The support of the European Parliament for dealing with the past in Serbia important for regional cooperation and reconciliation in the Western Balkans

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) has submitted an amendment to the European Parliament Draft Motion for the Resolution on the 2014 Progress Report on Serbia (2014/2949(RSP)). It contains a recommendation for the reform of the rule of law, with the purpose of stimulating a comprehensive process of dealing with the legacy of the crimes committed, and of advancing regional cooperation and the reconciliation process in the Western Balkans.

HLC Sends Report on Situation in Serbia to UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) sent a report to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (Committee) on January 9th, 2015, with regard to the situation in Serbia in this area of concern. The Committee will discuss the implementation of the Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (Convention) in Serbia for the first time at its 8th Session, scheduled for February 4th and 5th, 2015, in Geneva.

International Human Rights Day: “We Seek Rights and We Demand Responsibility”

A press conference entitled “We Seek Rights and We Demand Responsibility” was organized on the occasion marking International Human Rights Day, December 10th, 2014. The situation concerning human rights in Serbia was presented, measures for the advancement of the protection of human rights were proposed and Serbia’s international obligations with regard to the protection of the rights of all its citizes were emphasized at this press conference.

(srpski) Poziv na obeležavanje Međunarodnog dana ljudskih prava 10. decembar 2014.

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Students of the Regional School of Transitional Justice Visit Memorial Sites in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina

A two-day visit to memorial sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia was organized as part of the study programme of the Regional School of Transitional Justice. Twenty-five students of the third generation of the Regional School of Transitional Justice visited the memorial monument and memorial museum in Jasenovac, Croatia, first, after which they visited Prijedor, Vukovar and Sotin, sites where mass crimes happened during the wars of the 1990s.

Discourses on war crimes trials in Serbia

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) presented on 21st November 2014 the Analysis of media discourses on war crimes trials in Serbia 2003-2013 and the Analysis of political discourses on domestic war crimes trials in Serbia 2003-2013. The main findings of the analyses were presented by the author, Dr Katarina Ristić, a researcher at the University of Leipzig. Before that, HLC Executive Director Sandra Orlović in her introductory remarks stressed that the Serbian media reporting seldom represented the cathartic element that opens the broader social dialogue about the past, and that the institutions themselves also did not perceive the trials as something that can generate dealing with the past. Thus war crimes trials, the only functional mechanism of transitional justice in Serbia, are unable to fully contribute to dealing with the past in Serbia.

Towards Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes in Serbia – Session on Presentation of War Crimes Trials in Public

The fifth consultation session with regard to the production of a Draft Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes in Serbia was held on Friday November 21st, 2014, in the Media Centre in Belgrade. This meeting was dedicated to the presentation of war crimes trials in public.

(srpski) NAJAVA: Diskursi o suđenjima za ratne zločine u Srbiji

Third Regional School of Transitional Justice: By Learning Towards Remembrance

The third Regional School of Transitional Justice was launched today in the library of the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC). The ten-day education programme on mechanisms of dealing with the past is being attended by 25 students, young professionals, scholars, and human rights activists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Serbia. The School is organized by the HLC, the Pravnik (Lawyer) Association from Sarajevo, and the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo.

Towards Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes in Serbia – Session on the Possibility of the Application of the Doctrine of Command Responsibility and Crimes Against Humanity For Crimes Committed in the 1990s

The fourth consultation session for the production of the Draft Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes in Serbia was held Monday November 17th, 2014, in the Library of the Humanitarian Law Center. The meeting was dedicated to the possibilities of applying command responsibility and crimes against humanity committed during the 1990s.