OSCE Mission to Croatia and Education Ministry organize children's art contest to promote co-existence and friendship

VUKOVAR, 6 September 2006 - A children's literary and art competition aiming to promote co-existence and friendship in the Danube Region opened today in Vukovar. The contest for children from multicultural schools is organized by the OSCE Mission to Croatia and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports.

"The project "Children Together" will help children of different backgrounds develop their communication skills and learn more about tolerance and mutual trust," said Ambassador Jorge Fuentes, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Croatia.

"School children in the Danube Region should be integrated into the community, regardless of their origin and cultural background. This project will demonstrate that, in a European perspective, it is possible to exercise the right to education that takes pupils' background into account without resorting to segregation," he added.

State Secretary Zelimir Janjic, the Special Envoyee of the Education Minister, said the project was one of several ways in which the Ministry supported activities meant to foster friendly interaction between children from minority and majority groups.

"By participating in this contest, children will get to know each other better, make friends and develop mutual tolerance," he said. "This is the only way to a successful co-existence."

Art and literary works will be collected from 30 elementary multicultural schools, which teach in Croatian and at least another minority language. The best works will be exhibited and rewarded in November.

The project is also designed to complement a national celebration of 2006 as a year memorializing the famous inventor Nikola Tesla, an ethnic Serb born in Croatia.