Full Coverage: Serbia and Montenegro

27.04.2006 The Mission to Serbia and Montenegro of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe (CoE) Office in Belgrade express their concern about certain provisions of the recently adopted Serbian Law on Churches and Religious Communities which appear to be inconsistent with standards set by the two organizations, in particular the European Convention on Human Rights, ratified by Serbia and Montenegro in 2004.

26.04.2006 The language used by the media in Montenegro make the women invisible in public life, in violation of the media legislation, concluded the gathering in Podgorica on the implementation of “Gender Correct Language in Montenegrin Media”. The round-table discussion, intended for editors-in-chief and editorial staff in the media in Montenegro, was organized by the “Zenska Akcija” (Women Action) NGO and the Montenegro Institute for the Media.

26.04.2006 The European Movement in Serbia, in cooperation with other European Movements in the Western Balkans and the International European Movement, protested the announced rise in visa fees for the citizens of the Western Balkans, to be decided at the April 27 meeting of the European Council for Justice and Internal Affairs, in Luxemburg.

21.04.2006 The Citizens’ Pact for SEE and the EXIT Festival call for action against the rise of Schengen Visa Fees from 35 to 60 EUR. They call on all people of good will in the European Union to assist the campaign againt the announce price hike by recording the sentence “No to 60 Euro!” in their own language and send it to not60euros@citizenspact.org.yu.

20.04.2006 The Association of Students with Disabilities greeted the adoption of the Law on Prevention of Discrimination of Persons with Disabilities. Goran Pavlovic, AssociationÂ’s Executive Director emphasized the importance of the fact that the Law now provides for sanctioning of discriminatory practices in the Court.

17.04.2006 The political parties in Serbia lack the democratic principles of in-the-party work, which presents risks to the process of democratization of society and the state they govern, estimate experts in the field of political sciences at the round-table discussion held at the Social Sciences Institute, in Belgrade.

13.04.2006 At the beginning of April of this year, the Labris Organization for Lesbian Human Rights opened its psychological counselling to support lesbians and women of alternative (non-heterosexual) sexual preferences.

13.04.2006 The Belgrade Minority Rights Centre protested the CourtÂ’s lenience towards the thugs that attacked Roma. The Municipal Misdemeanor Court in Nis decided to fine the group of skinheads that attacked the Roma settlement on February 24 with 10,000 Dinars, while the victims of the attacked were fined to 15,000 Dinars.

12.04.2006 In spite of the fact that over a year has passed since the entry into force of the Law on Free Access to Information in Serbia, its implementation has been weak and the citizens are largely uninformed about the rights they have under this Law.

12.04.2006 The Centre for Democracy Foundation, in cooperation with the Government Office for Accession to the EU, presented the publication European Strategies and Policies in the Local Community.

10.04.2006 The Equal Opportunities Association, in cooperation with the Open Society Fund, held a panel debate Towards Information Society on Equal Ground – Directions, Check Lists and Best Practices of Gender Equality. The discussion was held at the facilities of the School of Traffic Engineering in Belgrade, April 6, 2006.

07.04.2006 Thanks to the activities of the non-govermental organizations, the Government of Montenegro and the international community, the status of Roma in Montegengro has improved significantly over the past several years, reports the Roma Scholarship Foundation, on the occasion of April 8, International Day of the Roma.

06.04.2006 Thousands of people, including many Roma, who fled Serbia in the 1990s are now being forced to return home after being denied asylum in EU countries. Largely poor and illiterate, many have no home to return to and are forced to settle in hastily built 'cardboard villages.'