Fortress, Alien Home, and Small Faculty of Activism. CNA's activities have sometimes encountered resistance. Early public events in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were affected by challenges concerning speakers' political affiliations, attempts to disrupt discussions, nationalist criticism, and the reluctance of survivors and veterans to revisit traumatic experiences. These difficulties also led to feedback that peace forums needed to include a wider range of nationalist perspectives and to be held across the region. In 2019, CNA received the Krunoslav Sukic Award for its contribution to peacebuilding, nonviolence, and human rights. The organisation's public profile remains that of a regional civil-society actor rather than a commercial brand, with its identity grounded in training, dialogue, historical reflection, and practical reconciliation work.

CNA emerged from the post-war environment created by the Yugoslav Wars. Its founding premise was that sustainable peace required more than political settlements or the cessation of violence: people divided by ethnicity, wartime allegiance, and competing historical narratives needed opportunities to meet as human beings and examine the assumptions that sustained hostility. Nenad Vukosavljevic founded the organisation in Sarajevo in September 1997 with support from Kurve Wustrow. The Berghof Research Centre for Constructive Conflict Management also contributed supervision and advice during different stages of the organisation's work. During its first years, CNA concentrated heavily on civilians and young people, using nonviolence education and peacebuilding exercises to develop communication skills, reduce prejudice, and create networks across former conflict lines. In 2001, it opened a second office in Belgrade, extending its organisational reach into Serbia and reinforcing its cross-border character. The two-office structure allowed CNA to work across Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia while maintaining programmes that connected participants from several successor states of Yugoslavia. A major development came in 2002, when former combatants were added as a target group within CNA's dealing-with-the-past work. The organisation sought constructive engagement with veterans who had served in different armies during the wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Its approach was based on the possibility that veterans could acknowledge suffering, question inherited justifications, and participate in peacebuilding without requiring participants to erase their identities or experiences. Joint meetings, public discussions, trainings, and visits to sites of suffering became tools for supporting such encounters. Veterans also brought access to local media and communities that could be difficult for youth-oriented civil-society groups to reach. CNA subsequently built a broad training portfolio. Participants have included teachers, journalists, activists, social workers, youth workers, political-party activists, students, and NGO representatives. Basic and advanced trainings have brought together people from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo. The programmes address prejudice, trust, nonviolent action, dialogue, and constructive approaches to contested history. Since 2015, the Mir-Paqe-Мир training has provided a recurring regional format with particular attention to the linked contexts of Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia. Student programmes in Bosnia and Herzegovina have aimed to give future public and policy leaders an introduction to peacebuilding principles. Public forums and panel discussions have been an important but challenging part of this history. CNA's early work in Serbia faced questions about the credibility and political background of participants, and at least one event encountered an attempted disruption by a veterans' association. A 2004 Sarajevo forum also drew opposition from the Green Berets veterans' organisation. These experiences illustrated the difficulty of organising dialogue among people carrying direct memories of war, as well as the risk that speakers or participants might use peace events to advance partisan agendas. Feedback from events in Serbia and Bosnia led to calls for broader participation, including people with more nationalist views, and for forums to be organised across a wider geographic area. The organisation has also developed a body of documentary and educational media. Its films examine former combatants' motivations, inter-community perceptions, forced migration, memory, hatred, and the possibility of dialogue. Traces, released in 2004, presented the reflections of four former combatants. A series of simulated-dialogue films followed in 2006 and 2007, while Visits of Veterans in 2009 documented a joint visit by former combatants from Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia to a site of suffering. The short film The Fortress appeared in 2013, Alien Home in 2017, and Small Faculty of Activism in 2017 drew on a 2014 training-of-trainers programme. In 2019, CNA received the Krunoslav Sukic Award for promoting peacebuilding, nonviolence, and human rights. Its continuing identity is that of a regional organisation linking education, activism, dialogue, veteran participation, public discussion, and cultural production in pursuit of reconciliation across the former Yugoslavia.

