The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights is a non-profit association of citizens founded in February 1995 by human rights activists and experts.
The Centre’s initial mission was focused on the improvement of theory, legislation and practice in the area of human rights and humanitarian law, the respect of the very idea of human rights, and on contributing to the development of democracy, the rule of law and civil society in Serbia.
The Centre addressed legislative, executive, and judicial bodies, lawyers, state administration bodies, administrative bodies of autonomous provinces, local self-governments, NGO members, journalists, research institutes, students, business people, victims of human rights violations, representatives of international organizations and institutions that monitor the upholding of human rights, etc.
The founder and Director of the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, until his death on 5 October, 2012, was Dr. Dr. h. c. Vojin Dimitrijević, professor of International Law and International Relations, former Vice-president of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, member of the Institut de Droit International, member of the Venetian Commission for Democracy through Law, ad hoc Judge of the International Court of Justice, member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists.
For more than 25 years, the Centre has been steadily building its reputation through 160 realized projects supported by more than 60 donors. We can proudly state that we promoted and protected human rights through continuous and quality work in a comprehensive manner throughout the years, guided by democratic values of a civil society. This is our internal orientation within the organization as well. The Centre’s guiding values are: maintaining a good atmosphere and interpersonal relationships, professionalism, consistency, impartiality, responsibility, solidarity, empathy and care for people (for end users, as well as employees and associates), tolerance and the respect for human dignity and diversity.
We became one of the most credible organizations in the area of human rights and received the Bruno Kreisky Award in the year 2000 for our work and achievements. The Centre was also admitted to the Association of Human Rights Institutes – AHRI, as the only NGO and the only organization from Southeast Europe among 55 member institutes from around the world. The Centre’s project News from the Past was shortlisted for the Grundtvig prize in 2014 (Remembering for the Future), awarded by DVV International and the European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA).
