26.12.2014.
Bill on Rights of Civilian Victims of War should be
withdrawn
On 23 rd December 2014, the public consultation on the Bill
on the Rights of War Veterans,
the real needs and diversity of victims who live in Serbia, violates the constitutional principle of equal protection before the law for every citizen, and is deeply inconsistent with international and generally accepted norms relating to the protection of victims of human rights abuses.
The Bill contains provisions governing the rights,
procedures and conditions for according the status of civilian invalid of war,
family member of civilian invalid of war and family member of deceased civilian
invalid of war (hereinafter referred to as civilian victims). Additionally, it
contains provisions governing the status and rights of veterans, disabled
veterans and families of fallen combatants. While significantly improving the
legal status of veterans and military victims of war, the Bill keeps almost
completely unchanged the legal regime prescribed by the current Law on Civilian
Invalids of War (the Law) where civilian victims are concerned.
In its comments submitted to the Ministry, the HLC
pinpointed all the shortcomings of the Bill. The most severe criticism made by
the HLC relates to the fact that the Bill maintains the discriminatory
provisions of the current Law. Because of these provisions, the majority of
civilian victims living in Serbia (at least 15,000 of them, according to HLC
estimates) are excluded from the Law – that is to say, left without any
government assistance. Among the excluded categories of victims are the
families of missing persons, victims of sexual violence, victims suffering from
mental health consequences and physical injuries whose disability level is less
than 50 percent, as well as victims of the Serbian armed forces. The HLC also
criticized the highly bureaucratized and complicated procedure for status recognition
which, according to HLC experience, takes several years to complete and leads
to the further humiliation of the victims.
The Bill is contrary to international standards for the
protection of victims of human rights abuses, which are enshrined in numerous
United Nations and the Council of Europe documents. The current regime of
protection of the rights of civilian victims,which remains almost unchanged in
the Bill, has already been criticized by the UN Human Rights Committee, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe. Additionally, Serbia as a candidate country is
obliged to adopt the legal standards of the European Union relating to the
protection of the rights of crime victims before joining the European Union.
The inconsistence with the EU acquis in this area has been pointed out also in
the 2014 European Commission’s Serbia Progress Report, which states that
"only few victims of war crime have access to effective compensation under
the current legal framework”, and that "assistance to victims has not
improved"
It is apparent that the authors of the Bill embarked on the
procedure for amending the current legal framework with the sole motive of
improving the status and rights of veterans and disabled veterans and families
of fallen combatants, and completely neglecting the rights and needs of
civilian victims of war and international standards relating to their
protection. The fact that some associations
of Serbian victims from Kosovo and Croatia were not even informed about the
drafting of the Bill says a lot about the approach and priorities of the
drafters.
In view of the aforementioned shortcomings of the Bill, the
HLC considers it necessary that the Bill should be withdrawn from the adoption
procedure, and a new text of the law be drafted, which will identify all the
needs and specificities of civilian victims in Serbia and provide them with
protection and institutional support, in accordance with the standards of
democratic societies.
This press release is supported by:
The Coalition against Discrimination,
which includes:
Association of Students with Disabilities
Center for Advanced Legal Studies
CHRIS – Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia
Civil Rights Defenders
Gayten LGBT
Labris – Lesbian Human Rights Organisation
Praxis
Regional Center for Minorities
The Coalition for Access to Justice,
which includes:
Center for Advanced Legal Studies
CHRIS – Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia
Civil Rights Defenders
Humanitarian Law Center
Independent Journalist’ Association of Vojvodina
Youth Initiative for Human Rights
Praxis
Sandžak Committee for Protection of Human Rights and Freedom
26.12.2014.
Povući Nacrt zakona o pravima civilnih žrtava rata
post_nacrtDana 23. decembra 2014. godine okončana je javna
rasprava o Nacrtu zakona o pravima
Nacrtu zakona o pravima boraca, vojnih invalida, civilnih invalida rata i članova njihovih porodica (Nacrt zakona) koji je pripremilo Ministarstvo za rad,
zapošljavanje, boračka i socijalna pitanja (Ministarstvo). Fond za humanitarno
pravo (FHP) smatra da Nacrt zakona treba povući iz procedure usvajanja jer ne
odražava stvarne potrebe i diverzitet žrtava koje žive u Srbiji, krši ustavno
načelo jednake zaštite građana pred zakonom, a takođe je i u dubokom neskladu
sa međunarodnim i opšteprihvaćenim normama zaštite žrtava kršenja ljudskih
prava.
