The report highlights mixed progress in the region on war crimes accountability and abuses against ethnic minorities, as well as obstacles to the return of displaced persons across the region and problems in the individual countries.
"If governments in the Balkans are serious about European integration, they need to give greater priority to human rights," said Wanda Troszczynska-van Genderen, Western Balkans researcher at Human Rights Watch. "That includes Croatia, a country considered to be the closest on its path to becoming an EU member, which has a lot more to do to meet European standards."
Human Rights Watch expressed concerns about the harassment of human rights defenders and independent journalists throughout the region. The forms of harassment ranged from anonymous and public threats to restrictions on holding public events to criminal and civil libel suits against activists.
"Authorities throughout the region need to affirm their commitment to human rights and free expression and to make clear that they will not tolerate this harassment of human rights defenders and journalists," Troszczynska-van Genderen said.
Other specific concerns identified in the World Report include:
-
Croatia’s lack of progress in deinstitutionalizing people with mental disabilities, despite commitments to do so.
-
Weakness in Croatia’s asylum system, including an extremely low recognition rate of refugees and routine detention of asylum seekers.
-
Bosnia’s policy of indefinitely detaining terrorism suspects it has stripped of their Bosnian nationality, and efforts to deport them to countries where they face the risk of torture.
-
Ethnic tension in Serbia’s Albanian majority Presevo Valley region, marked in 2009 by attacks on both the police and local residents.
-
Efforts by the United Nations in Kosovo to weaken and undermine the UN Human Rights Advisory Panel, the only mechanism that allows members of the public in Kosovo to bring complaints against the mission alleging human rights abuse.
The 612-page report, the organization’s 20th annual review of human rights practices around the globe, summarizes major human rights trends in more than 90 nations and territories worldwide, reflecting the extensive investigative work carried out in 2009 by Human Rights Watch staff.
More info:
Full HRW Report – direct download;
More info:
Full HRW Report – direct download
