ABOUT US
Serbian Rights Council
The Serbian Rights Council is dedicated to the protection, monitoring and promotion of the civil and human rights of Serbs living in Southeastern Europe and throughout the world.
Our Story
The Serbian Rights Council was formed with the goal of ending the persecution of Serbian community in Southeastern Europe. Although we are based in the United States of America, we operate throughout the world and hope that our impact has no borders. Our mission is to protect, monitor and promote the civil and human rights of Serbs in Southeastern Europe and throughout the world. By Southeastern Europe (“SEE”), we are referring to the region of Europe popularly known as the Balkans or the Balkan Peninsula. It is comprised of the following states: Albanian, Bosnia & Herzegovina (“B&H”), Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia and Serbia (including the province of Kosovo). The size and status of the Serbian community in each of these states differs. In Serbia, the Serbian community is the largest demographic yet this does not mean that the rights of Serbs in Serbia are fully protected nor that Serbs in some parts of Serbia, namely Kosovo, are not subjected to brutal persecution. In addition, states such as B&H and Montenegro have extremely large Serbian communities whereas North Macedonia and Slovenia have smaller Serbian communities. Below is a table showing the number of Serbs in each of SEE states where they form sizable communities:
Civil and Human Rights
What do we mean by civil and human rights and why the distinction? The answer is in the name. Individuals have human rights because they are human and have the same rights wherever they are. These human rights were codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on December 10, 1948 (General Assembly Resolution 217A), and serve as “a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations.” The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was supplemented by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (both adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966.
Below is a list of some of the human rights that all individuals are entitled to:
- the right to life and freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- the right to freedom of thought, religion and expression, association and assembly
- the right to equality and non-discrimination
- the right to a nationality
- the right to freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention
- the right to be free from any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.
- the right of ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities to enjoy their own culture, to profess their own religious and to use their own language.
- the right to self-determination
- the right to privacy, home and family life
- the right to freedom of movement
- the right to an education
- the right to fair and just working conditions
Civil rights, on the other hand, are rights individual have because they are citizens of the states they live in and possess the rights granted to them by their individual constitutions, legislation and regulations. Civil rights, although they can be similar, vary from state to state depending on the rights granted to both individuals and groups. Examples of civil rights are:
- the right to vote
- the right to bear arms
- the right to have public education in a minority language
- the right to fly your flag if you are a minority
- the rights to territorial autonomy
Support the SRC
Volunteer
Write to us and volunteer for projects such as content production, letter-writing, petition drives, or organizing a local chapter.
Promote
Share and promote this website on social media to bring civil and human rights violations affecting Serbs to the world’s attention!
Donate
Click on the link to donate to the Serbian Rights Council. Please note that the Serbian Rights Council is not yet a 501c3 organization in the United States but is in the process of applying for this status.
Report a complaint
The Serbian Rights Council is dedicated to the protection, monitoring and promotion of the civil and human rights of Serbs living in Southeastern Europe and throughout the world.