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The situation for the homosexuals in Serbia

Written question No. 556 to the Committee of Ministers | Doc. 11739 | 10 October 2008

Signatories:
Mr Mogens JENSEN, Denmark, SOC
Thesaurus

In connection with a festival for homosexuals in Belgrade on 19 September 2008 a group of participants were exposed to violent attacks by Fascist demonstrators. The festival was the fifth of its kind in Serbia with participants coming from "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", Russia, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Greece and Slovenia.

I note that the Government of Serbia has ratified the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Protocol no. 12 to the Convention, in which Article 1 reads as follows:

“The enjoyment of any right set forth by law shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status.”

In the light of these facts, it would be of a great interest to know if the Government of Serbia intends to take any measure to:

1 avoid similar episodes of attacks on homosexuals in Serbia?
2 secure equal rights of homosexuals in society?
3 protect homosexuals against discrimination?
4 inform the population of Serbia about the rights of homosexuals?

Therefore, I ask the Committee of Ministers to request the relevant information on those matters from the Government of Serbia and to inform me about it.

Signed:

JENSEN Mogens, Denmark, SOC