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(Berlin) – Governments in the Western Balkans should revitalize their efforts to strengthen human rights and create a rights-respecting environment for all, Human Rights Watch said today in its report. Global Report 2017. Human Rights Watch has documented human rights concerns in Bosnia Herzegovina (BiH), Croatia, Serbia and Kosovo in 2016. Concerns about Croatia are included in a chapter on the European Union.
Human rights concerns in the Western Balkans include slow progress on justice for war crimes in domestic courts, attacks and threats against journalists and government interference in their work, and discrimination against minorities. Asylum seekers and migrants face difficulties entering and seeking protection in Serbia, although their numbers along the Western Balkan migration route have declined. Concerns include a backlog of asylum cases, low asylum approval rates and overcrowded reception centers.
“Governments in the Western Balkans should take concrete steps to improve media freedom, protect minorities and refugees, and deliver justice for wartime abuses,” said Lydia Gall, researcher on the Balkans and Eastern Europe at Human Rights Watch. “Progress on human rights is not only important for meeting European aspirations, it is also vital for securing a better future for all in these countries. »
In its 687-page World Report, its 27th edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices in more than 90 countries. In his introductory essay, the executive director Kenneth Roth writes that a new generation of authoritarian populists seeks to overturn the concept of human rights protection, treating rights as an obstacle to the will of the majority. For those who feel left behind by the global economy and increasingly fear violent crime, civil society groups, the media and the public have a key role to play in reaffirming the values on which was built a democracy respectful of rights.
In 2016, journalists’ associations recorded several attacks and threats, including death threats, against journalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo. The government’s inadequate response across the region to these attacks and threats is creating impunity for the attackers and a chilly atmosphere for the media, Human Rights Watch said. Journalists and media outlets also face government interference and unwarranted actions in court.
Progress on war crimes justice in the national courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo has been slow. War crimes prosecutors in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia are underfunded and lack sufficient capacity to handle cases. Despite progress made during the year, Kosovo’s special court charged with trying serious crimes committed during and after the 1999 war is not yet operational due to delays in adopting the necessary legislation in the host country, the Netherlands. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s divided government has failed to make progress in ending discrimination in its political system, as ordered by the European Court of Human Rights.
Roma in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Kosovo face discrimination in access to health care and education and are vulnerable to expulsions. Kosovo has made limited progress in integrating Roma and other minorities forcibly returned from Western Europe as rejected asylum seekers.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups face harassment and intimidation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that same-sex couples in Croatia face discrimination based on sexual orientation.
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