Scottish Conservatives Leader Ruth Davidson returns to her journalistic roots to interview former BBC correspondents Kate Adie OBE and Allan Little at the Beyond Borders International Festival at Traquair House on Saturday, August 22.

In the panel, ‘Srebrenica Remembered’, former journalist Ruth Davidson will delve into the wealth of experience that both Kate Adie and Allan Little have accumulated while reporting from conflict zones such as Bosnia and Sierra Leone, with an emphasis on the coverage of genocide in the media. 20 years on from the massacre in Srebrenica – during which more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed – they discuss whether the international community has been able learn anything from tragic events such as these.  

In light of this 20th anniversary year, former BBC special correspondent, Allan Little, said, “It’s essential that we continue to remember – and mark – what happened at Srebrenica twenty years ago this summer. We owe that to the victims and survivors. But it’s also vital that we continue to seek lessons, to understand what went wrong, and to try to ensure that crimes of this sort are not repeated in the future.”

In addition to this panel discussion, this year’s Beyond Borders International Festival will also play host to a screening of The Fog of Srebrenica, a documentary by award-winning Bosnian filmmaker Samir Mehanovic. The film will be screened throughout the weekend, and offers a unique insight into the lives of those who have been struggling to come to terms with the past while also facing the harsh realities of their present-day lives.

Addressing conflicts elsewhere in the world, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura will launch the Women in Conflict Initiative, a joint venture between Beyond Borders, the European Institute of Peace, and Edinburgh’s Summerhall. Across a number of events in both the Scottish Borders and in Edinburgh, this initiative aims to draw upon a variety of mediums – including a residential fellowship for fellows from Iraq, Syria and Yemen – in order to highlight and explore the experiences and roles of women in conflict. There will also be an opportunity to meet a number of these remarkable women in lunchtime tête-à-tête sessions during the Festival weekend.

Another of these lunchtime sessions will also allow the opportunity to meet artist Siemon Scamell-Katz, creator of the exhibition A Mile in Their Shoes.

The installation will be displayed in a Bedouin tent at Traquair House throughout the Festival weekend, and seeks to raise awareness of the fate of Yazidi girls and women, who have fled from violent conflict with Islamic State in Northern Iraq, and to raise support for a day centre that takes care of refugees from the region.

Speaking about her involvement in this year’s Beyond Borders International Festival, Ruth Davidson said, “Our collective memory of these events is shaped by the men and women who risk their lives to tell the story. Time and time again it’s through war correspondents that truth comes to light. That’s why I am so grateful to Beyond Borders for inviting me to share the stage with two journalists of the highest order — Allan Little and, one of my personal heroes, Kate Adie. I hope you are able join us.”

Join the debate at the Beyond Borders International Festival.