The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) filed a criminal complaint on June 18th, 2013 with the Republic of Serbia for the alleged commission of a war crime against the civilian population of Vučitrn/Vushtrri in late April and early May 1999.
The wars in the former Yugoslavia during the nineteen-nineties left behind a difficult legacy of mass atrocities committed in the countries formed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. Around 130,000 people lost their lives, more than 12,000 are still missing and tens of thousands of victims suffered torture and sexual violence. All this is just a part of the horrific outcome of these wars. After a decade of destruction and the collapse of the rule of law that unleashed the violence and systematic violations of fundamental human rights, these countries still face the challenges of consolidating their legal systems, and building democratic institutions which will adopt a responsible attitude towards the violent past and foster a culture of human rights.
Complete analysis of the existing legal framework can be downloaded here.
On Wednesday, June 13th, 2013, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) presented its report on material reparation for the year 2012, titled “Fulfilling the Right for Victims of Human Rights to Seek Reparation Before Serbian Courts – Serving Justice or Trivializing Crimes”. Tanja Drobnjak, an HLC attorney, who represents victims in lawsuits against the state of Serbia, Petar Žmak, Reparation Project Coordinator at the HLC, Dr. Saša Gajin from the Faculty of Law at Union University, and Senad Jusufbegović, a former prisoner at the Šljivovica and Mitovo Polje camps, spoke at the conference. Sandra Orlović, the Executive Director of the HLC, was the Moderator.
The compensation granted to torture and abuse victims from the 1990s war is meagre, while trials are long and the state is attempting to cover up its role in the conflict, says a new report.
Sorry, this entry is only available in srpski.
Sorry, this entry is only available in srpski.
‘Education for Reconciliation’ is a film produced by the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) on the Regional School for Transitional Justice, organized in January 2013, for 25 participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Serbia by HLC, HLC Kosovo and Association Pravnik from B&H. Participants attended a ten-day intensive programme on judicially established facts and war crimes trials, truth commissions, reparations for victims of violence, institutional reforms, roles of media and archives in post-conflict societal reconstruction, and other strategies to achieve reconciliation after a violent conflict. Among the lecturers at the School are most prominent regional experts on transitional justice, culture of memory, rule of law in post-conflict societies, etc. Film ‘Education for Reconciliation’ follows several students of the School, their impressions on the content of the lectures and personal changes they had undergone while being exposed to topics of the School.
This Report offers a review of 15 cases in which HLC represented victims and which resulted in court decisions in 2012. There were a total of 18 judgments, 12 of which were negative and six positive, which awarded a total of RSD 1.76 million to victims of human rights abuses.