LJUDSKA PRAVA U SRBIJI I CRNOJ GORI POLOVINOM 2003. GODINE
HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO IN HALF OF 2003

Author(s): Vojin Dimitrijević
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Constitutional Law, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Civil Society, Political behavior, Politics and law, Politics and society
Published by: CEDET Centar za demokratsku tranziciju
Keywords: human rights; legislation; judiciary; international law; the impact of armed conflicts on the territory of Yugoslavia; international sanctions; NATO; Council of Europe; SFRY; FRY
Summary/Abstract: The regime in the SFRY was not in favor of human rights, although at a later stage this country formally accepted the corresponding international treaties in order to raise its international reputation. This was even more true for the Milošević regime in the FRY. The ideological basis for the aversion to human rights in both cases was collectivism, in the era of the SFRY in its Marxist-Lenismist variant and in the era of the FRY in its nationalist variant. Civil and political rights were generally not respected in the FRY until October 2000, with an emphasized component of discrimination on a national basis. Hyperinflation 1993-1994. it led to a difficult economic situation, which endangered both economic and social rights. Mass dissatisfaction was first manifested in the three-month protests of citizens in Belgrade and other cities of Serbia in the winter of 1996/1997. due to the falsification of results in local elections, which after the armed intervention of NATO in 1999 led to the change of regime on September 24 and October 5, 2000. The parties gathered in the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) had in their program the establishment and consolidation of democracy, the introduction of the rule of law and respect for human rights. Consistency in this regard was undermined by the turmoil in the DOS in 2001-2002. with the withdrawal of the Democratic Party of Serbia from the coalition, as well as the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic on March 12, 2003 and the state of emergency declared after it. Despite this, the FRY after 2000 and Serbia and Montenegro since 2003 improved formal respect for human rights by passing various legal acts. The most important legislative acts are the Constitutional Charter of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro of February 4, 2003, which stipulates that the achieved level of human and minority rights cannot be lowered, the Charter of Human and Minority Rights and Civil Liberties of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro of February 28, 2003, which has so far made the greatest normative progress in the protection of human rights, and the Criminal Procedure Law of 2001, which guarantees greater rights in criminal proceedings. Serbia and Montenegro was admitted to the Council of Europe in 2003. The greatest difficulties in the actual enjoyment of human rights are observed in the field of justice. The reform of the courts and prosecutor's offices failed due to inter-party struggles and compromises, personnel fluctuations and suspicion of the administrative authority towards the independent judiciary. The reputation of the courts is still low. Other difficulties are not primarily in the domain of law, but must be sought in the area of ​​material conditions, difficulties of transition and low level of political culture.

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