CCPR/C/SEMO/2003/1
page 143
UNITEDNATIONS / CCPR
/ International covenant
on civil and
political rights / Distr.
GENERAL
CCPR/C/SEMO/2003/1
24 July 2003
Original: ENGLISH
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE 40 OF THE COVENANT
Initial Report
serbia and montenegro*
[9 July 2003]
* The report is issued unedited, in compliance with the wish expressed by the Human Rights Committee at its sixty-sixth session in July 1999.
GE.03-43251 (E) 201103
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 8
Background information 9
Article 1
Right to self-determination 10
Article 2
Human rights and equality of citizens 11
Rights of persons belonging to national minorities 13
Measures adopted with the aim of ensuring enjoyment of the rights
covered by the Covenant 15
The question of citizenship 17
Status of foreigners under the laws and the existing practice 20
Legal remedies available to victims whose rights and freedoms are
recognized by the Covenant and their practical implementation 26
Article 3
Participation of women in the political life of the country 30
Statistical data on gender ratios of the appointed administration officials and
the participation of women in courts and penalty enforcement institutions 31
Women in police 32
Incrimination of all forms of violence against women 34
Laws and practices affecting enjoyment of the rights of women 34
Status of women in the field of labour legislation 34
Marriage and the citizenship of women and children 35
CONTENTS (continued)
Page
Article 4
State of war, the state of imminent threat of war and the state of emergency 36
The state of war in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, declared on
24 March 1999 38
Article 5
Implementation of the provisions of the Covenant 39
Article 6
Inviolability of life 39
Health protection 40
Protection of the environment 44
Use of firearms by an authorized official in the discharge of official duties 45
Disappearance of persons 47
Death penalty: Abolishment of death penalty in national legislation 49
Cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia 49
Article 7
Prohibition of torture, i.e. degrading punishment and treatment and the
procedure in the case of abuse or overstepping of powers by police officials 51
Treatment of convicted persons by police officials and measures taken to
train organs of public order 53
Control mechanisms to prevent acts of torture 56
Criminal charges and trials of reported torture and maltreatment during
the reporting period 58
Conditions and procedures for ensuring medical and psychiatric care and
measures taken 59
Visit by a delegation of the United Nations Committee against Torture 61
CONTENTS (continued)
Page
Article 8
Illegal crossings of the border of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 61
Trade in “white slaves” 63
Prohibition of forced labour 65
Type of work that may be forced on detained and sentenced persons 66
Conscientious objection 67
Article 9
Deprivation of liberty and detention 68
Compensation mechanisms for victims of unlawful arrest or detention –
compensation for arbitrary conviction 73
Article 10
Segregation of accused from convicted persons in detention 75
Penitentiaries 76
Treatment of juvenile persons 76
Article 11
Fulfilment of a contractual obligation 77
Article 12
Domicile and residence 78
Passports 78
Conditions for admission of foreigners to the country 80
Ways of regulating freedom of movement of foreigners 82
The right of foreigners to seek employment in the country 83
CONTENTS (continued)
Page
Article 13
Laws and practice related to the obligation of foreigners to leave the country 83
Procedure for expulsion of foreigners 84
Procedure for expulsion of foreigners who have illegally entered the country 85
Article 14
The judiciary 86
Organization and work of authorities for minor offences 92
Article 15
Prohibition of retroactivity 93
Article 16
Legal subjectivity 94
Article 17
The right of privacy 94
Article 18
Protection of the absolute nature of the right to freedom of religion 96
Limitations to the right to freedom to manifest one’s religion or belief 97
Confessions 97
Places of worship 98
Publication and dissemination of religious materials 98
Measures taken to prevent and punish offences in violation of freedom
to manifest religion 98
CONTENTS (continued)
Page
Application of the principle of non-discrimination as to religion 99
Procedure for legal recognition, permission or tolerance of various confessions
in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 99
Religious classes (teaching) 100
Article 19
Freedom of conscience, thought and public expression of opinion 101
Freedom to seek, receive and impart information 101
Article 20
Prohibition of a propaganda for war 106
Incitement or encouragement of national, racial, religious or any other
discrimination 106
Article 21
Right of assembly or peaceful assembly 107
Article 22