Nacrt zakona sadrži odredbe kojima se uređuju prava,
postupak i uslovi za sticanje statusa civilnih invalida rata, članova porodica
civilnih žrtava rata i članova porodica umrlih civilnih invalida rata (u daljem
tekstu civilne žrtve). Pored toga, Nacrt zakona sadrži i odredbe u pogledu
statusa i prava boraca, ratnih vojnih invalida i porodica palih boraca. Nacrt
zakona značajno unapređuje pravni status boraca i vojnih žrtava u odnosu na
trenutno važeći zakonski okvir, dok u pogledu civilnih žrtava gotovo u
potpunosti preuzima pravni režim propisan trenutno važećim Zakonom o pravima
civilnih invalida rata (Zakon).
U primedbama na Nacrt zakona koje je uputio Ministarstvu,
FHP je detaljno ukazao na sve njegove nedostatke. Najozbiljnija primedba se
odnosi na zadržavanje diskriminatornih odredbi postojećeg Zakona, zbog kojih
većina civilnih žrtava koje žive u Srbiji ostaje van domašaja Zakona, odnosno
bez bilo kakve podrške države. Prema procenama FHP-a, radi se o najmanje 15.000
osoba. Među isključenim kategorijama žrtava su porodice nestalih, žrtve
seksualnog nasilja, žrtve koje pate od psihičkih posledica i fizičkih povreda
koje su manje od 50% telesnog oštećenja, kao i stradali od strane pripadnika
oružanih snaga Srbije ili na teritoriji drugih država. Primedbe FHP-a su
upućene i na birokratizovani i komplikovani postupak priznanja statusa koji, na
osnovu iskustva FHP-a u zastupanju žrtava u ovim postupcima, traje više godina
i dovodi do novog poniženja žrtava.
Nacrt zakona je u suprotnosti sa međunarodnim standardima
zaštite žrtava kršenja ljudskih prava, sadržanim u brojnim dokumentima
Ujedinjenih nacija i Saveta Evrope. Postojeći režim zaštite prava civilnih
žrtava preuzet Nacrtom zakona već je bio kritikovan od strane UN Komiteta za ljudska prava, Komiteta za sprečavanje torture i Komesara za ljudska prava Saveta Evrope. Dodatno, kao država kandidat, Srbija je u obavezi da do
pristupanja Evropskoj uniji usvoji pravne standarde Evropske unije koji se
odnose na zaštitu prava žrtava krivičnih dela. Na neusklađenost ovog domena sa
tekovinama EU ukazuje i Izveštaj Evropske komisije o napretku Srbije za 2014. godinu, koji navodi da „samo nekoliko žrtava ratnih zločina ima pristup
delotvornoj naknadi unutar važećeg zakonodavnog okvira“, te da „nije došlo do
poboljšanja pomoći žrtvama“.
Snažan utisak je da su autori Nacrta zakona u proceduru
izmene postojećeg zakonskog okvira ušli sa isključivim motivom unapređenja
statusa i prava boraca ratnih vojnih invalida i porodica palih boraca, dok su
prava, potrebe i međunarodne norme u pogledu zaštite civilnih žrtava rata
potpuno zapostavljeni. Činjenica da pojedina udruženja srpskih civilnih žrtava
sa Kosova i iz Hrvatske uopšte nemaju informaciju da se pristupilo pravljenju
novog zakona govori puno o pristupu i prioritetima autora.
Imajući u vidu navedene nedostatke Nacrta zakona, FHP smatra
da Nacrt zakona treba povući iz procedure usvajanja, te da je potrebno
pristupiti pisanju novog teksta zakona, koji će prepoznati sve potrebe i
specifičnosti civilnih žrtava u Srbiji i obezbediti im zaštitu i podršku
institucija, u skladu sa standardima demokratskih društava.
Zahtevu Fonda za humanitarno pravo se pridružuju:
Koalicija protiv diskriminacije,
koju čine:
Centar za unapređivanje pravnih studija
CHRIS – Mreža odbora za ljudska prava
Civil Rights Defenders
Gayten LGBT
Labris – organizacija za lezbejska ljudska prava
Praxis
Regionalni centar za manjine
Udruženje studenata sa hendikepom
Koalicija za pristup pravdi,
koju čine:
Centar za unapređivanje pravnih studija
CHRIS – Mreža odbora za ljudska prava
Civil Rights Defenders
Fond za humanitarno pravo
Inicijativa mladih za ljudska prava
Nezavisno društvo novinara Vojvodine
Praxis
Sandžački odbor za zaštitu ljudskih prava i sloboda
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