ANNOUNCEMENT: A Debate on War Crimes Trials in Serbia in 2016

On May 18th 2017 the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) will present “The Report on War Crimes Trials in 2016”, and host a debate about the findings and development in the prosecution of war crimes before Serbian courts. The event will be held at the Media Centre in Belgrade (Terazije 3, 2^nd Floor), starting at 11:00.

The Report encompasses analyses of 28 cases monitored by the HLC’s team before the war crimes departments of the Higher Court and the Court of Appeals in Belgrade, as well as before the courts of general jurisdiction. The Report also contains an overview of general findings regarding war crimes trials held during 2016, as well as important social and political events relevant to war crimes trials in Serbia.

Students of Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Visit To HLC

Students attending the Master’s Programme at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, visited the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) on March 31^st,2017, as part of their study visit to Serbia.

The HLC Legal Programme Director, Ms. Milica Kostić, presented the HLC’s work on documenting human rights violations committed during the wars in the former Yugoslavia and its engagement in the field of criminal justice and reparation for war victims.

Ms. Anita Mitić, the Director of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR), also talked with the students, presenting the work of the YIHR and transmitting her own experiences in working on dealing with the legacy of the past.

The students took an active part in the discussion, and expressed interest primarily in the relation of the society in Serbia towards the legacy of the past, the attitude of state institutions towards victims of human rights violations, and the presentation of the events from the 1990s in official educational programmes.

The UN Human Rights Committee: Serbia to prosecute war crimes, determine the fate of missing persons and compensate the victims

At the meeting held on March 23^rd 2017, the UN Human Rights Committee adopted the Concluding Observations on the Third Periodic Report on Serbia. The Concluding Observations contain the Committee’s overview of the situation in Serbia regarding human rights, as regards the Third Periodic Report that Serbia submitted in September 2015. As being  the most problematic areas, the Committee has identified the rights and position of the Roma people, the LGBTI community, people with disabilities, women, children, refugees and asylum seekers, victims of trafficking and forced labour, as well as victims of the war-related crimes committed during the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.

Lazar Stojanović has Passed Away

On Saturday, March 4th, 2017, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) was left without its long-lasting associate and friend, Film Director Lazar Stojanović.

Lazar’s contribution to the HLC’s mission was immeasurable. During all these past years, he selflessly put his many proficiencies at the service of establishing the truth about the crimes committed during the wars in the former Yugoslavia and achieving justice for victims. As the author of „The Scorpions- A Home Movie “, he helped inform the public about the participation of the notorious unit in the war in BiH and its involvement in the commission of the Srebrenica genocide. He invested his inexhaustible energy unstintingly in the Initiative for the establishment of RECOM, by leading the media campaign which followed the collection of support signatures for establishing this body, and by demanding that government representatives be dedicated to the building of a regional peace.

Students’ Visit to HLC

Students from the School for International Training – (SIT) visited the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) on Thursday, March 2nd 2017. These students go to various universities in the United States, and they are staying in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Kosovo as part of the Peace Studies, the programme organized by the Center for Comparative Conflict Studies at the Faculty for Media and Communication.

The Commissioner for Human Rights: Resolving the fate of missing persons should be priority for governments

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights announced on February 22^nd, 2017 a report titled “Missing Persons and Victims of Enforced Disappearance in Europe”, which summarizes the findings and recommendations for improving the search for missing persons and the protection of rights of victims of enforced disappearances in the member states of the Council of Europe (CoE). The report ensued after a roundtable with human rights defenders held in mid-2016 in Strasbourg and attended by the representatives of the CoE, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, a member of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and human rights defenders from the member states of the CoE, including the Humanitarian Law Center. The aim of the meeting was to exchange information on the situation in European countries affected by the problem of missing persons, based on the findings and recommendations of the Commissioner in March 2016.

HLC Reported to UN Human Rights Committee on the Situation in Serbia

As part of its 119^th session scheduled to take place from March 6^th until March 29^th, 2017, the UN Human Rights Committee (Committee) will discuss the third periodical report by Serbia on the application of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (International Covenant). The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) has sent a report to the Committee on the situation in Serbia and the progress made since the previous reporting cycle in 2011.

In its Report the HLC has focused on the respect for the right to life, the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhumane and humiliating treatment or punishment, and the right to an effective remedy (contained in Articles 2, 6 and 7 of the International Covenant), and concentrated on the list of additional issues that the Committee sent to Serbia regarding the third periodical report and the responses Serbia has given in that regard.

Unpunished Concealment of more than 900 Bodies in Mass Graves in Serbia

On Tuesday, January 31^st, 2017, the HLC presented its eighth dossier in a row about unprosecuted crimes and possiblel perpetrators. The Dossier “The cover-up of evidence of crimes during the war in Kosovo: Concealment of Bodies Operation” shows how the operation of concealing the bodies of Albanians killed during the war in Kosovo in 1999 was planned and executed, and which civilian, military and police institutions were involved in it. The objective of the Dossier is to point to the perpetrators of the concealment of one of the most serious crimes in Kosovo, to enable the citizens of Serbia to hear about the crimes committed in their name, and to encourage witnesses to come out with their knowledge about these events and help the search for the more than a thousand bodies of Albanian civilians who were killed during the conflict in Kosovo and who are still reported as missing.

Dossier: “The cover-up of evidence of crimes during the war in Kosovo: THE CONCEALMENT OF BODIES OPERATION”

Since 2001, mass graves containing the bodies of 941 Kosovo Albanians, mainly civilians killed outside combat situations in Kosovo during 1999, have been found on four locations in Serbia. 744 bodies of Kosovo Albanians have been discovered in Batajnica, on the outskirts of Belgrade, at least 61 in Petrovo Selo, and 84 at Lake Perućac. At least 52 bodies have been subsequently found in the mass grave at Rudnica.

ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN SERBIA GREATEST THREAT TO PEACE IN REGION

With regard to the announced appearance of a war criminal, Veselin Šljivančanin, at a Serbian Progressive Party rally, civil society organizations demand that the ruling political parties stop putting the match to nationalism as electoral fuel, and establish responsibility for preserving and improving peace in the region as their first priority.

These organizations demand that the rally scheduled for Tuesday, January 17^th in Beška be cancelled. Republic of Serbia officials are also expected to take a distance from all individuals convicted of war crimes; otherwise, they would be showing clear support for criminal policies and utter disrespect for victims of war crimes.