Hindrance to trials for war crimes committed in Kosovo

The Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP) has not raised a single indictment for war crimes committed in Kosovo in nearly three years. During this period, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) has filed nine criminal complaints for the crimes committed in Peć, Mala Kruša, Savine vode, Vučitrn, Goden, Kraljani, Landovica, Poklek and Rezale. To date, no investigations have been initiated against those charged.

In reply to the HLC’s urgings with regard to the criminal complaints filed, the OWCP has responded that it is in practice prevented from conducting investigations. The EULEX mission, which was the facilitating entity in the past, has not had since May 2014 the mandate to begin new investigations, as that jurisdiction was transferred to local prosecutors. The OWCP has indicated that the position of the Kosovo Ministry of Justice is such that the Republic of Serbia does not have territorial jurisdiction to investigate crimes which are assumed to have been committed in the territory of Kosovo.

On the occasion of the presentation of the Report on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Manipulating data on the effectiveness of the prosecution of war crimes in Serbia

In March 7th and 8^th, 2017, the Serbian delegation presented the Third Periodic Report on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights before the UN Committee for Human Rights in Geneva. The report contains data on the prosecution of war crimes in Serbia. During the discussion with the Committee experts, the delegation offered a distinctly tendentious presentation of the information about the work of state authorities responsible for the prosecution of war crimes, or presented completely false information, all with the aim of creating an illusory image of high efficiency. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) believes that such actions on the part of the delegation illustrate the relationship that the Republic of Serbia has towards its international obligations in the field of human rights, including those obligations derived from the accession negotiations with the European Union. Serbia tends to meet only the minimum formal requirements of international bodies, and creates an illusion of efficiency without the ambition to substantially fulfill its obligations.

(srpski) Višegradski spomenik koji produbljuje mržnju

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(srpski) Spomenik žrtvama NATO ili političkom populizmu?

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(srpski) Cunami za Kosovo

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(srpski) GRAN PRI ZA “DUBINU DVA” Dodelama nagrada svečano zatvoren Martovski festival

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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.

One man’s hunt for his brothers’ killers

Two weeks after the end of hostilities in Kosovo, three young Albanian-Americans who had joined the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) were arrested by Yugoslav police, tortured and killed. Eighteen years later, the conflict has been largely forgotten, but the men’s youngest brother continues a lonely fight for justice.

Towards the end of June 1999, Ylli, Agron and Mehmet Bytyqi (pronounced Bootoochee) were escorting a Roma family out of Kosovo to the Serbian border. It was a act of kindness. The Bytyqi brothers – whose parents knew the family well – were guaranteeing their safety up to Kosovo’s border with Serbia, since many ethnic Albanians viewed Roma with suspicion.

(srpski) Bezdušna osveta hrvatskim civilima

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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.