The House of Human Rights and Democracy on 8 December 2017 marked international Human Rights Day by opening the exhibition entitled “Human Rights and Tolerance in the Artistic Interpretation of Posters” and displaying the works of authors from over 15 countries of the world.
The House of Human Rights also awarded prizes to Nikola Radišić and Gordana Bjeletić, in recognition of their contribution to the promotion of human rights in the media in 2017. In our view, the state of human rights in Serbia in the outgoing year has been characterised the most by the restriction of media freedoms; the journalistic profession is under threat and not enough efforts have been invested in halting the trend of stifling the freedom of expression at any level.
We are of the impression that not enough headway has been made in fostering the rule of law and independent institutions and a transparent dialogue between the authorities and civil society and that the protection of the human rights of all people living in Serbia is insufficient due to the lack of understanding of their needs.
At the ceremony marking Human Rights Day, the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights awarded diplomas to the participants of the 2017 “Vojin Dimitrijević” Human Rights School, which traditionally rallied university senior undergraduate and graduate students studying law and other social sciences, as well as all those who wanted to learn more about human rights, and engage themselves and contribute to their respect in Serbia.
The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights is today participating in the Fair of Civil Society Organisations entitled “Serbia’s Complex Mosaic”, which is organised by the Human and Minority Rights Office and attended by representatives of state institutions, national minority councils, civil society organisations, tourist organisations, et al.
Today, we also started preparations for marking the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has become the ius cogens of international law. Most countries across the world comply with the standards laid down in the Declaration, and we hope that the coming year, during which we will mark the Declaration’s 70th anniversary, will be much better in Serbia than 2017.