Supporting Vulnerable Groups before the State: The Role of Civil Society Organisations

Author(s): Maria Doichinova,Yva Alexandrova,Miriana Ilcheva,Svetla Encheva / Language(s): English

The study analyses the mechanisms for interaction between public institutions and NGOs in supporting four vulnerable groups: persons deprived of their liberty, victims of trafficking in human beings, domestic violence survivors, and persons seeking international protection and other vulnerable foreigner nationals. Furthermore, it identifies trends in the cooperation between institutions and NGOs in assisting these communities. The report sums up the profile of the bodies and organisations involved and identifies problems in their interaction. Instruments for cooperation between public institutions and NGOs in relation to each vulnerable group are reviewed in detail, both on legislative and practical level. Correlations between identified problems and aspects of the interaction between public institutions and NGOs that could help resolve these problems are highlighted. In conclusion, recommendations are made to involve civil society in providing comprehensive support, in particular legal, social and administrative assistance, to vulnerable persons. These recommendations rest on the shared experience and opinions by public authorities and civil society, as well as on applicable foreign models and good practices.

Anti-Corruption Reloaded: Assessment of Southeast Europe

Author(s): / Language(s): English

Corruption in Southeast Europe has been in the news, in the focus of public debate, and on the policy agenda of national and international institutions so often and for so long that its scrutiny hardly needs to be justified. It is precisely because it has proven to be such an intractable issue that innovative approaches to its understanding – and hence its reduction – are warranted. The EU accession prospects for the countries in the region – though distant – provide an enabling framework for action but it is local stakeholders, and in particular civil society who can bring about sustained progress in anti-corruption. The Southeast Europe Leadership for Development and Integrity (SELDI) has made the in-depth diagnosing and understanding of corruption and governance gaps in the region one of its main priorities, as a requisite condition for its advocacy of knowledge-driven anticorruption policies. This SELDI report fits in the development and implementation framework of the emerging regional anticorruption policy and infrastructure as exemplified by the SEE2020 Strategy’s Governance Pillar run by the Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative. Despite some important achievements – mostly with respect to the stabilisation of democratic institutions, the adoption of laws in key anticorruption areas, a reduction in petty bribery and growing public intolerance of corruption – anticorruption and good governance reforms are not consolidated, corruption among elected politicians and judges seems to be increasing and the enforcement of anticorruption legislation is haphazard. Anticorruption policies and institutions in the region will benefit immensely from the adoption of regular and accurate victimisation-survey based tool for measuring corruption and the rate of progress in good governance, similar to the special Eurobarometer on anticorruption, UNODC’s SEE monitoring of corruption and organised crime, and the Corruption Monitoring System employed by this report.

CSD-Report 17 - Police Stops and Ethnic Profiling in Bulgaria

Author(s): Tihomir Bezlov,Martin Dimov,Philip Gounev,Nikoleta Yordanova / Language(s): English

Between June and December 2005 the Center for the Study of Democracy and Vitosha Research, supported by the Open Society Justice Initiative carried out a study of police stops. The resulting report Police Stops and Ethnic Profiling in Bulgaria examines the use of stops by the Bulgarian police, focusing on the practices of disproportionate stops of members of the Roma ethnic minority. The report also highlights issues related to police abuse during stops as well as crime among in Roma communities. // The study is part of a Europe-wide initiative aimed to map discriminatory police practices across Europe. In addition to Bulgaria, research was carried out in Spain, Hungary and Russia indicating that there is disproportionate treatment of minorities by the police in all these countries. // Police stops are the main point of contact between officers and citizens. Police officers view stops as essential for detecting and preventing crime. Therefore, the appropriate use of this tool is crucial to police efficiency, whereas when used in the wrong way, it could seriously deteriorate the relations between citizens and the police. The findings and the report were launched at a public meeting of the National Crime Prevention Commission on September 19, 2006.