Normative law 109
Civic associations, social and political organizations 110
Authorities responsible for holding registers 113
Trade union organization 114
Article 23
The right to contract marriage 116
Dissolution of marriage 117
Common law marriage 119
CONTENTS (continued)
Page
Article 24
Measures preventing the participation of children in armed conflicts 119
Legal age of the child 120
Legal right to work 123
Measures of protection of children without family environment 123
Registration of children after birth 127
Article 25
The electoral system 128
Article 26
Prohibition of discrimination 132
Article 27
Minorities 134
Measures to preserve ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity
of minorities 135
Measures to ensure equal economic and social opportunities for minorities 138
Participation of minorities in the bodies of central and local government 139
Protection of minorities from persecution and hatred 141
TABLES 144
MONTENEGRO 155
Annex
Consideration of the Criminal-Legal System and the Situation of Human
Rights in Kosovo and Metohija since the arrival of the United Nations
International Forces (1999-2002) 198
Introduction
1. The Initial Report on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights for the reporting period 1990-2002 pertains to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which ceased to exist on 4 February 2003 when, on the basis of the Proceeding Points for the Restructuring of Relations between Serbia and Montenegro of 14 March 2002, the Federal Assembly adopted the Constitutional Charter of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. An integral part of the Constitutional Charter is the Charter of Human and Minority Rights and Civil Liberties, adopted on 28 February 2003.
2. Pursuant to the Charter, the name of the new State, i.e. the successor State of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, is Serbia and Montenegro and it is based on the equality of the two member States, the State of Serbia and the State of Montenegro (Articles 1 and 2). The territory of Serbia and Montenegro consists of the territories of the member States; the border of the State Union is inviolable, while the boundary between the member States is unchangeable, except by mutual consent (Article 5). The State of Serbia includes the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija which, under United Nations Security Council resolution 1244, is currently under the administration of the international community (The Decision on the Promulgation of the Constitutional Charter of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro).
3. Serbia and Montenegro is a single subject of international law and the member States may become members of international global and regional organizations, the membership of which is not contingent on international personality (Article 14).
4. The organs of the new State are: the Parliament of Serbia and Montenegro (unicameral and consisting of 126 members, 91 from Serbia and 35 from Montenegro); the President of Serbia and Montenegro (elected for a term of office of four years); the Council of Ministers (Foreign Minister, Minister of Defence, Minister for International Economic Relations, Minister for Internal Economic Relations and the Minister for Human and Minority Rights); the Court of Serbia and Montenegro (rulings of the Court are binding and cannot be appealed against and the Court is authorized to invalidate laws, other regulations and enactments of the institutions of the State that are contrary to the Constitutional Charter and the laws of Serbia and Montenegro). Serbia and Montenegro has the Armed Forces which are under democratic and civilian control (Article 54).
5. Considering that the Initial Report on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights covers the reporting period 1992-2002 and contains information relevant to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, that name of the country has, by and large, been maintained to make the reading of the text easier.
6. Likewise, pursuant to the agreement of the competent organs of the member Republics (now member States) of Serbia and Montenegro, the Report consists of two parts. The first part pertains to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia and the competent Federal organs (many of which ceased to exist upon the adoption of the Constitutional Charter) and the organs of the Republic of Serbia participated in its elaboration. Attached to the Report is the Consideration of the Criminal Legal System and the Situation of Human Rights in Kosovo and Metohija since the Arrival of the International Forces of the United Nations (1999-2002), prepared by the Coordinating Centre for Kosovo and Metohija in October 2002. The second part of the Report pertains exclusively to Montenegro and was made by the competent organs of Montenegro.
