We express our concern about the threats made to the members of the non-governmental organisation Youth Initiative for Human Rights for organising an event whose goal was to recall the war crimes committed in Tuzla. This incident is just one in a string of attacks on members of NGOs, particularly those working to promote and protect human rights. Although the Youth Initiative has reported the threats to the authorities, past experience shows that such cases usually go uninvestigated and unpunished. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders has concluded that there an active community of human rights defenders in Serbia. She further voiced her concern at their continual exposure to attack, above all in the media. Although even then, three years ago, it was suggested to state authorities to explicitly support human rights defenders in order to establish legitimacy and political support for them and their work, no progress appears to have been made in this respect – frequent, harsh and dangerous attacks and threats continue to occur. We recall that the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders back in 1999. Its incorporation into domestic law would be a gesture indicating that Serbia truly wants to put an end to the dark tradition according to which people working in human rights are branded as „foreign mercenaries“ and traitors, while threats to their lives are accepted unpunished.
