Peace building is the first prerequisite for development, along with respect for human rights.

In the last 13 years, Biserka Momcinovic, mother and grandmother, former accountant and commercial officer, has worked for the promotion of human rights and has helped hundreds of people reunite with their families. A co-founder and leader of the Center for Civil Initiatives (CCI), she organized public discussions on human rights and offered direct support to victims of human rights abuses. She was coordinator of the Women’s Network of Croatia and contributed significantly to its becoming one of the biggest and most respected Croatian NGO networks.

Biserka (Biba) Momcinovic started her involvement in organized work on the protection and promotion of human rights in 1992, when she co-founded the Civil Committee for Human Rights in Zagreb, which later became the Center for Civil Initiatives (CCI). She decided to get involved when her friend, an ethnic Serb, was not able to get help from any institution when she needed it. The Serb woman's friends were her only support in her struggle for survival and for the right to live in her own city while she was jobless. Biba realized that it was time for active engagement. Her instincts told her that innocent people are the ones who suffer most in the high tide of ultra-nationalism. Since 1993, Biba has actively organized round tables and public discussions in and outside Istria, bringing in speakers who advocated a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, egalitarian society that does not tolerate any form of discrimination. She has always been committed to the promotion of human rights related to conscientious objection, citizenship, apartheid, forced military draft, and migrants. At the same time, she offered direct support to victims of human rights abuses and war, particularly the ethnic Serbs who had been expelled from their homes during the war. She also played an important role in finding and reuniting missing persons after the war. Since 1995, her interests have widened to include women's rights and gender equality. She was the first coordinator of the Women’s Network of Croatia and has contributed significantly to its becoming one of the biggest and most respected Croatian NGO networks. Her day-to-day activities include public discussions that promote awareness and sensitivity to human rights issues and the creation of new non-governmental organizations.

Center for Civil Initiatives (CCI)