EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Exhibition „ICTY: the Kosovo Case 1998-1999“

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), in cooperation with the SENSE Center for Transitional Justice (Pula), the Documentation Center Kosovo, and Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past, hereby invites you to the opening of the exhibition „ICTY: the Kosovo Case 1998-1999“. The opening will take place on March 19th 2018, at 7pm, at the Center for Cultural Decontamination (Birčaninova 21, Belgrade).

Through video materials and selected documents, this multimedia exhibition shows how crimes committed during the 1998-1999 armed conflict in Kosovo were investigated, reconstructed and prosecuted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). It presents facts about the crimes committed by Serbian military and police forces against the Albanian population in 1999, as well as the crimes of the KLA during 1998.

Families of victims: solving fate of missing persons humanitarian rather than political issue

On Tuesday, February 13^th, 2018, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) presented to victims’ associations and representatives of the Commission on Missing Persons of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, its regional survey on the search for persons disappeared during the armed conflicts in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. This regional research was carried out during 2017 by Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past (Zagreb), the „Kvart“Youth Center (Prijedor), the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo (Prishtina), and the Humanitarian Law Center (Belgrade), and included the situation in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo.

New EU enlargement strategy: reconciliation still prerequisite for membership

On Tuesday, 6^th of February 2018, the European Commission (EC) announced a package of strategic documents on the European Union (EU)-s enlargement perspective to the Western Balkan countries. These documents remind the Western Balkan countries that political, economic and administrative reforms are a prerequisite for membership in the EU, identify key issues and the expected results of reforms, and present ways of engaging EU institutions in providing the necessary political, financial and expert support. According to the EC, the path to membership for the Western Balkan countries is a realistic prospective option, but will require genuine political commitment, essential reforms and the resolution of all bilateral disagreements. If Serbia achieves this ambitious plan, it can become an EU member as early as 2025.

Public opinion poll on „The awareness of Serbian citizens about the wars and war crimes of the ‘90s, and war crimes trials“

A survey conducted by the Research and Publishing Center Demostat for the needs of the daily newspaper Danas, for the first time since 2011, presents the views of citizens about war crimes trials before domestic courts and the Hague Tribunal, as well as their views about the opening of archives, regional cooperation of judicial bodies, political rehabilitation of convicted war criminals, compensations to victims and raising of war memorials, and reform of the educational programme, and addresses in conclusion the perception of guilt and responsibility for the crimes committed and the general awareness of citizens about the wars and crimes committed in the ‘90s.

Presentation of the Initial Report on the Implementation of the National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes and the Public Opinion Survey on Public Attitudes about the Wars of the 90s

The Initial report on the implementation of the National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes, and the results of the opinion polls on „Awareness of the citizens of Serbia about the wars of the 90s, war crimes and war crimes trials“, were presented on Monday, December 18 2017, at a conference organized by the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) and the daily newspaper ‘Danas’.

Initial Report on the Implementation of the National Strategy for War Crimes Prosecution

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) has been monitoring and providing support to war crimes trials since the first war crimes proceedings conducted in Serbia in 2002. The HLC is the only organization that has been continuously monitoring and analyzing war crimes trials in Serbia and informing the public at home and abroad about them. It has been representing victims in war crimes cases through an attorney, filing criminal complaints with the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutors (OWCP) against suspected perpetrators, and sharing its documentation on war crimes.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Presentation of the Report on the Implementation of the National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes and a public opinion research on Citizens’ Awareness of the Wars in the 1990s

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) and the daily newspaper “Danas” invite you to a debate regarding the “Initial Report on the Implementation of the National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes” and a presentation of public opinion research on “Serbian Citizens’ Awareness of the Wars in the ’90s, War Crimes and Trials of War Crimes Indictees”. The debate is scheduled for Monday, December 18, 2017, in the Grand Hall of the Media Center Belgrade (Terazije 3, II floor) starting at 11:00 a.m.

In February 2016, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted the first National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes (Strategy) for the period 2016-2020. The HLC has been monitoring the implementation of the Strategy from the beginning, with the aim of offering independent research findings and conclusions on its implementation. The findings of the HLC are at the same time the only insight into the implementation of the Strategy, since the establishment of the official body for its monitoring has been delayed for 18 months, so that the public is still deprived of information on the implementation of the measures and activities envisaged.

The HLC’s Report on the Implementation of the National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes provides an overview of the current situation in the eight fields covered by the Strategy, points out key weaknesses and identifies recommendations for improving the situation in those fields.

For the first time since 2011, the Research on Public Opinion represents citizens’ views on war crimes trials before domestic courts and the Hague Tribunal, as well as on the opening of the archives, regional co-operation of the judiciary, political rehabilitation of war crimes perpetrators, compensation for victims, establishing memorials, and reform of the educational programme, and speaks about the perceptions of guilt and responsibility for the crimes committed and the general public’s level of awareness with regard to the  wars and crimes of the 1990s.

Representatives of the judiciary, competent ministries and government bodies, independent institutions, non-governmental organizations, the media, international organizations and embassies, and Members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, are invited to the debate.

Speakers:

Višnja Šijačić, Humanitarian Law Center

Relja Radosavljević, Humanitarian Law Center

Jelena Diković, Daily newspaper Danas

Aleksandar Roknić, Daily newspaper Danas

Simultaneous translation into English is provided.

(srpski) Debata: Da li smo krivi i/ili odgovorni?

Sorry, this entry is only available in srpski.

President of the Hague Tribunal visits Humanitarian Law Center

The President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Judge Carmel Agius, visited the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) on 31^st October 2017. On this occasion, the judge spoke with representatives of the HLC about the efficiency of the prosecution of war crimes in Serbia, the cooperation of Serbia and the countries in the region with the ICTY, as well as with each other, and the importance of presenting the court-established facts to the post-conflict societies of the former Yugoslavia.

Conversation with human rights activists from Ukraine

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) was visited yesterday by activists of “Justice for Peace in Donbass”, from Ukraine. This Coalition gathers NGOs and initiatives from Ukraine with the aim of documenting human rights violations in those regions that have been affected by the armed conflict since 2014. The aim of the Coalition is to collect all relevant human rights violations that will later support court proceedings against perpetrators of crimes and thus provide one of the basic preconditions for the return of peace and reconciliation in East Ukraine.

Jelena Krstić and Relja Radosavljević from the HLC presented to the Coalition activists the work of the HLC in documenting war crimes and other violations of human rights during the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. The activists from Ukraine were interested to hear about the ways in which the HLC uses the collected documentation to launch criminal and other transitional justice processes. They were particularly interested in Serbia’s attitude towards war crime victims in terms of reparations for injuries suffered, as well as in cooperation between relevant institutions, the attitude of society towards the past and the punishment of war crimes perpetrators.