Human rights defenders in Serbia including Sonja Biserko, the chairwoman of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia are being subjected to more physical violence, threats, and hate speech in the media than ever before, according to the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) in Vienna, which counts the Helsinki Committee among its 44 affiliates throughout the OSCE region.
Independent human rights organizations report that an ideological campaign against critical elements in the civil society community it is more brutal than at any time in the past, with some NGOs targeted as tools of an “Anglo-Saxon project” charged with undermining the identity of the Orthodox community.
“In recent months Sonja Biserko has been repeatedly physically assaulted; she has been verbally assaulted; her apartment has been invaded; she has been threatened; and newspapers have printed inflammatory allegations that are incitements to violence,” stated Aaron Rhodes, Executive Director of the IHF. “Investigations of the crimes against her have led nowhere. She needs more protection from the police than she is getting.”
On 8 September 2005, the newspaper Tabloid published an inflammatory article accusing Sonja Biserko, among other things, of being a Croatian spy. The dates of birth of her parents was published, information that suggests cooperation from secret service agencies. The article also included Biserko´s home address. Lawyers of the Helsinki Committee have submitted a
criminal charge to the Office of the Public Prosecutor about the article.
The IHF advises that the government is obligated to denounce these actions in view of its commitments to protect civil society and combat intolerance and hate speech.
Since the beginning of the Milosevic regime in Serbia, several human rights and cultural organizations have been under more or less constant attack by media and political figures. They include, in addition to the Helsinki Committee, the Center for Cultural Decontamination; the Belgrade Circle; the Lawyers committee for Human Rights; the Humanitarian Law Center; the Youth Initiative for Human Rights; Women in Black; and Civic Initiatives. Pressure intensified earlier in this year, when the organizations urged the Serbian parliament to adopt a resolution addressing the responsibility of Serbian forces for the genocide committed at Srebrenica.
