Presentation of “Deportation of Refugees from Srebrenica” Dossier

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) will hold the presentation of the “Deportation of Srebrenica Refugees” Dossier on Thursday, July 13, 2017. The presentation will take place in the Great Hall of the Media Center in Belgrade (Terazije 2, II floor) at 11:00.

After the fall of Srebrenica on 11 July, 1995, approximately 8,000 people disappeared, mostly men considered by the Army of Republika Srpska as “able-bodied”. Most of these men were killed in the period July 13-16, 1995, and they were mainly killed at mass execution sites located on the territory of Bratunac and Zvornik municipalities.

(srpski) Povodom obeležavanja 22. godišnjice genocida u Srebrenici

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EP: Serbia to end impunity and take responsibility for war crimes

On June 14th 2017, after several months of delay, the European Parliament (EP) adopted a Resolution on the European Commission 2016 Report on Serbia. The Report presents a regular annual review of the progress of Serbia towards fulfilling the criteria for accession to the European Union, and it relies on the annual report of the European Commission on Serbia. The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) urged Serbia to strengthen cooperation with neighbouring countries and encourage good neighbourly relations, as well as to invest greater effort in resolving bilateral issues. In terms of war crimes, Serbia is expected to eliminate impunity, accept responsibility and take very concrete steps towards overcoming the legacy of the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.

European Commission: Serbia is slowly meeting the criteria for EU membership

In June 2017, the European Commission (EC) published its second semi-annual overview of the state of play as regards meeting the criteria for Serbia’s accession to the European Union (EU), as defined in Chapter 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights). In accordance with the EU General Position on Accession Negotiations with the Republic of Serbia, the interim benchmarks for Chapters 23 have been established, and when it comes to war crimes, a number of measures are envisaged that will enable the EU recommendations for more effective domestic trials to be addressed in an adequate manner. The measures of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the implementation of these recommendations are defined in the Action Plan for Chapter 23, and this semi-annual report shows whether and how much progress Serbia has made in their implementation. The EC has concluded that, despite the fact that more than a year has passed since the adoption of the Action Plan for Chapter 23 (adopted at the end of April 2016), implementation is still in many cases at an early or very early stage.

Campaign for the establishment of RECOM under the auspices of the Berlin Process

In May 2017, in the course of just a few days, 50,000 citizens of Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Pristina, Zagreb, Belgrade, Nis, Presevo, Novi Sad, Zrenjanin, Subotica and Novi Pazar signed the petition calling on the leaders of post-Yugoslav states to conclude an official agreement to establish RECOM as part of the Berlin Process. The aim of the campaign was to inform the public about the obligations of states and political leaders in the region undertaken in the official declarations signed at the Summit of Western Balkan Leaders in Berlin (2014), Vienna (2015) and Paris (2015), calling for “concrete steps to be taken by Western Balkan leaders towards lasting reconciliation in the region.”

Serbia refuses to apply provisions of Protocol I additional to the Geneva Conventions

8th of June 2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the adoption of Protocol I additional to the Geneva Conventions, which prescribes the responsibility of a commander to prevent the commission of crimes and punish the perpetrators.

Article 87, paragraph 3 of the Protocol: „The High Contracting Parties and Parties to the conflict shall require any commander who is aware that subordinates or other persons under his control are going to commit or have committed a breach of the Conventions or of this Protocol, to initiate such steps as are necessary to prevent such violations of the Conventions or this Protocol, and, where appropriate, to initiate disciplinary or penal action against violators thereof.” Protocol I had been incorporated into national military legislation already back in 1988. Although there is legal basis, no one has ever been prosecuted for command responsibility in Serbia for crimes committed during the wars in the former Yugoslavia.

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) filed a number of criminal complaints against commanders in whose areas of responsibility crimes had been committed. Apart from opening an investigation in the case of Dragan Živanović, HLC’s criminal complaints have been ignored. Not a single high-ranking person has been prosecuted by the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor of Serbia in 13 years since the beginning of its work.

The exhibition on the destruction of cultural heritage sites opened in Belgrade

On Saturday, May 27th 2017 the exhibition titled “Targeting monuments-Targeting history and memory” was opened in Belgrade. The exhibition consists of photographs, videos, eyewitness testimonies and documents that speak of the enormous scale of destroyed cultural heritage during the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. The exhibition is based on the eponymous narrative, which shows how serious crimes against the cultural, historical and religious heritage committed during the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo were investigated, reconstructed and prosecuted before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Are war crimes trials in Serbia dying out?

On Thursday May 18th 2017, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) presented its sixth report on war crimes trials in Serbia. The report includes an analysis of 28 cases that were conducted before the courts in Serbia in 2016, placing them in the socio-political context that affects their processing.

INVITATION: Exhibition and the debate on the destruction of the cultural heritage in the former Yugoslavia

SENSE – Center for Transitional Justice and Humanitarian Law Center

in cooperation with  Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past, History Museum of BiH and Europa Nostra

cordially invite you to join us at the exhibition

 „Targeting monuments – Targeting history and memory“

and the opening talk attended by

PhD Milena Dragićević Šešić,  professor at Faculty of Dramatic Arts

PhD Olga Manojlović Pintar, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Recent History of Serbia

Mina Vidaković, SENSE – Center for Transitional Justice

on Saturday, May 27, 2017 at 19:00

at the Center for Cultural Decontamination (Birčaninova 21, Belgrade).

The exhibition „Repression of history and memory“ shows the tremendous scale of the destruction of the cultural heritage during the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, which reached the level of becoming the greatest devastation on European soil since World War II. The destruction of historical, religious and cultural buildings and sites was deliberate, part of the execution of the policy of persecuting communities from those areas the conquest of which was the aim. In that way, buildings that once unified the nations became places that separated them, often even after their restoration. The exhibition is designed to contribute to the public debate on the scope and consequences of the destruction of the cultural heritage of the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, to expand horizons beyond the prosecution of those crimes by the Hague Tribunal, and to contribute to a more comprehensive discussion of the importance of cultural, religious and historical treasures in our region.

Prominent war photographers, numerous archival and museum institutions, and such renowned international experts on cultural heritage as Helen Walasek, Andras Riedlmayer and Colin Kaiser, have participated in the setting and realisation of this exhibition. The curator of the exhibition is Branka Benčić from Croatia.

 Live stream is available here

(srpski) KONKURS: Nacionalna škola tranzicione pravde

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