Around 10,000 people from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries entered Serbia over the first four months of 2015, according to an NGO. The Belgrade Center for Human Rights’ representatives told a news conference in Belgrade on Monday that the number is expected to exceed 30,000 by the end of the year. The number of persons entering and passing through Serbia in an attempt to reach the EU has multiplied compared to 2014 and 2013, and this trend is likely to continue, the Center points out. (more…)

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights wishes to inform the public that the Report of the Ombudsman relating to the lack of efficient and effective investigation of allegations of ill-treatment is entirely true. In a number of cases before the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Serbia and the European Court of Human Rights, Serbia was found responsible of not having conducted a proper investigation into allegations of ill-treatment.  Some of these cases are: Stanimirović v. Serbia (Application no. 26088/06), Hajnal v. Serbia (Application no. 36937/06), Lakatoš v. Serbia (Application no. 3363/08), Habimi and others v. Serbia (Application no. 19072/08), Petković v. Serbia (Application no. 31169/08), as well as the case before the Constitutional Court of Serbia concerning Constitutional Complaint 4100/2011. (more…)

Strasbourg, 23/04/2015 – “Last year thousands of people died who should not have died, primarily in the Mediterranean Sea and in eastern Ukraine. They should not have died in a Europe that prides itself on being a space where the rule of law and democracy prevails, on a continent that claims to have drawn lessons from its own bloody and violent history,” said today Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, while presenting his annual activity report.The Commissioner highlighted the dire situation of migrants who continue to die in the Mediterranean Sea in the attempted to reach Europe after having fled conflicts, persecution and poverty. “While the official tally of deaths at sea exceeded 3 000 in 2014, in the first months of 2015 more than 1,600 have already drowned. (more…)

The following report is the third annual BCHR report on the situation in the field of asylum in the Republic of Serbia. It presents the information the BCHR obtained in its work with asylum seekers and on asylum issues and the data it obtained from the competent institutions, international organisations, other NGOs and the media. It focuses less on the analysis of the legal framework and institutes established under the valid regulations and more on the practices of the competent authorities.   (more…)

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights has completed its 2014 Annual Report on Human Rights in Serbia. BCHR’s analyses confirm that the enjoyment of specific human rights in Serbia deteriorated in 2014 over the previous year, particularly in the areas of social and economic rights, the freedom of expression, the status of independent regulatory authorities and judicial reform. (more…)

Center for Social Research Analitika, in cooperation with Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, Group for Legal and Political Studies from Kosovo and CRPM – Center for Research and Policy Making from Macedonia, is implementing the project “Courts as Policy-Makers?: Examining the Role of Constitutional Courts as Agents of Change in the Western Balkans”. The project is funded by the Regional Research Promotion Programme in the Western Balkans (RRPP). (more…)