CSD-Report 12 - The Drug Market in Bulgaria

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The Center for the Study of Democracy has undertaken a special inquiry into the topic of drug abuse - which was fueled by the drug epidemic of the late 1990s and has grown to become a real social threat - and the problem of drug dealing, which is a major mechanism for the generation of organized crime in Bulgaria. This report addresses drug supply and demand in Bulgaria with the ambition of mapping a vast information void and identifying the basic mechanisms and stakeholders of the drug market. However, the peculiarities of drug diffusion and consumption do not allow the use of the standard suite of economic research tools and vehicles throughout the study. This analysis has been divided into three sections. The first addresses the genesis of drug distribution, while the second describes its structure and functioning. The findings about supply presented in the first two parts are based on a series of in-depth interviews with dealers of different groups of drugs, long-term drug users, with police and security officers (experienced in combating drug traffic, drug production, and drug dealing), doctors, and civil organizations engaged in treatment services to drug addicts. Section 3 highlights drug demand, and brings into play the findings of the First National Population Survey on Drug Consumption in Bulgaria conducted by Vitosha Research. For the purpose of this study, CSD and Vitosha Research used the research tools of the European Monitoring Center on Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). While paying attention to a variety of views, the team of authors has tried to find common ground upon which to evaluate the actual number of drug users in the country. Even if population-based surveys are often unreliable due to stigmatized and hidden patterns of drug use, they are the type of surveys that provide a comprehensive representation of the situation in the country, as well as reference material for later in-depth studies.In addition, a series of indirect variables, tailored to Bulgarian circumstances, were drawn up to register psychoactive substance use. Two more surveys, of the qualitative type, were conducted: one among heroin addicts and frequent users of soft drugs, and another among experts and treatment agencies. This report was developed by the CSD as part of project evaluating the patterns of drug supply and demand in Bulgaria.

Трафик на деца сред уязвими общности

Author(s): Kamelia Dimitrova,Yva Alexandrova / Language(s): Bulgarian

The current report looks at three specific forms of trafficking in persons: child trafficking for begging, for pickpocketing and for sexual exploitation of boys and the way they manifest themselves among Roma communities. The report examines the profiles of victims and discusses the vulnerability factors that make the Roma minority a particular group at risk. The study provides empirical knowledge on the mechanisms of recruitment and exploitation of victims in order to inform identification efforts and counter-trafficking responses. Particular attention is devoted to the policy and measures for assistance of victims. In this field, the report identifies specific gaps in assistance and the way they affect Roma victims in particular, and suggests how child victim assistance could be improved. The active involvement of Roma organisations in the research through participatory methods aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the risk factors involved, bring knowledge back to the communities and support Roma experts’ involvement in counter-trafficking policy and mechanisms.

Оценка на заплахите от тежката и организираната престъпност 2010-2011

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Bulgarian

The report Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2010-2011 (SOCTA) analyses the current state and trends in serious and organised crime in Bulgaria. The report estimates the threats generated by these criminal activities and ranks them according to the harm they cause Bulgarian society. The analysis is intended to support a better informed evidence-based design of anti-crime policies.

Моќ од сенка: Проценка на корупција и скриената економија во земјите од Југоисточна Европа

Author(s): / Language(s): Macedonian

The current report, prepared by the Southeast European Leadership for Development and Integrity (SELDI) — the largest indigenous good governance initiative in SEE — makes an important contribution to the regional approach to anticorruption. It provides a civil society view of the state of corruption and comes in the wake of the 2014 SELDI comprehensive assessment of the various aspects of the legal and institutional anticorruption environments of nine SEE countries. In 2016, SELDI followed up on these assessments with an update of corruption monitoring and a special focus on state capture in the energy sector and the corruption–hidden economy nexus. The report underscores the need for broader political action for reform, which seems blocked or narrowing across the region. Inside pressure for such action has been suffocated by economic necessity and/or ethnic divisions, and the ossification of political and economic establishments. Outside pressure, delivered mostly by the European Union has been seen as wanting in relation to the size of the problems in the past couple of years due to a succession of internal and external crises. The authors underline that in none of the countries in the region has there been a clear sustained policy breakthrough in anticorruption though efforts to deliver technical solutions and to improve the functioning of the law enforcement institutions, mostly with support from the EU, have continued and even intensified in some cases. This has led to further slow decline in administrative corruption levels but at the expense of waning public support for reforms and of declining trust in national and European institutions.

Уязвими групи лишени от свобода: Наръчник

Author(s): Alejandro Forero Cuéllar,María Celeste Tortosa,Klaus Dreckmann,Dimitar Markov,Maria Doichinova / Language(s): Bulgarian

In prison, certain groups of inmates are subject to disadvantages due to specifics of their origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc. These groups usually need special treatment, which is not always provided, which leads to unequal treatment and violation of their rights. This handbook examines the situation of such vulnerable groups within the prison systems of Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Lithuania and Spain. Starting from the classification of the UN Handbook on Prisoners with special needs and looking at the different national contexts, the authors identify different groups as vulnerable in different countries. In order to encompass as many groups as possible, their list was extended to include some particularly marginalised groups, such as sex offenders, prisoners with disabilities, etc. Each group is viewed in context, explaining the situations of vulnerability both generally and in the selected countries. From one side, the handbook presents the efforts for compensation of vulnerabilities in every country available in the legislation or provided by prison authorities or other actors. From the other side, it identifies the gaps in the measures and practices, which vary both from country to country and from group to group.

