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AN OVERVIEW OF GENERAL SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION IN SERBIA
I.3. Human Rights in Serbia
§ 17. Serbia became a member of the Council of Europe on March 3, 2003 and ratified the
European Convention on Human Rights on March 3, 2004. Since that day, everyone who
considers that some of his/her rights, guaranteed by the Convention or protocols thereto,
have been violated by the Republic of Serbia, is entitled, under conditions provided by
the Convention, to make a complaint to the European Court for Human Rights for the
protection of such right. Until the end of 2010, 6,922 applications were lodged against
the Republic of Serbia, whereby a total of 3,307 applications were declared inadmissible
or struck out 28 .
§ 18. The first judgment on the merits against Serbia was made in 2006. By the end
of December 2010, a total of 49 judgments were made, as well as 64 decisions based
on settlement, unilateral decision or struck out. In these 46 judgments it has been
established that the Republic of Serbia has violated rights guaranteed by the Convention.
In 14 cases, judgments concerned the violation of right to fair trial as prescribed in Article
6; in 18 cases violations referred to the length of the trial and in 14 cases to the right to
effective remedy (Article 13). Violation of rights provided in Article 1 of the Protocol to
the Convention (protection of property) was found in 11 applications and violation of
rights provided in Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) in 9 applications.
The Republic of Serbia violated the right provided in Article 5 of the Convention (right
to liberty and security) in five cases and freedom of expression (Article 10) in four cases.
There was one case of violation of prohibition of torture (Article 3), prohibition of
discrimination (Article 14) and non-enforcement (Article 6). 29
§ 19. Applications against the Republic of Serbia constitute 3% of the total number
of applications lodged to the Court 30 . Starting from 7 August 2008, constitutional
complaint is considered to be an effective legal remedy in terms of Article 35 Paragraph 1
of the European Convention on Human Rights. From that day on, previous application to
the Constitutional Court is a condition for lodging application to the European Court of
Human Rights. This has resulted in a considerable decrease in the number of applications
lodged against the Republic of Serbia compared with the period before August 2008. It
is generally expected that the number of applications to be considered by the European
Court will be considerably smaller because it will consider only those applications in
which the Constitutional Court has found no violations of human rights.
§ 20. The Ombudsman Law 31 was passed in 2005 and amended and supplemented in June
2007. The Ombudsman himself was appointed at the end of July that year. Thus Serbia,
as one of the last countries in Europe, has finally got the institution of ombudsman. The
28
European Court of Human Rights, Annual Report 2010, Provisional Version.
29
Ibid.
30
Human Rights in Serbia 2010 – Legal Provisions and Practice Compared to International Human Rights Standards, Belgrade Center for Human Rights,
Belgrade, 2011.
31
Official Gazette of RS, no. 79/2005 and 54/2007.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA - Report for the period 2000-2010 19