Since its establishment in 1995 the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights has endeavoured to contribute to better respect of human rights in Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. One of the experiences gained by its members and collaborators is that the human rights situation in one country cannot be studied as a special and limited field, isolated from the general situation in the country. Human rights are not implemented and enjoyed in a social vacuum. Norms prescribing, guaranteeing and protecting human and civil rights must be a part of a social, economic and political system creating favourable – or at least minimal – preconditions for success.In an effort to try to resolve some of these problems the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights in 1997 started the project on constitutional reform in Serbia in co-operation with the Institute of Federalism Fribourg (Switzerland). The project was conducted as a introductory study and an expert proposal, not a political one.
The head of the project was Dr. Lidija Basta, Professor at the Institute of Federalism in Fribourg, and the other participants were Dr. Dragoljub Popović, Dr. Vesna Rakić Vodinelić, Dr. Zoran Tomić and Goran Svilanović. The work on the project resulted in publishing the booklet Constitutional Prerequisites for a Democratic Serbia, (in English and Serbian).