Употребяващите наркотици в затвора: опитът на Норвегия и предизвикателствата пред България

Author(s): Dimitar Markov,Hedda Giertsen,Maria Doichinova / Language(s): Bulgarian

Publication looks over the situation of drug users in two European countries – Norway, known for its social and welfare-oriented state, and Bulgaria, which since the beginning of the transition from totalitarism to democracy lacks sustainable policies on prisons and drugs. The aim of this work is to comparatively present the penal policy towards drug users and the measures taken for convicted people addicted to narcotic substances, to identify those features which can be transferable and can assist Bulgarian authorities to improve the situation of drug users in and outside the prison. Finally, this research will try to propose concrete measures to be taken both within the penitentiary system and as crime prevention efforts among drug users.

Domácí násilí v kontextu násilí na ženách

Author(s): Kateřina Machovcová / Language(s): Czech Publication Year: 0

Genocidna ideologija antibosanstva

Author(s): Rusmir Mahmutćehajić / Language(s): Bosnian Publication Year: 0

Genocid, genocid, genocid! Tom prividno poznatom riječju imenovani su progoni i ubijanja bosanskih muslimana u Srebrenici 1995. godine. Za to djelo osuđeno je više pojedinaca koji su ga domislili, podstakli i/ili proveli. Tom riječju, koju su izrekli suci, koju potomci i srodnici ubijenih ponavljaju kao molitvenu utjehu, užasnuta i ustrašena većina više je anestezirana negoli utješena. Ali riječi nemaju značenja izvan rečenice. Kada su im nametana korištenja u izdvojenosti, one postaju plastične. Čine se neprijeporno shvatljivim, a ipak su sve dalje od tog što njihovi korisnici hoće u žalosti i patnji, u ljubavi i mržnji te u nastojanjima da prežive i budu sretni. [...]

Razmjere i posljedice devastirane demografske slike bosanskog Podrinja

Author(s): Fikret Bečirović / Language(s): Bosnian Publication Year: 0

In order to territorially expand and create a homogeneous demographic picture, “ethnic cleansing” and genocide against the non-Serb population of Podrinje was prepared first in academic, then in military circles, in our neighboring country of Serbia. The goal was to ethnically cleanse (brutally remove) the Bosniak population in every possible way from an area that covers at least fifty kilometers from the Drina River to the central part of Bosnu i Hercegovinu. The “ethnic cleansing” of that area from non-Serbs also had the intention of a “final showdown” with the undesirable, unpopular element, the remnants of the Turkish conqueror, as they labeled the Bosniak corps. Thus, the first aggressor strikes began on the eastern border and during April 1992, the entire Podrinje area was occupied, with great destruction, expulsions, imprisonment, terrorism and the cruelest crimes that reached their peak with the Srebrenica genocide. Permanent crimes and complete “ethnic cleansing” throughout the war period completely devastated the prewar demographic picture of the entire Bosnian Podrinje area. In this paper, we will analyze the causes, extent and consequences of the devastated demographic picture in 10 Podrinje municipalities, comparing the post-war census from 2013 with the pre-war census from 1991. Comparative analysis will show that war destruction, crimes, “ethnic cleansing” and genocide against Bosniaks in Srebrenica and other Podrinje municipalities caused large demographic, quantitative and qualitative changes in ethnic structure, gender, age, working age, education, culture and all other segments of life.

Zaključci Međunarodne naučne konferencije “Genocid nad Bošnjacima, Srebrenica 1995–2020: Uzroci, razmjere i posljedice”

Author(s): Mirko Pejanović / Language(s): Bosnian Publication Year: 0

Moralno-pravna i politička obaveza svijeta Evropske unije i Bosne i Hercegovine jeste ne samo spriječiti buduće, civilizacijski katastrofične i neprihvatljive zločine poput genocida nad Bošnjacima u Srebrenici i oko nje nego, i prije svega, spriječiti njegovo planski aktivno i političko, medijsko, kvazinaučno, sistematsko poricanje i negiranje, kakvome svjedočimo danas i svih poratnih godina u Bosni i Hercegovini i njenom susjedstvu. Tačnije Srbiji, koja je imala “političko mentorstvo” nad genocidom, uporno pokušavajući izbjeći ono neizbježno – svoju vlastitu odgovornost za plansko, praktično učešće i političko i vojno saučesništvo koga je potpuno svjesna. [...]

