(srpski) KONKURS za poziciju: Finansijska menadžerka / menadžer
Sorry, this entry is only available in srpski.
Sorry, this entry is only available in srpski.
Sorry, this entry is only available in srpski.
For a long time, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) has been publishing reports on the exercise of the right to compensation for victims of war crimes, through civil proceedings conducted before the courts in Serbia. The last such report covered the period from 2017 to 2020 and was presented to the public in 2021. This report covers the period from 2021 to the end of 2022.
The obligation of the Republic of Serbia to provide redress to victims of human rights abuses, including in the form of adequate material reparations, remains unchanged. The harm inflicted on individuals and their family members implies the duty of the wrongdoer, the Republic of Serbia in this case, either to remove its harmful effects or to provide the victims with adequate redress. 30 years since the outbreak of the armed conflicts in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, the Republic of Serbia has not yet fully met this obligation. The political will to face and accept responsibility for past crimes and provide redress to all victims is still absent. As a result, the victims and their family members are forced to pursue their compensation claims through lengthy, costly and often uncertain civil litigation before the courts in Serbia.
On Monday, 24 April 2023, Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) is going to present its report on “Material reparations in proceedings for damages – the practice of courts in Serbia 2021-2022 “ (the Report). The presentation will be held in the large hall of Media Centre Belgrade (Terazije 3, II floor), beginning at 12.30.
The report analyses the course of ongoing court proceedings during the years 2021 and 2022. However, since most procedures have lasted for more than two years, the Report also provides a short overview of the procedures before 2021, to facilitate the tracking.
The Report is divided into two parts. The first part of the Report analyses the individual cases currently adjudicated by the Serbian courts, while the second part renders the main problems identified by HLC during its efforts as the key ones which prevent the victims from exercising their rights to reparations before domestic courts.
The speakers at the presentation will be:
Simultaneous interpretation into the English language has been provided.
You can follow the presentation live via this link: https://bit.ly/pirep23f
Following the regime change in 2012, the new authoritarian regime under the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) put memory politics high on its political agenda. The revisionist history of the 90s’ wars now constitutes the primary source of its political legitimization. At the same time, the new government established a firm grip over media, leaving a few independent outlets still critical of the new memory politics. A majority of mainstream media operate in symbiosis with the regime, actively contributing to the new revisionist narrative. These narratives are further supported and accelerated in tabloid and alternative media, offering an even more radicalized version of the past. In such a mediascape, actors working on critical memory are limited to a few independent media outlets. At the same time, they are under constant threat from the regime and tabloids alike.
The report analyzes historical revisionism about the 1990s’ wars in Serbian media, from the end of Milošević’s regime in 2000 until today. It distinguishes between two phases in the mediatization of the past: (i) the period until 2012, when the media contested the war narrative albeit within the ‘spiral of silence’ media model, where dramatic discoveries about the crimes fell into a deafening silence; (ii) the period after 2012 with the rise of revisionist narratives under the new authoritarian government, consolidated within the statecontrolled media and ever-growing tabloid press. The new revisionist history, dominant in the second period, builds on a heroic memory of the Serbian army serving as a source of national pride. At the level of discursive strategies, it employs a reversal of perpetrators and victims, a revival of Serbian victimhood, and a rejection of any responsibility for the criminal past.
Media and Revisionism about the 1990s’ Wars in Serbia
On Monday, 10 April 2023, at 6pm, in CROCODILE’s Centre (43 Karađorđeva St, Belgrade), Humanitarian Law Center is organising a discussion on the topic of Media and Revisionism about the 1990s Wars in Serbia.
At the discussion, the eponymous report will be presented, an analysis of historical revisionism of the wars in the nineties in Serbian media from 2000 to date, by author Katarina Ristić, researcher of the Leipzig University.
In the first period, until 2012, media challenged the war facts primarily following the model of “the spiral of silence”, charging the discoveries of the crimes with a deafening noise in public. After 2012, with the new government in office, revisionist narratives have been on the rise, consolidated within media controlled by the state and mushrooming tabloid press. The review also highlights that the new, revisionist history, predominant in the second period, builds on the heroic heroic remembrance of the Serbian army, which is tapped as the source of Serbian pride. This, the idea of Serbian victims is revived, discarding any accountability for crimes.
