Rule of Law

While Brussels may see the Jadar lithium mining project as a strategic step toward a greener future, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić sees it as a tactical tool to reinforce his grip on power - just as hundreds of thousands rise to reclaim democracy.

Today’s Montenegro, has slowly started to understand and accept diversity, outside of what is traditionally seen as a “minority” - religious, national, ethnic, etc. Thus, talk about LGBT people began picking up pace slowly and quietly as early as 2002, at first within institutions of the system, under the influence of reform processes and the international community.

At the beginning of the 2010s, the queer movement in Serbia started its race for marriage equality. The deadline set by the state for this was the last quarter of 2017. However, not only was the Draft of the Law on Same-Sex Partnerships not compiled until this year, but not a single activity has been initiated by the competent authorities which would have resulted in awareness-raising among the general public on the necessity of regulating this issue.

On the EU’s periphery, Serbia has deployed enough biometric surveillance technology from China’s Huawei for law enforcement and “Safe City” solutions to cover practically all of Belgrade’s public spaces. Public pressure has raised the bar for turning on the technology, but the alarming project illustrates the need for transparent regulation of such systems everywhere, to ensure the protection of fundamental human rights.

URA is a new, pro-European green political party that emerged in 2015 as a response from free individuals to the difficult political and economic situation in Montenegro, desiring to finally see democratic change and Montenegro standing among modern European countries with high standards of living.

The initiative originated as a local social movement which, both institutionally and extra-institutionally, by participating in public debates and civil protests, pointed out the harmfulness of Belgrade's water projects in order to develop over the years into a relevant political actor who advocates in accordance with the needs of its inhabitants.

The art and culture scene in Serbia is an important part of the cultural sector, which is predominantly precariously organized. That is why it is crucial to acknowledge the situation the scene found itself in and to understand the reasons of its particular actions, which are aimed at fighting for more safe and stable working and living environments. 

They talk about that time, about the summer of 1995, when they were children, when they had to pack their toys hastily in order to get themselves into safety from the Serbian troops. The attacks, the fears – the world seemed to stand still for them then. They talk about how it felt at that time when the then so-called UN safe area no longer provided any protection. How it felt when the hopes to get protection from the internationals from the hatred of the advancing Serbs, dissolved into thin air. At that time, when the international community folded in face of the violence overrunning the whole of Bosnia since 1992 and ultimately culminating in Srebrenica. At some point, as reported by one of the survivors, she understood that she did not have a father anymore.