Voiced and Voiceless in Asia

Author(s): Annegret Bergmann,Pia Eskelinen,Letizia Guarini,Noriko Hiraishi,Kamila Hladíková,Fumi Inoue,Bhavana Kumari,Martin Lavička,Madhu Madhu,Rafael Vinícius Martins,Nikolaos Mavropoulos,Robert Ono,Silvia Picchiarelli,André Pinto Teixeira,Martina R. Prosperi,Rune Steenberg,Freya Terryn,Robert Tsaturyan,Jessica Uldry,Halina Zawiszová / Language(s): English

This volume consists of 19 chapters that reflect the titular theme - Voiced and Voiceless in Asia - from a variety of angles, making use of diverse scholarly approaches and disciplines, while focusing specifically on China, India, Japan, and Taiwan. The chapters are broadly divided into two parts: (1) Politics and Society, and (2) Arts and Literature, although the texts included in the second part also deal with social themes. In addition to historical topics, such as Japanese colonialism or Chinese agricultural reforms in the 1950s, the volume also addresses current issues, including restrictive Chinese policies in Xinjiang, Japanese activist movements against gender-based violence and discrimination, or the problems of migrant laborers in India and performing arts in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, it provides insight into satirical woodblock prints from the Boshin War period or works of literature produced in Japanese leprosariums in the first half of the 20th century, as well as into selected topics in contemporary Chinese, Japanese, and Sinophone Tibetan literature. Collectively, the chapters comprised in this volume narrate the multifaceted relationship between 'voice' and 'power,' thus highlighting the fact that the question of 'voice' is closely intertwined with a variety of social, political, and cultural issues.

Logori, zatvori i prisilni rad u Hrvatskoj/Jugoslaviji 1941.-1945., 1945.-1951.

Author(s): / Language(s): Croatian,German,Serbian

Thirteen presentations from the scientific conference "Camps, Prisons, and Forced Labor in Croatia/Yugoslavia 1941-1945, 1945-1951" held on May 12, 2009, at the Croatian Institute of History are published in this proceedings. Seven Croatian, five Serbian, and one German historian presented the results of their latest research on deprivation of freedom, camps, prisons, and forced labor during World War II and in the post-war period.

Das Frauen - und Kinderkonzentrationslager Loborgrad in Kroatien (1941-1942)

Author(s): Carl Bethke / Language(s): German Publication Year: 0

The study focuses on the concentration camp Loborgrad for women and children in Northwest-Croatia from the time of its erection in October 1941, till the deportation of nearly all of its internees to Auschwitz in August 1942. Its about 1500 mostly Jewish prisoners came from Bosnia (Sarajevo) and Nor-thern Croatia, apart from them were some Jewish refugees, among these many from Vienna, plus approximately 200 Serbian women. Before the deportations the latter were sent to Serbia or to Germany in order to perform forced labor. Apparently the camp was under the supervision of the ”Jews Department” of the Ustaša police, however the commander in chief Karlo Heger and the gu-ards belonged to the ethnic German group. Physical abuses are reported from the camp, during epidemics in 1941/42 up to 200 inmates died.

Neke forme prinudnog rada u Srbiji 1944–1950

Author(s): Nataša Milićević / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

Forced labour in Serbia, in the first postwar years, appeared in specific situations and affected various social groups, and it was carried out in the conditions of revolutionary political change. During the time of liberation and immediately afterward “mobilization” appeared as a specific form of required labour, while in the later period work referred to as “required service” or “required work” received special significance. Failure to comply with these orders carried sanctions in terms or criminal or administrative penalties. Specific social categories, the war prisoners and Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans), who li-ved in camps were employed as forced labour and their freedom was restricted as a whole; other social categories were required to work through judgments of the courts and these sentences could be applied in jails or in freedom; a third type of required labour, which affected groups such as pensioners, occurred due to a lack experts, requiring them to accept various jobs in order to maintain their pensions. Regardless of the type of category, forced labour was in fact mobilized free labour, which was employed in numerous construction sites, mines, or other objects in fulfillment of the first Five Year Plan.

HUMAN LOSSES DURING WORLD WAR II

Author(s): Marica Karakas Obradov,Martina Grahek Ravančić,Vladimir Geiger,Zdenko Radelić / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The duration and intensity of warfare in Yugoslavia and the Independent State of Croatia, the presence of significant occupation forces of the German Reich, Italy, and Hungary, and the activities of NDH Army, the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland (the Chetniks), and the People’s Liberation Army and the Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia / Yugoslav Army resulted in direct conflicts between the warring parties, which led to severe human losses among the soldiers and civilians alike. The irreconcilable ideologies and political and military interests in the armed conflict and the civil war multiplied the casulaties.

Predlog praktične politike: Dosuđivanje imovinskopravnog zahteva žrtvama seksualnog nasilja u postupcima za ratne zločine pred sudovima u Srbiji

Author(s): Ivana Žanić / Language(s): Serbian

IV DIO: Devedesete, rat i nakon rata u Bosni i Hercegovini

Author(s): Arijana Aganović,Zlatan Delić / Language(s): Bosnian Publication Year: 0

Ovo poglavlje će se baviti položajem žena u periodu 1992–1995. Ovdje će biti predstavljene uloge žena u različitim oblastima djelovanja, kao što je vojska, civilna odbrana, obrazovanje, medicina, umjetnost, politika, ali i žene kao ratne zločinke, te žene kao žrtve silovanja.