Insufficient progress in human rights protection

BELGRADE - Belgrade Center for Human Rights states in its annual report that despite being ushered in as the year of reforms, 2013 did not bring any key reforms in the sectors of importance for the promotion and protection of human rights.

Presenting the report, director of the Belgrade Center for Human Rights Vesna Petrovic noted that major political topics in 2013 have deflected the attention of both local and international public away from the issue of human rights.
"When alarming issues and arrests are constantly talked about, human rights are pushed aside. Last year was also marked by the Brussels dialogue, on which the international community was focused as well, so we had no support from that side either,” said Petrovic.

Ivan Protic, journalist and associate of the Belgrade Center for Human Rights, said that the situation in the media is a cause for concern.

Delays in the adoption of media laws aggravate the problems of the media, and those that maintain a critical distance towards the government are the most vulnerable. As a result of lower advertising revenue, the state imposed itself as one of the largest advertisers, and that creates more opportunity to influence the media, he said.

Protic noted that only 16 per cent of articles in the local print media in 2013 referred to human rights, adding that the topic was addressed mostly for political reasons.

Commenting on the rights of minority groups, Jovana Zoric, researcher of the Belgrade Center for Human Rights, stressed that the anti-discrimination laws are satisfactory, and added that the transgender persons are the only group still not covered by the legal regulation.

Despite a relatively good legal framework, discrimination is...