The Chairman of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality Dr Muamer Bacevac and Committee members Sandra Jokovic and Stefan Srbljanovic, met today with Head of the Council of Europe Mission to Serbia Tobias Flessenkemper. The meeting was also attended by Maja Micic-Lazovic on behalf of the Council of Europe project "Strengthening the effective legal remedies to human rights violations in Serbia."
The Committee Chairman said that international acts adopted under the auspices of the Council of Europe represent the most important legal instruments in the field of human rights, primarily the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as does the practice of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in ensuring the enforcement of the provisions of the Convention. The officials discussed the execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Serbia and the possibilities for the National Assembly and the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality to be involved in the process of monitoring the execution of these judgments.
Head of the Council of Europe Mission Tobias Flessenkemper pointed out that Serbia is still among the top 10 countries in the number of petitions before the European Court of Human Rights, says a lot about the need to improve the protection of rights before domestic courts. He pointed out that Serbia has not ratified Protocol 16 to the Convention, which allows the highest courts of member states the possibility to seek the advisory opinion of the European Court of Human Rights concerning the application of the provisions of the Convention to avoid any future violations. He also pointed out that although Serbia has signed the Convention on the Compensation to Victims of Violent Crimes, its ratification has not yet taken place.
Maja Micic-Lazovic informed the participants of the meeting about the planned activities of the Council of Europe Mission in the Republic of Serbia concerning these issues through informative meetings that would include relevant ministries and other relevant factors, on the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, as well as public discussions and wider dialogue on the implementation of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms which would include representatives of the National Assembly.
Committee member Stefan Srbljanovic Underlined Serbia’s readiness to solve the problems in the field of the judiciary through constitutional reforms, primarily by changing the manner in which judges are elected and as regards the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Cassation. The meeting also touched on the implementation of the Istanbul Convention through the Law on Gender Equality and the Law on Establishing the Facts about the Status of New-borns Suspected to Have Gone Missing from Maternity Wards in the Republic of Serbia, and ended in an agreement on the framework of future cooperation on these issues.
