Full Coverage: Serbia and Montenegro

29.04.2005 Charities are occasionally regarded as fair game for tabloid journalists. In this case of a volunteer accused of child trafficking in Montenegro, it took 15 months before the Sunday Mirror lost the defamation claim and apologised.

28.04.2005 As a part of the former Yugoslavia, Serbia closely followed the global technology trends until the early 1990s. The start of the series of wars has contributed for Serbia to lose several steps, but the contact was not completely lost. Those years were key, in many aspects, to the future development of information technology: the internet appeared, PC technology managed to outweigh the other types of computers for personal use, GNU got the core for its operation system – Linux.

28.04.2005 On April 26, the SEE Media Organization – SEEMO called on the Government of Montenegro to respect the principle of independence of the media and to relieve the pressure on the media.

28.04.2005 Edgar Bursic presented a unique project in Croatia – the Monteparadiso Hack Lab in Pula, at the Anarchist Book Fair in Zagreb. The Hack lab uses exclusively free software and offers free internet access to its users.

27.04.2005 Last weekend, the training „Protection of Children and Youth from Sexual Exploitation and Possibilities for Prevention” was held in Belgrade. The seminar discussed the identification of sexual exploitation, trafficking, HIV/AIDS related issues, discrimination of HIV carriers, drug-abuse and alcoholism, campaigns as an instrument of public information.

25.04.2005 MANS invited the High State Prosecutor Vesna Medenica to submit her irrevocable resignation and contribute, with a personal example, to the successful reform of Montenegro judicial system.

25.04.2005 The „Support for Women Human Rights in Western Balkans” project, including the preparation of the national studies on violence against women in the countries of the SEE, was presented to the Vojvodina Executive Council.

25.04.2005 The International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague can progress only as and when the blood pressure of Slobodan Milosevic permits. Efforts to overcome delays have been thwarted by a defence witness who refuses to give evidence in the absence of his former boss.

25.04.2005 During the last meeting of the Board of Directors of the National Power Supply Company (EPCG) of April 14th, the new electricity price tariffs were discussed but obviously not the resignation of its Chairman, Mr Branimir Gvozdenovic who is also a Vice Prime Minister for Economic Policy and Development within Government of Montenegro (GoM).

22.04.2005 On the eve of the 10th Anniversary of the massacre of Bosnian Muslims at the hands of the RS Army, several Belgrade-based NGOs sent a letter to the Skupstina (Parliament) of Serbia to adopt a Declaration on Srebrenica.

21.04.2005 On the occasion of April 22, Earth Day 2005, the local authorities, NGOs and elementary schools will organize environmental actions in Podgorica, Kotor and Ulcinj. Through planting of trees, cleaning of public parks, children festivals and information campaign, the Montenegro NGOs will send another appeal for preservation of the planetÂ’s environment.

21.04.2005 On April 6th 2004 the Humanitarian Law Center (Serbia and Montenegro), Research and Documentation Center (Bosnia) and Documenta (Croatia) signed The Protocol for Regional Cooperation in Researching and Documenting War Crimes in Post-Yugoslavian Countries, a document binding each center to the other and allowing for cooperation on various levels and activities related to the process of dealing with the past.

20.04.2005 This Analysis of the media scene is the true “Feasibility Study” for the Government of Montenegro, and it demonstrated the extent to which this establishment is willing, not only to enter the EU, but to adopt the behaviour in accordance with the principle of good governance. If we judge on the contents of the analysis, the conclusion jumps to mind on its own - UNFEASIBLE!!!

20.04.2005 The least knowledgeable about Serbia in Europe is the population between 15 and 19 years of age, the same group that demonstrates the highest levels of xenophobia. They need education, protection from xenophobia, a lesson in tolerance for the sake of the ‘European” passport. Naturally, without visas inside.

18.04.2005 Everybody seeking an information owned by the authorities has the right to get it, if not otherwise regulated by the Law, says the “Guide Through the Law on Free Access to Information”, presented at the offices of the OSCE Mission to SCG. The OSCE supported the project to prepare the Guide.

18.04.2005 The participants in the “Journalistic Professional License or Certificate” round-table discussion, organized by the Independent Association of Journalists in Serbia (NUNS) and the Independent Society of Journalists of Vojvodina NDNV, supported the idea of introduction of professional certification of journalists in Serbia. The initiative was started because of the concerns in the two organizations over the overall situation in the journalistic profession in the country.

18.04.2005 MANS started the initiative to the Supreme State Prosecutor of Montenegro to bring criminal charges against Slobodan Backovic, Minister of Education, on suspicion that he caused damage to the public interest, abused his office and competences in order to secure profits for the owners of “Cikom” Company.

18.04.2005 Rajko Cerovic, the President of the Steering Board of RTB Montenegro (the public broadcasting service) estimates that “in spite of all media legislation and development of democratic atmosphere in the country, the level of hate speech in certain media is still high”.

15.04.2005 The Mercy Corps Kosovo, MINGOS (Mitrovica Initiative for Support to NGO Sector) and Inicijative NGO from Prokuplje, started the implementation of the “Youth Voices” Project, designed to promote democracy among the multiethnic young population (between 15 and 19 years of age) in the villages of Southern Serbia and Northern Kosovo.

15.04.2005 The presence of xenophobia and intolerance towards the members of other nations, minorities and social groups has been on a rise in Serbia in the past year. Such was the estimate presented at the promotion of the Human Rights in Serbia and Montenegro 2004 report prepared by the Belgrade Human Rights Centre.