03 Jul Human rights report for Serbia

The UN Human Rights Council, at its 38th meeting in Geneva, adopted the report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review for Serbia (UPR).

Serbia passed through the Third cycle of the UPR in January this year, and in this process Serbia received 190 recommendations from the UN member states, of which 175 were accepted, and 15 recommendations were noticed.

In the dialogue with the delegation of Serbia, 86 UN member states took part, who praised Serbia’s progress in the past four years in all areas of importance for the realization of human rights.

One of the member states, Albania, recognized Serbia’s efforts with respect to democratization, the rule of law, and the fulfilment of its international obligations in the field of human rights.  It noted with appreciation Serbia’s continued commitment to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence, and steps toward enhancing gender equality. However, it regretted that Serbia had only noted Albania’s recommendations to ratify the Convention on Migrant Workers and to identify Government officials who had allegedly been involved in war crimes.  

CIVICUS – World Alliance for Citizen Participation, in a joint statement, welcomed the agreement signed between the Prosecutor’s Office, the State Secretary of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, and journalists’ and media associations in December 2016 on cooperation and measures to improve the security of journalists.  But Serbia had only fully implemented one out of 18 recommendations relating to civic space. The organization was alarmed about the intimidation, attacks and harassment of human rights defenders and journalists.

Dejan Zlatanović, Permanent Representative of Serbia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, explained that those that could not be accepted mostly did not correspond to the situation on the ground, or they required changes in the legal framework that had already been assessed as adequate by the competent international institutions. He also stated that Serbia was devoted to democracy and the rule of law.  Its dedication to the promotion and protection of human rights was additionally manifested by the fact that within the Government there was a special operating department – the Human and Minority Rights Office. A special body had been established to institutionalize cooperation with the United Nations – the Council for Monitoring the Implementation of the Recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms.  That very same body would monitor the implementation of the recommendations contained in the current Universal Periodic Review report. Serbia firmly believed in the United Nations human rights mechanisms and their positive impact on societies and regional and global peace and stability, Mr. Zlatanović concluded.

You can find out more about The UN Human Rights Council 38th meeting in Geneva here:

https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=23301&LangID=E