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Announcements

OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT

December 19th, 2007

OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA REGARDING THE PROBLEM OF STATE ORGANS’ AVOIDING TO PROTECT THE PROTESTANTS

Dear Mr. President,

In an open letter which we had the honor to send you on October 3rd, 2007, we forewarned you of the possibility that the weeks to come could bring an increased security risk for the members of all minority groups.

From the lines that follow you will see that today we must infer that competent ministries do not do their job; that the police do not do their job. The reports do not reach prosecution and no charges are pressed before the courts. A lot of citizens of Serbia do not actually live in the Republic, but in out-of-Constitution conditions. They are deprived not only of the right of freedom of conscience, but of the protection of person and property, too.

DISSATISFACTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF VOJVODINA HUNGARIANS REGARDING THE REPORT OF Mr. J. KACIN

Summary: The report of Mr. Jelko Kacin for the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee has been selectively interpreted in Serbia. The latest negative reaction of the Democratic Party of Vojvodina Hungarians (DPVH) to this Report opens the questions of real achievements, negligence, success, failures and risks in exercise of the rights of national minorities in Serbia. As an example of good practice, a cooperation of the Hungarian national minority with the Romanian Government in the time just before Romania joined the EU is underlined. The state of Serbia and the European Union are expected to take a clear stand and a ready-to-implement plan for all possible situations which the solution to the Kosovo status will bring in the area of the inter-ethnic relations in Serbia.

INCREASED RISK OF ENFORCING RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION IN SERBIA

IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT STRAIN IN RELATIONS BETWEEN ROMAN CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS

Considering the status and procedures of registration of religious communities from the point of view of legal regulations adopted last year in the Law on Churches and Religious Communities and the Book of regulations on the content and manner of keeping the Register of churches and religious communities, it could be said that there is a religious discrimination in Serbia.

In practice, the members of minority religious communities are often targets of physical or verbal attacks; the same applies to their churches and other premises.

THE LAST NIGHT’S ASSAULT ON THE ADVENTIST CHURCH IN BELGRADE

After Sombor, Stapari, Kikinda, Ruma and other places, the central Adventist church in Belgrade was assaulted on Monday. A poster with the notice “Sects mean e death to Serbian nation” undersigned by the National Formation appeared on the premises.

In March the President of the Main Board of the Christian Adventist Church addressed the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister of the Government of Serbia and the Ministers of Interior and of Religion by an open letter asking for protection against dozens of assaults.

KOSOVO AND MINORITIES – WE DEMAND AN EXTREMELY SENSIBLE COURSE OF ACTION

Announcement of the Center for Development of Civil Society (CDCS) regarding presentation of the research results on ethnic distance carried out by the Office for Human and Minority Rights of the Government of Serbia in relation to the position of minorities in the forthcoming phase of solving the status of Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija

Summary: after the experience from 2004 nobody has the right to be surprised with a possible unfavorable development of events: it is a must for all the factors involved to follow an extremely sensible course of action avoiding any unnecessary alarming of the general public.

The Center for Development of Civil Society (CDCS) welcomes the researches on interethnic relations organized by the Office for Human and Minority Rights of the Government of Serbia with the aim to strengthen the integration of minorities into the society of Serbia.

REGARDING MINISTER MILAN RADULOVIC’S END OF TERM IN OFFICE

The Center for Development of Civil Society (CDCS) is issuing the following announcement regarding the change of office holders in the Ministry of Religions:

The most important result of the work of Ministry of Religions in the previous term in office is adoption of the Law on Churches and Religious Communities. According to the judgment of numerous factors, including the OSCE mission and the Council of Europe as well as the Venetian Commission, this law contains extremely discriminatory provisions in articles 18 and 19 which should be removed or altered as soon as possible.

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