HR/CT/730
Human Rights Committee
101st Session
2779th & 2780th Meetings (AM & PM)
Experts Question State Action on War Crimes Investigations, Prosecutions; Conclude Consideration of Slovakia's Report
While Serbia had made gains in reforming its judiciary, advancing minority participation in public affairs and generally fostering a "spirit of tolerance and inter-cultural dialogue", the Government was aware of the challenges it faced in advancing civil and political rights, especially given the enduring legacy of conflict in the region, top officials told the Human Rights Committee today as its experts considered the country's second periodic report.
Sanja Jašarevi?-Kuži?, Assistant Minister for Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self-Government, said everyone was considered equal under the law, and discrimination was prohibited on any grounds, especially those of race, sex, ethnic affiliation, social origin, birth, religion and culture. The 2009 Law on Prohibition of Discrimination prescribed a two-pronged approach to protecting citizens - initiating a lawsuit in a court of law, or lodging a complaint with the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, a special independent State body. Discrimination was also identified as a crime under the Penal Code, she added.
As for the protection of national minorities, she said the Constitution guaranteed the right to elect national-minority councils for the exercise of the right to self-management in areas relating to culture and education, as well as use of their respective languages and alphabets. To advance their participation in public affairs, Serbia had abolished election thresholds for national-minority political parties participating in republican elections and increased their presence in State administrative organs.
In the ensuing exchange, some Committee experts praised Serbia for creating a solid legal framework, including a Gender Equality Act and a law on the election of parliamentary deputies. However, there still seemed to be a wide gap between those legal provisions and the reality on the ground. Others pressed the delegation for details of what happened to people convicted of violence against ethnic minorities, including the Roma.
Nigel Rodley, expert from the United Kingdom, thanked the delegation for providing detailed information on war crimes prosecutions, but also recalled that only eight former Interior Ministry officials had been prosecuted for 49 crimes associated with the Batajnica massacre, whereas 889 bodies had been found in that area. Was the Special War Crimes Chamber Belgrade's Higher Court so passive that it had to wait for victims to come forward and declare themselves?
In response, one delegation member said the Special War Crimes Chamber had heard 17 cases so far. There had been 14 cases in the first-instance procedure. "It's a dynamic process, liable to change," he said, explaining the emphasis that Serbia placed on investigating war crimes. Those with enforceable judgements were already in prison, he added. As for Batajnica, he said there had been only one request for a new investigation into the massacre.
Referring to the so-called "Kosovo cases", he explained that to conduct an investigation on an excavated person, their identity and last place of residence must be ascertained, including details about their death. Those tasks could only be undertaken in Kosovo, he emphasized. On the "yellow house" case, which covered "monstrous" crimes concerning the trafficking of human organs in Kosovo, he said Serbia had received no cooperation from its counterparts in Kosovo, adding that the only solution was to establish an inter-regional cooperation body.
Another member of the delegation stressed that the number of ethnically motivated crimes in Serbia was falling as a result of harsher penal policies and faster court procedures. Sentences closer to the legal maximum were being pronounced, whereas only the legal minimum had been enforced in the past. Ethnically motivated violence was unacceptable, he emphasized. When such cases arose, the country's highest-ranking officials reacted. "The entire State apparatus reacts," he reiterated, as did the media. "People understand that violence leads to violence."