Background information
7. The former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the present Serbia and Montenegro, is situated in South-East Europe and occupies the central part of the Balkan peninsula, covering an area of 102,173 square kilometres. From the point of view of geography, Serbia and Montenegro is a Balkan, Central European, Mediterranean and Danubian country. It borders on eight States: Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.
8. Most of the countries of the region are passing through a period of post-conflict consolidation and profound and complex internal changes and are striving to define their own place as well as the place of the entire region, in the new international constellation. Although it appears at first sight that the re-alignment is dictated by military-political realities, behind it is primarily the firm determination of the leading political forces in the leading countries to develop the political and economic system that has existed in the countries of Western Europe already for decades and proved its efficiency and vitality compared with other historical social systems.
9. Some ten years ago, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was, according to most important parameters, closer to the Western European integration than any other country of Eastern Europe. Today, it is lagging behind primarily as a consequence of the policy conducted in the last decade of the twentieth century. Therefore, Serbia and Montenegro, is now faced with the task of making up for what has been lost and, at the same time, of transforming itself politically and economically as was done by the countries of Eastern Europe, now at the threshold of the European Union. Those countries did not face the consequences of State disintegration, conflicts and sanctions, including a large number of refugees, and other problems. Also, the situation inherited in all spheres of social life, particularly in the economy, proved to be more difficult and more complex than had been thought. The consequences of the political, economic, moral, and even general civilizational, deconstruction of society that occurred under the previous government have to be overcome.
10. The participation of the international community in, and its assistance to, the consolidation of the situation in the country and its coming out of isolation were very important. Serbia and Montenegro is determined to fulfil its international obligations, which holds particularly true for the Dayton Agreement to which a specific contribution is being made by accelerated development of relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and for overcoming the problem of Kosovo and Metohija. Although it is not satisfied with the position of the nonAlbanian population in Kosovo and Metohija, Serbia and Montenegro is resolved to cooperate constructively with international representatives and address, together with them, the existing problems in accordance with UNSC resolution 1244.
11. Also, Serbia and Montenegro is ready to fully cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Very significant steps have been taken thus far: the Law on Cooperation with the Tribunal has been passed and the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, and a number of other indictees have been handed over.
12. In the circumstances, the priorities of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro are:
· rapprochement with the European Union, with the aim of becoming a member;
· normalization and development of relations with neighbours, primarily with the former Yugoslav Republics, an issue of special importance for the citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro, and the refugees in particular, as well as the strengthening of regional cooperation;
· balanced relations with great powers; and
· respect for, and a consistent implementation of, assumed international obligations, particularly those under international human rights instruments.
Article 1
Right to self-determination
13. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia contained no explicit provision on the right to self-determination. However, Article 48 guaranteed the persons belonging to national minorities the right to establish and foster unhindered relations with co-nationals within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and outside its border and to take part in international nongovernmental organizations, but not to the detriment of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or its member republics.
14. The question of the right to self-determination is explicitly regulated in the Constitutional Charter of Serbia and Montenegro.
15. Unlike the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Constitutional Charter of Serbia and Montenegro explicitly guarantees in its Article 60 the right to self-determination. Under the provisions of this Article, upon expiry of a three-year period, the member States have the right to initiate the procedure for a change of the State status, i.e. for withdrawal from the State Union. Such a decision is made after a referendum and a Law on Referendum is passed by a member State, taking into account internationally recognized democratic standards. Also, it is provided that, in case the State of Montenegro withdraws from the State Union, the international documents related to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in particular UNSC resolution 1244, pertain and apply fully to the State of Serbia as its successor. The member State exercising the right of withdrawal does not inherit the right to international legal personality and all outstanding issues will be regulated separately between the successor State and the State that has become independent. In case both member States declare in a referendum that they are in favour of changing the State status, i.e. in favour of independence, all outstanding issues will be resolved in the succession procedure, as was the case with the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.