This year marks the relaunch of the Lantos Congressional Fellows Program, following a two-year pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic. More than 100 fellows from Europe and Israel have participated in the program, and this year the Lantos Foundation has selected three outstanding young professionals as Lantos Fellows. In early September, they started their fellowships with U.S. congressional offices. Read on to learn more about the 2022 class of Lantos Fellows.
Enna Zone Đonlić
Country of origin: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Languages spoken: Croatian, English, German, French, Turkish and Portuguese
University degrees and honors:
Ph.D. in Law (2021 – present), M.Sc. in Criminology with Honors (2021) – University of Sarajevo
M.A. in Democracy and Human Rights with Honors (2020) – University of Sarajevo and University of Bologna
LLM (advanced law degree) in Civil Law with Honors (2019) – University of Sarajevo
M.A. in Political Science and Sociology with High Honors (2018) – International University of Sarajevo
Diploma, Project Management in Humanitarian Action in Post-Crisis Societies (2017) – University Fernando Pessoa (UFP), Porto, Portugal
B.A. in Political Science and Sociology with High Honors (2017) – International University of Sarajevo
Awarded Silver plaque of the University of Sarajevo, 2019
Rector´s High Honor Student List, International University of Sarajevo, 2015-2017
In addition to her impressive array of degrees, Enna brings a diverse range of professional experiences to the Lantos Fellows Program. She co-founded the youth association “Dictum factum” and served as its project coordinator, including organizing a roundtable on gender equality in 2016 and a Youth Reconciliation Ambassador Event in 2014. Enna has served as an assistant in the Public Relations Office at the International University of Sarajevo; as a Youth Advisor at the British Embassy in Sarajevo; as assistant to Her Imperial Royal Highness Camilla Habsburg-Lothringen, Archduchess of Austria and Princess of Tuscany; and as a trainee at the European Union Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina. More recently, she has been a researcher at Transparency International BiH, an Ambassador at the European Student Think Tank, and she is the Ambassadors Coordinator for Imagine Europe.
What do you hope to learn or gain from your time as a Lantos Fellow?
I am a believer in my dreams. I believe I can change not just myself but the people around me, my community and the country I live in. But I am also grounded and strong enough to make my dreams a reality. My multidisciplinary studies are my way of following my dream. Everything I do – each page read, song listened to, place and country visited, research conducted, speech delivered, seminar organized – these are the stones in the castle of my dreams. I believe the Lantos Fellowship will help me gain more experience and knowledge that I can use to bring the positive change that my country and society need.
What is your dream job? How do you think being a Lantos Fellow will help you on your career path?
My dream job is complex, layered. I want to work as an educator to young people, teaching them the importance of social and political activism, but I also want to be a diplomat and work in the international institutions from which I can help my homeland, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Lantos Fellowship will help me gain more experience working in a political and diplomatic environment, directly participating in and learning legislative procedures and good practices that I would like to see replicated in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
If you could have dinner with any human rights figure (living or deceased), who would it be? What would you talk about or what would you ask them?
There are five individuals I would love to talk with: Tom Lantos, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and Katarina Kosača.
Katarina Kosača is the last Queen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as a huge history buff it would have been an honor to talk with her and analyze the position of citizens of the country; to speak about her vision of the future and they ways she would have loved to see Bosnia develop.
I love history, and through my studies I have analyzed the American Revolution many times, so it would be great to hear the stories of how the American nation and Constitution were built from Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.
And finally, two people with whom I would go into deep analysis of the state of human rights now, and what young people could do to change the societies we live in, would be Tom Lantos and Martin Luther King, Jr. I strongly believe that the two of them would have great advice to offer.
What about living in the United States/DC makes you most excited?
It might sound strange, but when I thought about visiting the USA, I always hoped and wanted to come to Washington, DC, because it is a particularly important place for me. The American presidents and their behavior are one of the reasons why I studied political science and law. I have also found inspiration in Presidents Obama and Biden. Although the history of the USA, and Washington itself, does not go back as far as the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or Europe in general, it is an incredible feeling to walk the streets of Washington and visit all the museums. I try to make the most of every day, in order to enjoy as much as possible – not only in terms of work, but also in terms of history, food and conversation with people from DC.
Follow Enna on Twitter @ZoneEnna and Instagram @catherine_of_bosnia.