Donor: Belgrade Centre for Human Rights and “Dosije” Publisher
Duration of the project: January – December 2000
The aim of the 420 pages “Human Rights in Yugoslavia 2000” Report is to provide readers, both in Yugoslavia and abroad, with relevant and up to date information on the protection of internationally guaranteed human rights in the FRY. The Report thoroughly examines the human rights situation in the FRY from legal and practical standpoints. The aim of the Centre was to show how the internationally guaranteed human rights are enjoyed in reality, to examine how they are manifested, regulated, restricted or violated, as well as to point out to the most important circumstances influencing the enjoyment of human rights in FRY.This was the third time the Centre published such a report. The report for 2000 could thus be usefully read in conjunction with the Centre’s reports for 1998 and 1999, especially if the reader wanted to follow the origins of current events. The Report is divided into five parts.
The first part describes and analyses the constitutional, statutory and administrative norms pertaining to human rights. It compares them to international human rights standards and to Yugoslavia’s obligations under relevant international treaties. Findings in this part rely on information and documents collected by the Centre and kept in its archives.
The second part of the Report is devoted to actual practice. It describes the application of human rights standards and the de facto enjoyment of human rights in FRY. It draws on reports by Yugoslav media, as well as on reports issued by international and domestic human rights organisations, both governmental and non-governmental. The abundance of data collected and the sometimes contradictory conclusions reached by the respective sources have sometimes prevented the Centre from taking a firm stand. The aim was however to faithfully reproduce information and to accurately identify sources so as to enable the readers to reach their own conclusions
As in 1998, the Centre conducted in 2000 a survey on the state of legal consciousness of FRY citizens: a large representative sample was used to determine the citizens’ perception of human rights as practiced in FRY. Also, the expert evaluation of the overall human rights situation, done in 1998 and published in the corresponding report, was repeated in 2000 and again compared to the situation in 1983.
A comprehensive report on the human rights situation in Yugoslavia must provide wider information on some issues that had a direct bearing on respect for human rights. Thus the fourth part of the Report briefly covers topics which appeared to be of special relevance: the situation in Kosovo, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, initiatives that could lead to the reconciliation and the discovery of truth in Yugoslavia and the wider surrounding area and position of Roma in FRY. It is advised to that read other parts of the Report in conjunction with the relevant portion of the third part.
In the fifth part, the Centre undertook a comparative analysis of the situation in the former Yugoslavia (1983) and in the FRY (2000). If You would like to read Human Rights in FRY – A Comprehensive Report for 2000 (in Serbian and English), 2001
