Keywords: South East Europe, Serbia, English, Diversity in general, Serbian human rights, human rights, international relations, NGO, socioeconomic and political conflict, ethnicity/race/national identity, conflict
As one of the leading NGOs in Serbia, the Helsinki Committee examines the situation of human rights in Serbia against country’s overall socioeconomic and political context – an approach to the problematic different from those of other human rights organizations and best mirrored in its annual reports. Here the organization not only dissects policies and trends affecting the exercise of human rights but also provides relevant recommendations.
In setting its short- to longer-term priorities in 2008, the Committee posits the need for continued observation and analysis of the developments, tendencies and factors that influence Serbia’s reformist potential and democratic transition, “standardization” of public life, response to transitional justice, and the society’s and decision-makers’ prevalent mindset, including that towards any otherness (ethnic, political, religious, etc.). In this context the Committee will be developing thematic projects and alerting a variety of stakeholders – ranging from governmental agencies and international organizations to general public – of impermissible policies and practices, while simultaneously advocating modern world’s norms and mainstream, i.e. Serbia’s Europeanization.
