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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Norway’s experiences valuable for period after tragic events in Serbia

Belgrade, 2 June 2023

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic received today representatives of the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS) and the Utoya Centre, who shared with her their experiences related to the period after the tragic event on the island of Utoya in 2011, when 69, mostly young people, were killed.

The Prime Minister pointed out that tragedies, such as the one that happened on 3 May this year at the Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school, change the entire country forever and absolutely require an adequate response and full support for the families of the victims.

The whole society is going through a stressful period, Brnabic pointed out and added that the state is ready to do everything necessary to help the families, students and teachers of that school, but with respect for the opinion and in agreement with the Council of parents of the school and the families of the victims.

Representatives of that centre and experts in post-traumatic treatment and the remembrance culture presented to the Prime Minister their experiences after the tragedy on the island of Utoya in 2011 and pointed out that at this moment it is necessary to give the families of the victims enough time to recover and to create teams of experts of various profiles who will provide them with full psychological and any other kind of support.

These are the measures that have produced results in their country, said representatives of the Norwegian Centre and experts for post-traumatic treatment and the remembrance culture.

After the tragic event on Utoya island in July 2011, Norway designed programme models for the work of multidisciplinary teams with young people in identifying the vulnerable, monitoring their health and their long-term psycho-social recovery.