The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights presented its annual Human Rights in Serbia 2020 report on 4 March 2021.
The Report was presented on ZOOM by the Report editors Vesna Petrović and Dušan Pokuševski and one of its authors, journalist Ivan Protić. Head of the UN Human Rights Team in Serbia Milan Marković provided an overview of respect for human rights in Serbia from the UN’s perspective, while Daniel Mohseni, the Political Officer at the German Embassy in Belgrade, spoke about the EU accession process, notably Chapters 23 and 24. Vida Petrović Škero, the former President of the Supreme Court and chair of CEPRIS, CRTA’s Tamara Branković, Dragan Popović from the Policy Centre and Sanja Radivojević from the BCHR took part in the debate that followed, focusing on rule of law and the judiciary, parliamentary elections, the status of civil society and the July protests in Belgrade and Novi Sad.
The Human Rights in Serbia 2020 report provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of the human rights situation in Serbia in the year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has given rise to numerous challenges and resulted in restrictions of human rights and freedoms. The threat coronavirus posed to the life and health of Serbia’s population apparently overwhelmed the Serbian authorities, which often failed to respond adequately to the challenges.
The Report is available HERE.
The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights has for years now been alerting not only to the serious problems in realising and protecting human rights, but also to the threat to the fundamental principles the Republic of Serbia is based on – rule of law, social justice, civil democracy and commitment to European principles and values. Economic difficulties, widespread crime and corruption, populist rhetoric lying at the heart of political activity have all turned Serbia into a deeply polarised community of widespread prejudice and stereotypes and great social distance towards specific groups of the population, and resulted in a deluge of hate speech in public discourse.
The research, translation and publication of the Report Human Rights in Serbia 2020 were supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany through the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Belgrade and by the United Nations Human Rights Team in Serbia. The Report does not necessarily reflect the official position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany or the views of the United Nations.
Watch the presentation of the Report HERE:
