CAS Newsletter 2011/2012
Articles, pictures and interviews can be reprinted only with the consent of Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS - Sofia). Any citations should be duly acknowledged.
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Articles, pictures and interviews can be reprinted only with the consent of Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS - Sofia). Any citations should be duly acknowledged.
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Articles, pictures and interviews can be reprinted only with the consent of Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS - Sofia). Any citations should be duly acknowledged.
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Articles, pictures and interviews can be reprinted only with the consent of Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS - Sofia). Any citations should be duly acknowledged.
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Articles, pictures and interviews can be reprinted only with the consent of Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS - Sofia). Any citations should be duly acknowledged.
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Articles, pictures and interviews can be reprinted only with the consent of Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS - Sofia). Any citations should be duly acknowledged.
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Articles, pictures and interviews can be reprinted only with the consent of Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS - Sofia). Any citations should be duly acknowledged.
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Crime rates in 2015 continue their downward trend with a decrease of 0.4% compared to 2014 levels. It must be noted, however, that the level of reporting crime to the authorities falls compared to officially registered numbers by the MoI in 2015. This means that latent crime is on the rise, which signifies a drop in public confidence in the MoI. One of the main reason for this discrepancy are the so-called police filters, which lead to diverging levels of officially recorded conventional crimes and crimes reported by the citizenry. These are some of the results of the National Crime Survey for 2015, presented in the current publication.
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Extortion racketeering has long been pointed out as the defining activity of organised crime. It has also been identified as one of the most effective tools used by organised crime in the accumulation of financial resources and the penetration of the legal economy. Although in recent years this crime has not been among the top listed organised crime threats in the strategic EU policy documents, it still remains ever present in European countries. The seriousness of the phenomenon has been recognised at the EU level and the crime has been listed in a number of EU legal acts in the field of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
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This Policy Brief summarises key findings from the FIDUCIA cybercrime survey, conducted in selected member states, but it also provides an overview of existing data and research on the prevalence of cybercrimes and the public attitudes towards them. The role of current national and European legislation, policies and practical measures are assessed in terms of their deterrent or preventative effects and the potential role for cross-national cooperation and self-regulation to control or prohibit cybercrime are reviewed.
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Pred vama se nalazi publikacija koja je rezultat realizacije projekta Jačanje uloge profesionalnih udruženja u oblasti pravosuđa u Bosni i Hercegovini - JUP BiH. Projekat je podržala Vlada Velike Britanije, a realizovala ga je Asocijacija za demokratske inicijative (ADI) Sarajevo, tokom četrnaest mjeseci. Cilj projekta bio je jačanje profesionalnih udruženja u oblasti pravosuđa (udruženja sudija, tužilaca, advokata, notara i udruženje medijatora), kao organizacija civilnog društva, koje trebaju aktivnije učestvovati u procesima reforme pravosuđa i uključiti se u šire društvene trendove. Organizacija ADI Sarajevo, doprinijela je jačanju kapaciteta profesionalnih udruženja u oblastima pravde i pravosuđa tako što je, u sklopu ovog projekta, organizovala edukativne programe za predstavnike profesionalnih udruženja, ali i zajednički rad predstavnika u radnim grupama. Jedanaest bosanskohercegovačkih profesionalnih udruženja, koje djeluju u oblasti pravosuđa, delegirali su svog predstavnika/cu. Delegirani predstavnici/ce udruženja su činili fokalnu radnu grupu. Članovi/ce fokalne radne grupe pohađali/e su ciklus od četiri tematska treninga i imali/e su četiri radna sastanka na kojima su raspravljali o aktuelnim pitanjima u oblasti pravosuđa, i to radeći u tri tematske radne grupe, koje su se bavile pitanjima vezanim za sadržaj i implementaciju zakona o maloljetničkoj delinkvenciji, zakona o advokatima i notarima, te zakona o stečajnom postupku. Pravac pri realizaciji procesa izgradnje kapaciteta išao je od pojedinačnih članova/ca ka njihovim udruženjima i od profesionalizacije udruženja, kao organizacija civilnog društva, ka njihovoj zagovaračkoj ulozi na nivou praktične politike...
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(English edition) Although Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has made significant progress since the conflict in the mid 1990s, it still faces significant development challenges, such as high unemployment, underdeveloped rural areas, and an under-resourced and inefficient social welfare system. The economy is at 70% of its pre-war level of development, and 20% of the population lives below the poverty line, which is very high, given that an additional 30% of the population lives slightly above the poverty line. Taking these facts into account, the establishment of an efficient free legal aid system is pall the more important given the social status of BiH citizens and poverty rates in the country. In addition, many citizens remain uninformed about their rights and a large number of unresolved legal disputes instigated by citizens is hindering the efficient functioning of the courts in BiH. Finally, the large majority of citizens of BiH throughout find that the country should have an equally guaranteed right to the minimum free legal aid (90%). Despite these conditions, the current free legal aid system in BiH is unable to provide minimum legal assistance services to all citizens in BiH on an equal basis. As such, it does not fulfill the international and European standards in this regard. The NGO Vaša prava, the largest free legal aid provider in the country, states that the current free legal aid framework “is characterized by the absence of policy planning, many deviations from the Justice Sector Reform Strategy in BiH, as well as fragmentation and different approach in dealing with issues of legal aid. Also, the role of NGOs in the system of free legal aid has been continually minimized, which led to the absolute exclusion of NGOs from the public consultation process.”Public institutions have not been proactive in organising the provision of free legal aid in a systematic matter. Several legal aid services have recently been established in Republika Srpska, Brcko District and several other cantons, but these remain unavailable in many other cantons and in most rural areas. These and other similar issues have been identified as reasons for the adoption of a national legislative framework which would provide basic free legal aid and legal mechanisms for the reform of existing laws that may be a source of discrimination against citizens on the basis of the place where they may live. This report intends to add to the on-going policy debate by providing an analysis of the legal framework and current practice relating to the provision of information and assistance services to citizens and aims to identify several viable policy recommendations. In order to address these issues and policy options, a survey on the provision of information, advice and legal aid services in Bosnia and Herzegovina was organised throughout the period from March to May 2013. The purpose of the survey was to map existing citizens information and assistance services, to identify gaps in services and to develop policy recommendations. The survey was sent to an extensive number of public institutions – including municipalities and providers of free legal aid, as well as non-governmental organizations and trade unions were contacted in order. In total, 65 organizations participated in the survey, out of which 24 were public institutions (free legal aid institutions and municipalities) and 41 are non-governmental organizations.
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Legal framework of the European Union confirms its determination towards gender equality. Over the last decades there has been developed a series of provisions of primary and secondary law of the EU as well as a large number of political documents and initiatives in the field of gender equality, particularly in the field of employment and work conditions. Case law of European Court of Justice has contributed to the great extent to development of European law in this field. The EU point out a few important fields putting them in its focus of actions: first of the fields refers to employment, in particular, access to employment, promotion at work including the access to professional training as well as working conditions, including the redundancy conditions. The second refers to equal work or work of equal value, the third to harmonization between private and professional life and a special protection of pregnant women and maternity leave. The European Union recognizes the importance of introduction of measures of an affirmative action aimed at accomplishing the goals in these fields. In the field of equality between women and men, over the last decade there has been adopted a numerous of directives which have been changed and amended over time. Directives that can be directly linked to the issue of work and employment are, inter alia: Directive of Council 79/7/EEC of 19 December 1978 on the progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security; Directive of Council 2004/113/EZ of 13 December 2004 on implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services, i.e. service provision; Directive 2010/41/ EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on the application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity and repealing Council Directive 86/613/EEC; Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation (“The Recast Directive” ). Except the mentioned, it is important to point that the EU has adopted a series of directives relating to the rights of pregnant and postpartum women, then maternity, parenting and paternity based rights amongst which the key important are Directive 92/85/EEZ (“The Pregnant Workers Directive”) Directive2010/18/EU of 8 March 2010 (“The Parental Leave Directive”). Also, the European Court of Justice, as the EU institution whose task is to interprets EU law to make sure it is applied in the same way in all EU countries, the most frequently in a liberal manner than courts of member states do at the time of decision- taking, has given a great contribution to the process of advocating the promotion of women at labour market including those related to different forms of discrimination against women. The possibility to use the EU law on gender equality in court proceedings before national courts of member states represents a powerful instrument for protection and accomplishment the right to equality whether the EU law is integrated into national legislation or not. In fact, member states are often late with transposing or, sometimes, do it in a way being opposed to goals which