We invite you to a joint press conference of CSOs to be held on 20 December at 12.00 pm (noon) at the Press Center of the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (Knez Mihailova 6, Belgrade) regarding the published Draft Law on Internal Affairs and other accompanying laws.
On November 7, 2020, the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights – YUCOM launched the first interactive map of the attacksand pressures on human rights defenders in Serbia. For three years, obtained data on increasingly worse position of activists were included in relevant documents of international institutions such as the resolutions of the European Parliament, progress report of the European Commission for Serbia, the Joint Declaration of the Joint Consultative Committee of Civil Society between the EU and Serbia, and others. The third year of data collection has once again confirmed the negative trends regarding the position of human rights activists. Attacks have been more and more often recorded outside of Belgrade, which confirms the assumption that in previous years the public was not aware of a large number of incidents that occurred in the local communities due to the lack of media coverage from the field.
This study, Freedom of expression in the digital space: Assessment of prosecutorial and judicial practice, was developed with the support of the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) as part of its project ‘Protection of Freedom of Speech on the Internet’. This project aimed at helping to create an environment conducive to pluralism of information and diversity of opinion in Serbia’s cyberspace by researching a variety of forms in which freedom of speech is criminalised, providing free legal aid to users of social media and activists, and delivering training to strengthen the resilience of civil society organisations against constraints to freedom of expression online.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights YUCOM, together with partners Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) and Association People’s Parliament would like to cordially invite you to the conference in regard to the presentation of the third Report on Attacks on Human Rights Defenders in Serbia for 2022 in the hybrid event on December 15, 2022 at 12PM at the Saint Ten Hotel, 10 Svetog Save Street / online. The conference is organized with the support of the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia.
NEWSLETTER #10 ON ATTACKS AND PRESSURE AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS The Solidarity for the Rights of…
“Strengthening fundamental rights in Serbia” aims to enhance the protection of fundamental rights in Serbia through three components: protecting personal data, providing free legal aid, and protecting the rights of suspects. The project seeks to support the Government of Serbia in improving its policy and legal framework to comply with international commitments and EU accession negotiation requirements particularly related to Chapter 23 and to increase the legal literacy of civil servants.
Crisis situations require a focused, reactive approach. The two-year epidemiology and safety crisis and the gravest crisis of the democratic Parliament (which is supposed to bring Serbia closer to the European Union) thus far forced the YUCOM team to pay closer attention to and intervene in the work of all branches of government.
Given the recent EU reports and developments on the ground, we the undersigned are concerned about the impact of a lack of progress in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue on local communities in Serbia and Kosovo. It is people on the ground who suffer most from the persistence of tensions and mistrust. All sides must therefore desist from inflammatory rhetoric that harms and damages relations within and between communities. The scope for ambiguities must be reduced through transparency and accountability. All citizens must be clear about what has been agreed to, whilst the process of dialogue itself must be brought closer to the very citizens affected by it.
The Solidarity for the Rights of All Network presents Newsletter # 9 on attacks and pressure against activists. The team documents attacks and pressures on the Incident Map through research of publicly available information and interviews with the victims. Since the beginning of 2022, 22 attacks and pressures have been registered, both on those who protect human rights and those who found themselves in that role due to their actions and suffered consequences. The Solidarity for the Rights of All Network is led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights – YUCOM, Belgrade Center for Security Policy, and the People’s Parliament