International authorities at the Dusko Kondor Awards in Sarajevo, 2012 (picture by Gariwo.org)

In May 2012 European Parliament adopted March 6th as European Day of Remembrance of the Righteous.
So far the concept of the righteous has been limited on those who saved Jews from the „Final Solution“ during the Second World War. Concept of the righteous had its foundation exclusively in Jewish culture. Since 2013 Europe will on March 6th commemorate all those righteous individuals who risked their lives and the safety of themselves and their families to stand up for the dignity and freedom of victims of totalitarian regimes or any violation of human rights.
The declaration of the European Day of Remembrance for the Righteous is an important step towards promoting basic human rights and defending human freedoms and dignity especially nowadays when financial crisis has an impact on the rise of radical and rigid ideologies.
Extension of the concept of the righteous on those who have risked their lives fighting for the dignity of individuals regardless of their ethno-national or other identities has special significance in former Yugoslavia region which passed through wars in which individuals lost their lives just on the basis of fascist criteria. However, NGO Gariwo Sarajevo for more than a decade tries to involve the concept of the righteous in the public space of West Balkan countries. During the Yugoslav wars there were a lot of righteous who saved many individuals who belonged to those ethno-national groups that were doomed to disappearance.
NGO Gariwo Sarajevo has found Duško Kondor Civil Courage Award which was assigned for the first time in 2008. It has awarded thirty laureates since then. NGO Gariwo Sarajevo has gone a step further beginning notion of the righteous connect with the notion of civil courage which can be expressed in peace as well as in war. This may be clearer if we read the definition of civil courage which is given on NGO Gariwo’s website: „Civil courage is the will and ability to disobey, resist, oppose and to end by non-violent means the abuse of power by any public authority, private enterprise or individuals who deliberately neglect their duties to society or illegally use for their own advantage the levers of their political, economic or social power violating human rights – whether in the media, academic, ecclesiastical or family spheres.“ (www.gariwo.org) Full story in the box below.