• 2019

  Krunoslav Sukic Award received

  [1]Centre for Nonviolent Actionen.wikipedia.org

  CNA was recognised for work promoting peacebuilding, nonviolence, and human rights.

• 2015

  Mir-Paqe-Мир training established as an annual programme

  [1]Centre for Nonviolent Actionen.wikipedia.org

  CNA began holding the recurring regional training with special attention to Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

• 2004

  Traces released

  [1]Centre for Nonviolent Actionen.wikipedia.org

  The documentary presented four former combatants discussing their wartime motivations and changing views of the past.

• 2002

  Veterans added to dealing-with-the-past work

  [1]Centre for Nonviolent Actionen.wikipedia.org

  CNA began working directly with former combatants from the wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

• 2001

  Belgrade office opened

  [1]Centre for Nonviolent Actionen.wikipedia.org

  The organisation expanded its presence by opening a second office in Belgrade, Serbia.

• 1997

  CNA founded in Sarajevo

  [1]Centre for Nonviolent Actionen.wikipedia.org

  Nenad Vukosavljevic established the Centre for Nonviolent Action in Sarajevo as a post-war peacebuilding initiative supported by Kurve Wustrow.

A regional, non-governmental peacebuilding organisation that combines nonviolence education, cross-community dialogue, veteran engagement, and creative documentation of wartime memory.

• Peace education

  Basic and advanced nonviolence trainings

  Regional training programmes bring together participants from several countries of the former Yugoslavia. They address prejudice reduction, mutual trust, nonviolent action, communication, and constructive approaches to dealing with the past. Participants have included activists, teachers, journalists, social workers, youth workers, political-party participants, and NGO representatives.

• Reconciliation programme · 2002

  Veteran peacebuilding programmes

  Since 2002, CNA has involved former combatants from different wartime sides in dialogue, training, public meetings, and visits to sites of suffering. The work aims to support reflection on wartime experience and enable veterans to participate constructively in reconciliation and peacebuilding.

• Regional peacebuilding training · 2015

  Mir-Paqe-Мир training

  An annual training programme held since 2015, focusing particularly on the interrelated social and political contexts of Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia. The programme uses nonviolence education and dialogue to develop regional peacebuilding capacity.

• Film and video production · 2004

  Documentary and educational films

  CNA produces documentaries and short films about war memory, former combatants, migration, prejudice, suffering, and dialogue. The films function both as records of personal experience and as educational tools for discussion and peacebuilding.

• 2015Mir-Paqe-Мир

  Kosovo · North Macedonia · Serbia

  An annual regional training focused on peacebuilding and understanding the connected contexts of Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

  Outcome. The programme became a recurring platform for developing cross-border nonviolence and dialogue skills.

  Source
• 2002Dealing with the Past: Veteran Engagement

  Bosnia and Herzegovina · Serbia · Croatia

  CNA expanded its peacebuilding work to include former combatants from the wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Activities included dialogue, training, public meetings, and contacts among veteran associations.

  Outcome. The programme created opportunities for veterans from different sides to engage in reconciliation and gave peacebuilding initiatives access to influential local community and media networks.

  Source

• 2002

  Expansion from civilian work to veteran engagementStrategy

  Background

  CNA initially worked mainly with civilians and young people, but identified former combatants as an important group for constructive engagement with the past.

  Action taken

  The organisation incorporated war veterans into its dealing-with-the-past programmes.

  Aftermath

  Veterans became a continuing target group in CNA's dialogue, training, public-meeting, and documentary work.

  Source

• 2001

  Establishment of a second office in BelgradeStrategy

  Background

  CNA's mission was regional rather than confined to its original Sarajevo base, requiring a stronger operational presence in Serbia.

  Action taken

  The organisation opened a second office in Belgrade and continued cross-border peacebuilding work.

  Aftermath

  The two-office structure strengthened CNA's ability to work across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and the wider former Yugoslavia.

  Source

1. 1Centre for Nonviolent Actionen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Centre for Nonviolent Action official websitenenasilje.org