We have officially stepped into the second part of 2021 and Serbia has marked a limited progress in its path of becoming an EU member state, since 2018. This first part of the year we marked with the EU member states’ decision not to open any of new chapters nor clusters, since the bi-annual non-paper recognized that only small steps had been made in the reform processes, failing to give a concrete assessment of the rule of law situation. Not so long ago, the official EU Commission Annual Report for Serbia 2020 loudly stated – no progress in the judicial reforms, worrisome level of corruption present, the legal framework on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms remains unimplemented.

Before the hearing, Yukom’s President Katarina Golubovic told N1 Vulin had continuously called Albanians „Shiptars“ (a pejorative term for Kosovo Albanians in Serbia) and insulted the dignity of the Albanian national minority in his former capacity of Defence Minister during the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue on the normalisation of relations. She said Serbia’s policy should not be based on hate speech. „We believe that we must point out that Serbia’s policy cannot be based on hate speech, especially towards the Albanian national minority. And particularly in the period when it is necessary to find a solution between Belgrade and Pristina,“ Golubovic told N1 outside the Belgrade Palace of Justice.

Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights-YUCOM issued a statement on Nov. 5, announcing the launching of a platform entitled “In Solidarity for the Rights of All,” which is to register all attacks and pressure on organizations and individuals in Serbia who, one way or another, defend human rights.

Katarina Golubović, President of YUCOM, pointed out that “the strength of the non-governmental sector is that it can listen to the needs of citizens and advise them, and later these problems of citizens are solved through public policies.”  For many years now, NGOs have been participating in this way in building policies and institutions based on the needs of citizens, and we are on the list of the state as associates who are the voice of citizens. 

The Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (Yucom) said in a report released on Tuesday that Serbian citizens over the age of 65 were discriminated during the state of emergency imposed at the start of coronavirus pandemic.

“You cannot choose which part of the legal system you want to respect”

The Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM) based in Belgrade, Katarina Golubović, explains that the restriction of movement is not in itself unconstitutional, but that it can become if it is assessed that it was imposed in such a way that it threatens the so-called absolute rights.

Serbian NGO Lawyers’ Committee For Human Rights (YUCOM) say they have also received similar reports.

“In a state of emergency it is possible to restrict individual human rights, however, if citizens are not adequately informed about their rights and obligations, we have a serious threat to the right to legal certainty,” Milena Vasic of YUCOM told KRIK.

For years, Mirjana Novokmet has tried to find out what happened to her first child back in 1978.

Novokmet, only 19-years-old at the time, was told at a Belgrade clinic that her baby boy was stillborn. She wasn’t allowed to see him, and she has not been able to determine with certainty why he died or where he is buried.

Serbian lawmakers have adopted a long-awaited law they say will shed light on the mystery of hundreds of missing babies more than 30 years ago, and offer compensation to parents where the fate of their child cannot be determined.

In the 1970s and 1980s, hundreds of Serbian babies (some advocates say thousands) mysteriously vanished from hospitals and birth clinics with no explanation or proof of death.