some directives try to achieve. However, due to the principle of supremacy of European Union law, in case of inconsistency of national legal regulations with the EU regulation and in accordance with the European Court of Justice’s decisions, national courts of member states are compelled to base its decision on the EU regulations, i.e. are compelled to do everything in its power to achieve the result the directives’ goals strive to by interpreting the national law. Except legal documents and court justice of the European Court of Justice, political documents of the European Union too represent a significant resource, especially in terms of determining the directions and actions in the field of gender equality. One of such documents, which was adopted in the aim of promoting the equality between women and men is a Women’s Charter. The Charter highlighted the five specific fields of actions necessary to take additional efforts to confirm the dedication of Europe to equality of women and men offering a better life and sustainable future for all: Economic independence; Equal pay for equal work or work of equal value; the representation of women in decision-making and positions of power, respect for women’s dignity and integrity, but also an end to gender-based violence, both in the European Union and outside the EU borders. Although, after reading the legal documents of the European Union it could be argued that equality of women and men is the fundamental value, the goal and the driver of the European Union’s economic growth and that the EU in all its actions is trying to promote the equality of women and men, things are often different in practice. Decisions of the Court of Justice confirm that even long-year member states face difficulties when implement the principle of gender equality and the prohibition of discrimination as general principles that the European Union is based on. This is why the European Union is trying to make a positive impact on promoting the equality of men and women and gender equality not only in member states but in EU accession process countries. In that sense, the EU requires the adjustment of a candidate country’s legislation to the EU legislation. Member states are, except adopting the laws, obliged to take measure aimed at revoking all laws, regulations or proceedings which are not in accordance with the principle of equal treatment. Each provision being opposed to the mentioned principle and is part of employment contract, collective agreement, employment internal act, a regulation being applied to self-employed occupations or organizations of workers and employers are, accordingly, declared null and void and must be amended.
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Dodatak trećem alternativnom izvještaju je nastao kao rezultat zajedničkih napora grupe aktivistkinja i aktivista iz nevladinih organizacija u Bosni i Hercegovini sa dugogodišnjim iskustvom u direktnom radu sa ženama čija su prava ugrožena ili direktno povrijeđena, kao i aktivnostima zalaganja za usvajanje rodno osjetljivih i odgovornih zakona i javnih politika u oblasti zaštite ženskih ljudskih prava i ravnopravnosti polova.
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(English edition) The right to free legal aid is a fundamental human right and a precondition for the enjoyment of other human rights such as the right to a fair trial and the right to an effective remedy. The right to a fair trial is guaranteed by numerous international instruments on human rights, which were signed by Bosnia and Herzegovina. Access to justice is guaranteed by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and represents an essential element of a functioning rule of law system. At the same time effective legal protection is not possible without providing legal assistance which is ensured by experts. The goal of free legal aid is to remove obstacles to access to justice; this is done by providing assistance to those who otherwise would not be able to bear the costs of legal representation and legal protection. This right contributes to the strengthening of public confidence in the equal access to justice both in front domestic and international tribunals. Since in Bosnia and Herzegovina there are 600.000 people living below the poverty line, the fact is that many of them cannot achieve free access to courts and pay lawyers; as such they are not able to properly and effectively protect their rights. Thus far, the reform processes that aimed at establishing a sustainable and comprehensive system of legal aid were unsuccessful. In Bosnia and Herzegovina there is no law on free legal aid that established the minimum rights of citizens in regards to legal aid. However the laws on free legal aid were separately adopted in the Republika Srpska, Brčko District, and in eight of the ten cantons in the Federation. In the new Strategy for Justice Sector Reform in BiH for the period 2014–2018 it is stated that it is necessary to provide “the continuation of strategic action to establish the legal and institutional framework of free legal aid throughout the territory of BiH and harmonize the laws ensures the minimum standards for all and guarantees equality before the law.” Association for Democratic Initiatives in 2013 carried out an analysis of the nature and availability of free legal aid, information and consultation which has been used for the production of the first report entitled Access to Justice: Providing information, advice and free legal assistance in BiH. A second analysis was performed based on the findings of the first report. The survey had 53 nongovernmental organizations that provide free legal aid and 21 institutions in the period September – December 2015. Moreover, it included the analysis of existing legislation and legal practices in BiH and the existing capacity of providers of free legal aid. The goal of this analysis is to detect and analyze the obstacles faced by citizens who try to exercise their rights in courts and government bodies, and gain a deeper insight into the experience with free legal aid as a mechanism that is available to those citizens who are faced with financial barriers or discrimination in the exercise of their rights. The analysis gave an overview of the existing problems in this field and the ways of overcoming them. The key conclusion is the need for the soonest adoption of the Law on Free Legal Assistance at the state level as a precondition for the establishment of a harmonized free legal aid system which would fully reflect the international and European standards and practices at all levels of government.