On Thursday, 23 March 2023, Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) launched its fifteenth dossier on potential war crime perpetrators during the wars in former Yugoslavia, The “Serbian Volunteer Guard“ Dossier presents the facts on the creation, structure and characteristics of actions conducted by the Serbian Volunteer Guard (SVG/the Guard), as well as its participation in the crimes perpetrated during the armed conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The Dossier is based on the military and police documents admitted by the International Criminal Court for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), as well as on the ascertained facts, statements and testimonials, including those of former Guard members as well as media packages and witness statements collected by HLC’s researchers. During the research, HLC identified 189 SVG members who were under the command of Željko Ražnatović Arkan, whose names are among the annexes to this Dossier.
HLC’s Executive Director, Ivana Žanić, stated that the Dossier rendered the formation of SVG, its structure and actions through cooperation with other units, evidence of the Guard’s participation in the crimes committed in Croatia and BiH, via referral of forcefully mobilised refugees to the front, to the eventual disbanding of SVG. The crimes committed by SVG, as well as its links with the police, military and political structures of Serbia were part of the ICTY indictments against Slobodan Milošević, Goran Hadžić and Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović. Although the Milošević and Hadžić trials were curtailed by the demise of the defendants, during these two proceedings exhibits and witness statements were presented, clearly describing the SVG operations and indicating the perpetrated crimes. The ICTY Prosecutor’s Office issued an indictment against the SVG commander Željko Ražnatović Arkan in 1997, for the crimes committed in Sanski Most in 1995. The contents of the indictment remained confidential all the way until 2001.
The crimes committed by the Serbian Volunteer Guard (SDG/the Guard), a group formed by Željko Ražnatović (Arkan), and its links with the Serbian police, military and political establishment, were an integral part of the indictments of the ICTY’s Office of the Prosecutor against Slobodan Milošević, Goran Hadžić, Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović.
The trials of Milošević and Hadžić were terminated because they had died before the judgments were passed, but witness statements and evidence presented during the trials contain a wealth of materials about the activities of the SDG. In addition, the ICTY’s Office of the Prosecutor filed an indictment against SDG commander Željko Ražnatović aka Arkan for crimes committed in the area of Sanski Most. In the trial judgment following the retrial of Stanišić and Simatović, the Trial Chamber of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (MICT) established that the SDG was involved in murders, persecution and forced displacement in the area of the so-called Serbian Autonomous Region of Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem (SAO SBZS) in 1991 and 1992, in Bijeljina and Zvornik in 1992, and in Sanski Most in 1995. Nevertheless, not a single member of the SDG has been prosecuted for these crimes to date.
On Thursday, March 23, 2023, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) will present its fifteenth Dossier, entitled “Serbian Volunteer Guard” (Dossier). The presentation will be held in the large hall of the Media Center in Belgrade (Terazije 3, 2nd floor), starting at 12 PM.
The Dossier presents facts about the Serbian Volunteer Guard (SDG) from its establishment in 1990 until its formal dissolution in 1996. The first part of the Dossier deals with the emergence of the SDG and its structure, and then the basic characteristics of its operation through cooperation with other units. The Dossier then goes on to present evidence implicating members of the Serbian Volunteer Guard’s involvement in crimes committed in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina during armed conflicts. After reviewing the part played by the SDG in sending forcibly mobilised refugees into combat, and also their role in acts of robbery, a review of the dissolution of the Guard is provided.
The Dossier is based on authentic military and police documents that have been accepted as evidence before international and domestic courts, facts established in the verdicts, and a large number of witness statements, including the testimonies of former SDG members, as well as media contributions and witness statements collected by HLC researchers.
At the presentation the speakers will be:
Simultaneous translation into English is provided.
Live stream of the presentation without translation will be available: https://bit.ly/pdsdgfb
