Former official of OSCE Mission to Serbia receives award from Serbian Judicial Academy

The former Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia’s Rule of Law and Human Rights Department, Ruth Van Rhijn, received the Serbian Judicial Academy’s Annual Award for the Advancement of the Judiciary on 4 May 2012.

During the award ceremony, Bruno Vekaric, the President of the Academy’s Governing Board, highly assessed the work of Van Rhijn and her team. “Ruth`s continuous and tireless support to the work of key institutions of the Serbian judiciary has provided the impetus to the ongoing reforms of the judicial system,” he said. “Her personal engagement and the activities of her department were crucial in enabling the Judicial Academy’s modernization, improving regional co-operation in the prosecution of crimes and in the establishment of various independent institutions, including the Protector of Citizens.”

Van Rhijn concluded her seven-year term in April 2012.

The OSCE Mission to Serbia’s Rule of Law/Human Rights Department works on matters related to combating crime and corruption, improving the prison system and increasing efficiency and transparency of the Serbian judiciary.

The award was established by the Judicial Academy to recognize the contribution of representatives from the judiciary and the international community, to the development of the Serbian judicial system. This year it was awarded for the first time. Other recipients of this award are Organized Crime Prosecutor Miljko Radisavljevic and daily Blic Editor-in-Chief Veselin Simonovic.