Independet Auditor's report for 2009...

In 2008 HLC focused on engaging as large a number of nongovernmental organizations as possible, victims’ families associations, and other societal groups in a regional debate on investigating and disclosing the facts about war crimes and serious violations of human rights committed in the past. In doing that, HLC advocates the creation of a regional coalition....

In 2008, the Humanitarian Law Cen ter (HLC) monitored all trials held in Ser bia for war crimes, murders and ot her criminal offenses commit ted in the context of ar med conflicts, all trials conducted in Kosovo for war crimes and ethnically or politically motivated criminal offenses and selected war crimes trials in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as part of regional cooperation on monitoring war crimes trials before national courts....

In the period from September until December 2008, the Humanitarian Law Center – Kosovo (HLC-Kosovo) conducted a research on the implementation of the Law on the Promotion and Protection of Rights of Communities and Their Members in the Republic of Kosovo, with special focus on the creation of the Consultative Council for Communities within the Kosovo President’s Cabinet. This law was passed on 13 March 2008 and entered into force on 15 June 2008, while the decree of the President of Kosovo, on establishment of the Consultative Council, was made on 15 September 2008....

This report is the result of systematic monitoring of initiatives in the field of transitional justice in the countries which came into existence following the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. The monitoring has been carried out by human rights organisations, the Humanitarian Law Center (Belgrade) and Documenta (Zagreb). The disintegration of the Yugoslav federation was marked by three high-intensity armed conflicts – in Croatia (1991-95), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-95) and Kosovo (1998-99), where at least 130,000 people lost their lives, millions were forced to flee their homes, while hundreds of thousands of houses were destroyed....

Security Issues, Employment, and Application of Law on the Use of Languages and Anti-discrimination Law in Kosovo; Return of Displaced Persons to Kosovo in 2007 and 2008; Kosovo Institutions Applying the Law on the Use of Languages; Application of Anti-discrimination Law and Law on the Use of Languages in Kosovo Public Companies; Implementation of the Law on the Use of Languages in the Kosovo Education Process....

In the period: January - April 2008, the Humanitarian Law Center – Kosovo (HLC-Kosovo) conducted thematic research related to two different periods: the first period – from January until Kosovo’s declaration of independence on 17 February 2008 and the second – from the declaration of independence until April 2008....

HLC-Kosovo is the only nongovernmental organization monitoring trials of war crimes and ethnically motivated criminal offences in Kosovo. In 2007, HLC-Kosovo monitored 117 main hearings in 21 cases before municipal and district courts, as well as four cases before the Supreme Court of Kosovo. The persons examined in these [monitored] cases included 119 witnesses (two of whom were protected witnesses) and five ballistic experts and neuropsychiatrists. In all cases the indictments were brought and represented by international prosecutors. All the chamber presidents are international judges, with local judges serving as trial chamber members....

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) helps societies in the territory of the former Yugoslavia to establish the rule of law and to come to terms with the legacy of massive human rights violations in order to prevent their recurrence, establish the criminal responsibility of the perpetrators and ensure that justice is done....

At least 130,000 people lost their lives, millions were forced to leave their homes, and hundreds of housands of houses were destroyed in the armed conflicts in Croatia (1991–95), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-95), and in Kosovo (1998-99). The transition from armed conflict and state repression to a period of peace and democratic institution building demands that these societies take a stand on the mass violations of human rights that occurred in the recent past. Transitional justice comprises a collection of measures, including fact finding, criminal trials, reparations and institutional reform, undertaken by the authorities and civil society in order to deal with the violations of these rights....