Participants of OSCE/ODIHR meeting in Belgrade focus on challenges for human rights defenders in the Western Balkans

More than 30 activists, experts and representatives of civil society organizations from the Western Balkans came together to discuss challenges faced by human rights defenders working in the region at a meeting in Belgrade on 16 November 2015.

The meeting was organized by OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), in collaboration with the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia and with the support of the OSCE Mission in Serbia, and included the presentation of the Serbian-language translation of ODIHR’s Guidelines on the protection of Human Rights Defenders.

“ODIHR recognizes the need to work with human rights defenders across the entire OSCE region, including the Western Balkans,” said Katarzyna Jarosiewicz-Wargan, Head of ODIHR’s Human Rights Department. “We want to provide support for human rights defenders in identifying the best responses to the risks and challenges they face in their legitimate human rights work.”

Izabela Kisić, executive director of Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, said: “We consider ODIHR's Guidelines to be very important for the work of human rights defenders. Together with our partners from the region, we engage actively in their implementation.”

The event served as a forum for the exchange of good practices and discussion on the challenges human rights defenders face in their work, as well as practical steps to address them. The participants also discussed the relationship between law enforcement agencies, the judiciary and human rights defenders, and the need to prevent the stigmatization of defenders.

The meeting was part of ODIHR’s activities to support OSCE participating States in implementing their human dimension commitments to protect human rights defenders and create an enabling environment for their activities.