Violence Against Minorities on the Rise after October 5

Encouragement for the Extreme Right from the Authorities and the SPC

Why isn't the state using the existing legal regulations to protect minority rights? The Federal Ministry of Justice announced a law against the discrimination of minorities.

AIM, Belgrade, July 10, 2001

Lately, the public in Serbia has been faced with a number of unpleasant and disturbing instances of the violation of minority rights. In Belgrade on July 30, members of reactionary rightist organisations brutally attacked the participants of the gay parade, but also members of the police. Several days after that, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights warned of the disconcerting rise of anti-semitism, which is particularly pronounced since last October 5. This was followed by criminal charges which the Fund for Humanitarian Law filed against Ivica Dacic, high SPS Socialist Party of Serbia) official for his statement that "Serbia cannot be led by politicians like Rasim Ljajic and Jozef Kasa".

If constant attacks on members of the Roma community are added to these examples, the impression is that minority (national, religious, sexual) rights have not improved much with the arrival of democratic forces on the political scene. According to the conclusion of the non-governmental sector not only the minorities are more endangered than before, but also the violence against them has increased after the change of power in Serbia.

Mrs.Tatjana Pavlovic-Krizanic, regional leader of the Human Right Programme in the Fund for Humanitarian Law, thinks that the violence against minorities is on the rise after October 5 and explains this with several reasons. "The previous regime tried to control the extreme nationalistic movements within Serbia irrespective of the wars that were being waged in Croatia and Bosnia. After the fall of Slobodan Milosevic's regime, the administrative control became more relaxed and the state passed from extreme regulation into the state of extreme non-regulation. The state lost firm control and the resulting confusion was favourable for various extreme ideas and movements", she explains.

Last week, Mrs.Milanka Saponjic-Hadzic, member of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, presented a study of anti-semitism in Serbia in the last ten years. According to her, anti-semitism, which was very present in the last decade in these parts, is on the rise since the fall of Milosevic's regime because some parts of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) enjoy great sympathies and inclination of the Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica. She reminded that Milosevic kept the Church on the margins and instrumentalised it only when it served his purposes. "With Kostunica's arrival, nationalism gained legitimacy and the rightists see him as one of their own. Associations, such as "The Honour" (Obraz), which under the previous regime were only cultural manifestations, were registered after October 5 as political organisations with branch offices all over Serbia. Unfortunately, they attract many followers", said Mrs.Saponja-Hadzic.

Mrs.Pavlovic-Krizanic also points to the SPC's negative role in the growth of violence against minorities. According to her, the SPC's extreme-right wing, which supports the reactionary forces, is slowly taking over the Church and encourages the nationalistic movements. As an illustration of SPC's unfavourable attitude she mentions that priest Zarko Gavrilovic was at the gay parade in order to allegedly condemn the homosexuality, but he actually indirectly encouraged the bullies who brutally attacked participants in this gathering. Although later on it turned out that he was not there on behalf of the Church, the SPC should have distanced itself from this event, but failed to do so.

Mrs.Saponja-Hadzic also mentions that some parts of the SPC are the main generators of anti-semitism from which all other nationalistic and anti-globalistic movements originate. "Intensive publishing activities have been developed in SPC some eparchies with anti-semitism as their common denominator. Church eparchies are behind numerous anti-semitic works, the most famous one being "The Protocols of the Wisemen of Zion" which most rudely insults the Jews. One of the forms in which anti-semitism is demonstrated is the spreading of conspiratory atmosphere, in which officials also partake. An example of that is the thesis that the Hague Tribunal was established with the sole purpose of prosecuting only the Serbs", she says.

According to Mrs.Saponja-Hadzic the status of the minorities has deteriorated because the extreme-rightist movements directly endanger them, unchecked by the authorities and even indirectly encouraged by stands and statements of individual officials. "After October 5 victims of Milosevic's regime have not been rehabilitated, but advocates of extreme-rightist ideas, such as Dimitrije Ljotic, Nikolja Velimirovic and Draza Mihajlovic, have. Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic stated that Velimirovic was an indisputable authority and Kostunica said that communist iconography turned Ljotic into a fascist, although his ideas date further back than that..." says Hadzic.

Mrs. Pavlovic-Krizanic also points to the special role of judiciary in the protection of minority rights. "Public Prosecutor should ex officio initiate proceedings against every act of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred (these provisions do not include other minorities), but he never reacts", she claims. One of the latest examples is Dacic's nationalistic statement to which the Fund for Humanitarian Law reacted, but not the Public Prosecutor. The Federal Minister for National and Ethnic Communities assessed Dacic's statement as "an open call to lynch", but added that neither his Ministry nor he personally would press charges because it could be interpreted as his personal conflict with Dacic. Ljajic expressed hope that the Public Prosecutor would react in line with his official duty.

It seems that the society reacts only when incidents occur. After the shameful beating up of participants in the gay parade, the Federal Ministry of Justice issued a statement announcing the preparation of a bill against discrimination of minorities. The novelty in that law would be the introduction of European practice that the burden of proof "lies" on the perpetrator, instead of Prosecutor having to prove that his national or some other minority right had been violated. In simple terms, that means that a person who violates somebody's minority rights would have to prove that he had not done it.

Our collocutor from the Fund for Humanitarian Law mentions that preventive actions in the protection of minority rights have been totally marginalized. The state doesn't take advantage of various possibilities that exist in this respect - it doesn't prohibit the establishment of organisations which incite to hatred and spread discrimination; the Federal and the Republican Ministries of Justice pass decrees on the establishment of such organisation and do not follow their activities after that.

Asked about the ways in which the media should be treated, as for example a Belgrade weekly which carried a scoop on the letter of the organisation "Honour" which announced new clashes with homosexuals and the Romas, Mrs. Pavlovic-Krizanic replies that the media, and judging by the bloody epilogue of the gay parade, the police also, do not know how to handle the minority rights which is why they should be educated.

One more proof that the media need more education is the report of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights. All the media simply "omitted" its parts which directly name the top state authorities and the Serbian Orthodox Church as those responsible for the intensification of violence against minorities and violations of their rights.

It remains to be seen whether two federal laws aimed at protecting minority rights will succeed in improving their position in the society and eliminate the actions and spreading of the forces of the extreme right, which according to the non-governmental organisations, can grow stronger and more extreme in these parts than they are in some countries of Europe.

Olivera Mamuzic

(AIM)