Donor: Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
Duration of the project: January – September 2000
In the period after the ratification of CRC (1990) the entire society has descended into deep economic, political and social crisis. The crisis was reflected in the drop of the standard of living caused by political conflict and war in the territory of SFRY. The international community also contributed to the crisis; this culminated in the armed intervention against the FRY on 24 March 1999, caused by the situation in Kosovo and Metohija. Military action lasted until 10 June and resulted important losses worsening the situation in the field of human rights. This was mostly reflected on the real enjoyment of the rights of children and in frequent violations of those rights. In FRY, consisting of two republics, Serbia and Montenegro, the Federal Constitution, federal laws, republic constitutions and republic laws have not been consistently applied.There have been no substantial changes of laws, and new laws have not been adopted since the ratification of CRC. The activity of the state agencies which care about the implementation of the rights of children has increasingly become weaker and less effective. Laws provided a solid basis for the implementation of social, economic and cultural rights of children, but, as time has passed, the level of protection of those rights has become consistently lower. There have been no activities aimed at the dissemination of all substantial rights provided in CRC or at the development of the individuality of children. The state has not fulfilled its obligation to educate children in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity. The general level of respect of social, economic and cultural rights remains low. Juvenile delinquency has been increasing, civil and political rights of children remain unprotected. The schooling system, especially in Serbia, is on the verge of collapse. Curricula have indoctrinated children, the level of education has become increasingly lower.
The report consists of two parts, one describing the existing law and commenting on it, while the second part attempts to be a critical review of actual practice, to the extent allowed by the accessibility of data, which is still meager.
