{"id":4746,"date":"2022-03-06T14:49:45","date_gmt":"2022-03-06T13:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bgcentar.org.rs\/?p=4746"},"modified":"2022-08-23T14:55:58","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T13:55:58","slug":"bchr-presents-its-2021-human-rights-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bgcentar.org.rs\/en\/bchr-presents-its-2021-human-rights-report\/","title":{"rendered":"BCHR Presents Its 2021 Human Rights Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights presented its latest annual report Human Rights in Serbia 2021 in the Belgrade Media Center on 3 March. The Report and its main findings were discussed by Report Editor\u00a0Du\u0161an Poku\u0161evski<\/em>, Report co-author\u00a0Ivan Proti\u0107<\/em>, BCHR Executive Director\u00a0Sonja To\u0161kovi\u0107<\/em>,\u00a0Sofija Mandi\u0107<\/em>\u00a0(CEPRIS),\u00a0Lana Avakumovi\u0107<\/em>\u00a0(CRTA) and\u00a0Dragana Milovanovi\u0107<\/em>\u00a0(Disability Rights International, DRI), as well as Political Counsellor at the German Embassy in Belgrade\u00a0Daniel Mohseni<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Environmental protests were the main events that marked the year behind us, said the Report Editor, Du\u0161an Poku\u0161evski. The spate of protests, from small, local ones to large-scale civic demonstrations across the country, show that Serbia\u2019s citizens are \u201caware of their human rights and know how to fight for them,\u201d he said, adding that no-one had been called to account for the violence that occurred during last year\u2019s protests.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch impunity has become a trend, if we recall the July 2020 protests, giving rise to a serious question: Who is to protect the citizens and how?\u201d said Poku\u0161evski.<\/p>\n

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CSOs and human rights activists were often targeted by pro-regime media and MPs and the physical safety of some human rights champions was at risk in 2021.<\/p>\n

BCHR Executive Director Sonja To\u0161kovi\u0107 said that the ongoing pandemic continued impinging on public health and the status of medical professionals in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impression that the executive dominated over other branches prevailed in 2021. There were no public debates, at least not meaningful ones. A lot of laws were adopted or amended, from the Police Act to the Criminal Code. As opposed to 2020, when economic rights were targeted, 2021 was marked by attempts to stifle political and civil rights,\u201d To\u0161kovi\u0107 said. On the bright side, some headway was made in the field of anti-discrimination, where a large share of civil sector\u2019s comments were upheld, she noted.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Anti-Discrimination Act has been improved and it\u2019s quite good. However, the Act on Same-Sex Unions, criticised by the ruling officials, did not end up in parliament. Surprisingly, the Prime Minister, who has publicly declared that she is a lesbian and has rights others don\u2019t, did not comment the draft law at all,\u201d said To\u0161kovi\u0107.<\/p>\n

To\u0161kovi\u0107 also said that 8% of the children were living in absolute poverty and another 24% of them on the poverty line and that over half of girls from the Roma community married before they turned 18. \u201cChildren are victims of online abuse, domestic violence, violence in school,\u201d she said, adding that persons with disabilities were discriminated against on multiple grounds, but that women\u2019s activism has awoken and that women have again mustered the courage to report their abusers. To\u0161kovi\u0107 said that the situation of Roma had not improved during the reporting period, that 20% of the residents of Roma settlements had no or irregular access to drinking water and that 14% of them had no or irregular access to electricity.<\/p>\n

One of the authors of the Report, journalist Ivan Proti\u0107 said that the situation in the media sphere continued deteriorating in 2021, a trend that has been present for a decade now.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTrue, there were fewer physical assaults than in 2020, but everything else is negative. The Government denied all criticisms. The Prime Minister even said that \u201cjournalists are at greater risk in some EU countries than in Serbia\u201d. The fact that the trials for the assassination of Slavko \u0106uruvija and the arson of Milan Jovanovi\u0107\u2019s house are still pending, while the trials for the murders of Milan Pani\u0107 and Dada Vujasinovi\u0107 have not even begun yet, is the gangrene of the Serbian media scene,\u201d Proti\u0107 noted.<\/p>\n

He said that a \u201cgenuine crusade\u201d was waged against independent reporters and media by the Serbian President, parliament and others supporting the regime, and that the MPs mentioned independent journalists and media in a negative context 199 times in the April-June 2021 period alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pro-regime media played a major role. Press Council data show that they violated the Press Code of Conduct 50 times a day in June, August and September 2021. Pro-government outlets are rewarded through co-funding of media content. In Ni\u0161, as many as 80% of the 69 million dinars set aside for media was allocated to outlets toeing the government line, including the one owned by the son of the intelligence agency director. A Pink journalist now works as a Media Adviser of the Grocka Municipality and earns 125,000 dinars a month,\u201d Proti\u0107 said.<\/p>\n

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Sofija Mandi\u0107 of CEPRIS said that 2021 was also marked by the process of amending the constitutional provisions on the judiciary, the parliament\u2019s adoption of the amendments in late 2021 and their endorsement at a referendum in early 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also had the appointment of new members of the High Judicial Council and State Prosecutorial Council and the election of the Chief Public Prosecutor and the President of the Supreme Court of Cassation,\u201d Mandi\u0107 said, qualifying the processes as non-transparent and conducted in a climate characterised by in-house elections, short deadlines and pressures by the Ministry of Justice.<\/p>\n

Lana Avakumovi\u0107 of CRTA said that 2021 was marked by the marginalisation of the citizens and disregard of public interests during the election processes and the collapse of democracy. In her opinion, the parliament was abused for pursuing narrow political purposes and dealing with those critical of the government, such as NGOs, media and individual judges.<\/p>\n

\u201d As many as 94% of the comments of the opposition in the parliament were negative, while not a bad word was heard against President Vu\u010di\u0107,\u201d said Avakumovi\u0107, noting that ruling parties took up 94% of airtime on prime-time news on national TV stations.<\/p>\n

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Dragana \u0106iri\u0107 of Disability Rights International (DRI), the organisation that published its report \u201cSerbia\u2019s Forgotten Children\u201d about the neglect of institutionalised children in June 2021, warned that the pandemic has disproportionately affected persons with disabilities living in residential institutions.<\/p>\n

She said that DRI had failed to obtain data on deaths of the institutions\u2019 residents during the pandemic. \u201cSerbia jeopardised the lives of thousands of persons with disabilities. They are one of the groups at greatest risk of poverty,\u201d said \u0106iri\u0107.<\/p>\n

The Human Rights in Serbia 2021 Report is available\u00a0HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The research, translation and publication of the Report \u2019Human Rights in Serbia 2021\u2019 were supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany through the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Belgrade. The report does not necessarily reflect the official position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany.<\/em><\/p>\n

Watch the presentation of the 2021 Human Rights Report at the following link:<\/p>\n