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This compendium was created by the consortium members of the CEE Prevent Net initiative. Its development is the result of a robust exchange of good practice methods among various organizations and civil society actors in the areas of youth work and (non-formal) education aimed at preventing intolerance, discrimination, and right-wing populism and extremism in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. Initially, this volume was supposed to present 10 good practices for working with young people directly; however, the CEE Prevent Net network decided to expand this initial enterprise gratuitously. This additional section provides youth workers, educators, and other civic actors with recommendations and advocacy strategies for youth work that fosters tolerance, facilitates dialogue, and prevents discrimination and far right ideologies.
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Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) presents an overview of comparative constitutional norms on security with a view to promote debate on constitutional reforms in Serbia in this area. The overview has taken a form of comparative table consisting of selected constitutional provisions of 50 states and entities altogether, divided by regions. The first chapter is dedicated to Western Balkans states and entities which, due to shared recent historical and political experience, represent a first point of reference for comparison with Serbia (excerpts of Serbian constitution are also provided in the table). The second chapter covers most of the Eastern and Central European states, that underwent similar political transitions since the 1990s and are now members of the European Union. The third chapter covers 15 other EU member states and Switzerland, usually referred to as the Western Europe. Selected constitutional provisions of several, also transitioned, former Soviet Union states are offered in the fourth chapter. Finally, aiming at a broader perspective, a random selection of other countries all over the globe is presented in the fifth chapter.
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In this document, the position of the Ombudsman (Protector of Citizens) will be discussed from the point of view of the attitude of the National Assembly and the Government of the Republic of Serbia toward the Ombudsman’s regular annual reports. In the past ten years, Serbia has largely regressed in terms of democracy and the rule of law. Data from international and domestic organisations point to a state that has been captured by one party, the collapse of the separation of powers, and the absence of political dialogue. On the other hand, the Government of Serbia keeps emphasising the rule of law as its main priority in the accession negotiations with the European Union (EU). For the EU, the development of democratic processes is the main aspect of Serbia’s approach. In such circumstances, the attitude of the legislative and executive powers towards the report of the Ombudsman shows whether the authorities are essentially or just formally committed to the rule of law and admission to the European Union. The Ombudsman is an independent state body that protects the rights of citizens and controls the legality of the work of the administration. Its role is protected by the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia. The Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) gave it the highest status A, which shows that its work is in line with international standards. However, analyses reveal certain weaknesses of this independent institution. The reports on Serbia’s progress in the process of accession to the European Union for 2021 and 2022 highlighted the need to strengthen the Ombudsman by providing staffing and financial resources and ensuring systematic cooperation with the authorities. Although there are numerous challenges in the work of the Ombudsman, this document analyses only the practice of its reporting to the National Assembly, in the context of ongoing reforms implemented for the purpose of Serbia’s accession to the European Union. We particularly stress the importance of the Ombudsman in strengthening democratic institutions and fulfilling the criteria from the negotiation Chapters 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and 24 (Justice, Freedom and Security), and propose solutions that contribute to political responsibility and the rule of law.
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In recent years, under the pretext of protecting national security and citizens’ privacy, states have introduced several protectionist measures concerning digital data. The main one is data localisation law, which requires data to be stored and processed in a specific country. In practice, it often serves authoritarian governments in gaining greater oversight of citizens through unrestricted access to and control over data. Furthermore, it has a negative impact on the global economy, especially international trade. The challenge remains to develop regulation at a global level in place of incompatible local regimes.
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In connection with the coronavirus pandemic, the Hungarian government intends to extend indefinitely regulations adopted under a “state of danger” declared on 11 March. The bill authorising it to do so would give the government unprecedented powers, including limiting constitutional freedoms. The vote on the bill is scheduled for 31 March. Adoption requires a two-thirds majority, which means that the ruling party can adopt it alone.
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