Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia
Encyclopedia
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia (Helsinski odbor za ljudska prava u Srbiji) is a volunteer, non-profit organization
concerned with human rights
issues in Serbia
. It was formed in September 1994 as one of many national Helsinki Committees for Human Rights
formerly organized into the now-defunct International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
. The Committee has its main office in Belgrade
, Serbia.
In its mission statement, the Committee describes its approach as "different from those of other human rights organizations" in that it "examines the situation of human rights in Serbia against country's overall socioeconomic and political context" and "also provides relevant recommendations" for policies. The organization has spoken out against fascism
in Serbia and criticises Serbia's role in the region, among other things. The Committee's work has been described as fundamental to the process of dealing with Serbia's recent past and ongoing European integration.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
concerned with human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
issues in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
. It was formed in September 1994 as one of many national Helsinki Committees for Human Rights
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
The Helsinki Committees for Human Rights exist in many European countries as volunteer, non-profit organizations devoted to human rights and presumably named after the Helsinki Accords...
formerly organized into the now-defunct International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights was a self-governing group of non-governmental, not-for-profit organizations that act to protect human rights throughout Europe, North America and Central Asia...
. The Committee has its main office in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, Serbia.
In its mission statement, the Committee describes its approach as "different from those of other human rights organizations" in that it "examines the situation of human rights in Serbia against country's overall socioeconomic and political context" and "also provides relevant recommendations" for policies. The organization has spoken out against fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
in Serbia and criticises Serbia's role in the region, among other things. The Committee's work has been described as fundamental to the process of dealing with Serbia's recent past and ongoing European integration.
Areas of activity
The organization has six strategic areas of activity:- documentation/research - The Committee has an extensive collection of reports, press clippings and other relevant publications, serving as a resource centre for its own staff, national and international scholars and other researchers
- transitional justice - "Facing the past/truth", the organization's most important program. The Committee works to achieve the normalization of Serbian society (the "moral minimum") and supports the efforts of Serbian civil society to overcome the legacy of the Milosevic regime and nationalist policies pursued subsequently. It seeks to raise awareness of the causes and consequences of the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia and advocates accountability for war crimes committed in Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo and Serbia itself, including official accountability. It contributes to the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former YugoslaviaInternational Criminal Tribunal for the former YugoslaviaThe International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
. It also publishes the Helsinki Charter magazine and other publications and promotes and contributes to public debate. - Serbia's "Europeanization" - The Committee is an advocate for the adoption of standards of accountability in public life, particularly parliamentary activity. It works to promote parliamentary transparency and accountability through public debate and work with individual parliamentarians, particularly women and representatives of multiethnic communities (such as Vojvodina) and minority communities (such as Sandzak and South Serbia). It also works to reinforce the transparency and accountability of public institutions, elected officials and public servants and the legal system.
- educational outreach - The Committee works with young people from across Serbia to challenge the influence of propaganda, distorted public values and a politicised educational system, seeking to encourage teenagers, young adults and young professionals to think critically about Serbia's past and present, with a view to encouraging their emergence as community leaders and policymakers.
- culture of human rights - the "Human rights culture" program is focused on the implementation of major international and European conventions and instruments for the protection of fundamental human rights, in particular the rights of persons deprived of their liberty (prisoners, institutionalized psychiatric patients, etc.) and members of socially marginalized/vulnerable groups, and on safeguarding the position of ethnic minorities and defending the multiethnic and multicultural fabric of society.
- crisis resolution/conflict prevention" - The Committee works to resolve intercommunal tensions between Serbs and Albanians, including the anxieties of the isolated Kosovo Serbs and the tensions in Serbia's multiethnic regions such as Sandzak and South Serbia burdened by a legacy of human rights violations, war crimes, persecution, ethnically motivated violence, state repression, etc, and prone to political manipulation. It brings together people from antagonistic ethnic communities to examine prospects for coexistence and supports efforts at integration with the wider community.