Human rights protection organizations are calling on state organs to be aware of their requirement to guarantee, by all lawful national means, the full enjoyment of rights and freedoms to every individual and group which considers their individual rights to be endangered. In addition to guaranteeing freedom with inviolable authority, state security has the further obligation of creating a social atmosphere in which citizens can realize all of their rights without fear of violence. (more…)

The Belgrade Center for Human Rights expresses its concern once more regarding the bad practice of Serbia’s legislative bodies, of hurriedly adopting a draft law that has not been previously debated publicly and on which professionals have not had an opportunity to make any statements. (more…)

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights is concerned by the increasingly frequent displays of generosity by higher courts towards people openly expounding Fascism. The most recent such display is the decision by the Novi Sad District Court to overturn the municipal court verdict finding Goran Davidović aka Fuhrer, the leader of the unregistered organisation National Formation, guilty of damaging the reputation of journalist Dinko Gruhonjić because “some court documents were not in the Cyrillic script and the indictment was written in the Latin alphabet”. The District Court found that this constituted a “violation of Davidović’s rights”. The first-instance verdict was handed down over two years ago.    (more…)

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights regrets that the Serbian state authorities have yet again made concessions to the most regressive forces in society. The Niš local authorities are ready to retract before hypocritical protests staged by residents of a city street against it carrying the name of the famous artist Šaban Bajramović. The blatancy and malice of the protests cannot be glossed over by the initiative to “reward” Bajramović, a Roma, by naming a street or building after him in the area “his people live in” i.e. in the Roma settlement. (more…)

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights held a press conference on Monday, 16 March, at which it presented its eleventh annual Report on Human Rights. The Report analyses Serbian human rights legislation and its conformity with international standards and the respect of specific rights in practice. The BCHR also presented its reports on activities of legal institutions in fields of war crimes, organised crime, discrimination and domestic violence. These reports include specific recommendations on amending the legislation and practice to advance the efficiency of  state authorities in combatting these crimes. They are the result of BCHR’s one-year work on the project “Monitoring and Reporting the Activities of Legal Institutions in Serbia in the Fields of Organised Crime, War Crimes, Discrimination and Domestic Violence”.  

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights condemns the Government decision to withdraw from the agenda the Draft Anti-Discrimination Act just before the Serbian Assembly session. There are no reasonable grounds to again bring into question the state’s readiness to finally enact a general anti-discrimination law. The Draft Act had undergone the usual procedure and been reviewed both by the Government and the relevant Assembly committees. There had been enough time to promptly eliminate any ambiguities or shortcomings. The opportunity to do so existed before the session as well – the deputies could have submitted amendments to the Draft Act.    (more…)