Belgrade, August 2nd, 2012- HLC Deputy Director Sandra Orlović and Petar Žmak, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) Reparations Coordinator, attended a meeting today, August 2nd, 2012, with the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Nevena Petrušić, regarding HLC’s initiative for the amendment of the legal framework for the realizing of the rights of civilian victims of war in Serbia. HLC representatives informed the Commissioner about the existing legal framework, which prevents victims of human rights violations committed during 1990’s by members of the Serbian army and police, family members of the missing, and rape victims, from realizing their rights in the capacity of civilian victims of war. Furthermore, representatives of the HLC stated that they expected from the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality in Serbia to focus on the unjustly different treatment of certain categories of victims of serious violations of human rights in Serbia.
In the Commissioner’s opinion, the problem of inability of certain categories of victims to realize their rights pursuant to the existing Law on the Rights of Civilian Victims of War is complex and it represents a systematic problem, which demands a number of institutions to work on its resolution. The Commissioner stated she was ready, within the scope of her competences, together with the Ombudsman and other relevant institutions and organizations, to engage in the resolution of this problem.
