HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO IN MID-2003
HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO IN MID-2003

Author(s): Vojin Dimitrijević
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Public Administration
Published by: CEDET Centar za demokratsku tranziciju
Keywords: human rights; legislation; Judiciary; international law; impact of armed conflicts in the territory of Yugoslavia; international sanctions; NATO; Council ofEurope; SFRY; the FRY; Constituti­ onal Char
Summary/Abstract: The regime in the SFRY was not inclined towards human rights, even though in a later phase, this state formally adopted appropriate international treaties to enhance its international reputation. This even more applies to the Milošević regime in the FRY. The ideological basis for the aversion towards human rights in both cases was collectivism, at the time of the SFRY in its Marxist-Leninist ideology and at the time of the FRY in its nationalistic variant. Generally speaking, civil liberties and political rights were not respected in the FRY until October 2000, with an emphasized component of discrimination based on nationalistic grounds. Hyperinflation in 1993-1994 led to a bad economic situation, which put economic and social rights at stake. Mass dissatisfaction first burst out in civil protests that lasted for three months, in Belgrade and other towns in Serbia, in winter 1996/1997 because of ballot-rigging at local elections. After the armed intervention of NATO in 1999 the alienation of citizens eventually led to the fall of the regime on September 24 and October 5, 2000. The parties gathered in the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) included in their programs the establishment and strengthening of democracy, respect of the rule of law and observance of human rights. Consistency in that respect was disturbed by turbulence in DOS in 2001 and 2002 following the withdrawal of the Democratic Party of Serbia from the coalition, and the assas­ sination of Prime Minister Zoran Đindić on March 12, 2003, followed by the state of emergency. Despite all that, the FRY after 2000, and Serbia and Montenegro since 2003, have improved formal respect of human rights by adopting new legislation. The most important legislative acts are the Constitutional Charter of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro of February 4, 2003, which provides that the attained level of human and minority rights cannot be lowered, the Charter on Human and Minority Rights and Civil Liberties of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro of February 28, 2003, which represents the biggest normative step in the protection of human rights, and the Code of Criminal Proceedings of 2001, which guarantees greater rights in criminal procedure. Serbia and Montenegro were admitted to the Council of Europe in 2003. The biggest obstacles to the full realization of human rights are observed in the judicial sector. The reform of courts and prosecutors’ offices failed due to conflicts between parties and to compromises, personal disagreements and suspicion of the executive towards an independent judiciary. The reputation of courts is still low. Other difficulties are not essentially linked to the domain of law, but must be sought in the sphere of material conditions, difficult transitional circumstances and low level of political culture.

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