The homeless dogs debate presents an interesting phenomenon. The heated exchanges, the arguments, the examples used often shift the attention away from animals to humans, social groups, models for structuring society.
More...The country background papers present information about the penitentiary system in Bulgaria, Belgium, Germany, Lithuania and Spain. The information includes: (1) legislation and other applicable regulations governing the penitentiary system; (2) structure of the system (types and number of facilities, location, management, etc.); (3) statistical data (prison population, capacity of penitentiary facilities, categories of inmates, budget, etc.); (4) studies and reports by domestic and international institutions and organizations dealing with prison-related issues; (5) additional information on the penitentiary system. The country background papers are based on the developed Methodology for data collection and analysis on the penitentiary system within the Re-socialization of offenders in the EU: enhancing the role of the civil society (RE-SOC) initiative.
More...Keywords: Regional Security; NATO; EU Integration Process; Cross-Border Security
Albania is progressing steadily because of its membership in NATO. Since the early 1990s, Albanians governmenta have embraced the principles of collective security of NATO and have undertaken institutional reforms necessary to become part of the alliance.
More...The objective of Regional Cooperation in Southeast Europe: The Bulgarian Perspective is to present an expert analytical response to the political and institutional opportunities that arose due to the institutional arrangements and mechanisms of implementing the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe “on the ground”. The study is the result of a project supported through a grant from the German Marshall Fund of the United States. The commitment of the European Union and other international organizations outlined in the Pact provides a crucial opportunity for accelerated economic and political/social reforms in a stable regional environment and in the context of the accession process. The Pact provides the political and institutional framework of transforming the region into an integral part of the Euro-Atlantic structures. The Pact is a unique platform brining together international organizations and countries from Western Europe and the United States with the states in the region of Southeast Europe. The paper does not provide an exhaustive coverage of Stability Pact project areas - a task completed through various other mechanisms elsewhere – but rather an emphasis of the common approaches still missing in the implementation of Pact objectives, as seen from a Bulgarian perspective. The paper thus opted for highlighting an aspect that could be seen as obvious but whose acknowledgment is not supported by practical measures – the need for common solutions to regional stabilization and development initiated and worked out by the countries themselves. In preparation of the study the Center for the Study of Democracy hosted a Round Table on “Accession to the European Union and the Stability Pact: Obstacles and Opportunities for Bulgaria and the Region.” The meeting was a part of the visit of the Working Group on the Balkan Economies at the United States Council on Foreign Relations, led by Michael Froman, former Chief of Staff at the US Department of the Treasury.
More...Keywords: Albania; Western Balkans; interethnic relations;
Relations between Albanians and their neighbors dominate politics in the Balkans and pose a continuing problem for European and Euro- Atlantic stability. More than a decade after the wars in ex-Yugoslavia first erupted, the so-called “Albanian Question” remains unresolved, with interethnic struggles in Kosovo, South Serbia, and Macedonia. The series on Albanians and Their Neighbors, launched by the Project on Ethnic Relations (PER) in 2000, is a unique regional undertaking that brings together almost every significant ethnic Albanian political actor from the Balkans with non-Albanian counterparts from Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Greece, and the international community. This is a report of the fourth gathering, which took place in Lucerne, Switzerland in May 2004. (Three earlier meetings took place in Budapest and in Athens in 2000, and in Lucerne in 2002.) These PER meetings provide the venue where many of the most critical high-level discussions and negotiations take place between Albanians and their neighbors—as well as with key players from the international community. Since 2000, PER has also convened regular follow-up roundtables in Kosovo, Macedonia, and Montenegro, with the aim of promoting practical measures toward interethnic accord. (Reports on these PER efforts are available at www.per-usa.org.) The May 2004 roundtable was noteworthy for the participants’ newly constructive approach to the question of Kosovo and positive reports on interethnic accommodation in Macedonia and Montenegro. The roundtable also made possible an additional PER effort: a face-to-face meeting in Pristina the following month between Kosovo Albanian and Serb political leaders, their first since the violence in Kosovo in March 2004.
More...Keywords: Kosovo 2003;
More...Keywords: Kosovo 2003;
More...Keywords: Kosovo 2003;
More...Keywords: post-war Kosovo; money remittances; diaspora;
If there is one universal conviction about post-war Kosovo, it is that its economy is fueled by remittances from the diaspora. Policy makers make the comfortable assumption that the diaspora and its fabled generosity will continue not only to plug a major gap in Kosovo’s balance of payments, but also to provide an informal social safety net for poor households, making up for the lack of a welfare state. || This paper argues that times are changing. Remittances have fallen significantly from their post-war high, when they funded the reconstruction of homes across Kosovo. The reason is clear. Since NATO intervention in 1999, migration has swung into reverse, as more than 100,000 Kosovo Albanian refugees have been obliged to return from Germany in particular. Furthermore, the door to continuing migration is now shut, with only the lucky few with close family in the diaspora still able to go abroad through family reunification schemes. As a direct consequence, fewer than 15 percent of Kosovo families now receive regular remittances, and all the signs are that this is decreasing. The lifeline that kept rural Kosovo afloat for the past generation is being cut. This is the legacy facing a post-status Kosovo. || This report contains an unwelcome message for EU member states: it is simply incoherent to invest hundreds of millions of euros in the stabilisation of Kosovo, and at the same time to slam the door so abruptly on any further migration. It is even more incoherent that this is happening to a small society like Kosovo (less than 2 million inhabitants) at the very moment when millions of Romanians, Bulgarians, Latvians or Poles are finding employment in different parts of the European Union. If Europe is serious about finding a lasting political solution for Kosovo, it will need to identify ways in which rural Kosovars can find temporary work abroad. The alternative is to send ever more policemen to Kosovo to deal with a new generation of angry and desperate young men.
More...Keywords: BiH; public law; COVID-19; human rights; Republika Srpska; Constitution;
The Paper examines two main issues: interference with human rights during COVID-19 crises and declaration of the state of emergency in Republika Srpska (RS) as well as number of orders issued by different civil protection headquarters. The research shows that interference hardly meets legality and proportionality tests. State of emergency declaration in RS is found to be unconstitutional as well as number of orders issued by municipal and cantonal civil protection headquarters since they have been violating freedom of movement clause from the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Civil protection headquarters become alienated decision-making bodies as executive failed to supervise their activities. In the meantime, parliamentary oversight in whole country has been a dead letter. Finally, coordination and harmonization of public authorities’ actions in combating COVID-19 has not been achieved.
More...Mach: London resolutions - EVG through the back door // The preliminary overall result of the popular elections of October 17, 1954 // Five years of the GDR - The speeches by Prime Minister Grotewohl and the Foreign Minister of the USSR, WM Molotow // AJ Wyschinski at the UN General Assembly ( September 30, 54) on European security and the German question // The search for "alternative solutions" after the failure of the EVG // The London Nine Powers Conference // The John Debate in the Bundestag - an expression of the Bonn crisis // Dr. Otto John answers the Bonn Bundestag // The NATO maneuvers in West Germany // The history of the EVG from 1948 to the present // First German faculty for journalism
More...In this publication it is presented a series of judicial trainings that had been organised in 2020. Although these events had been planned for implementation in the project countries, in these unprecedented times of COVID-19 pandemic, the entire judicial learning experience was moved in the virtual space. The brochure contains information about the practical perspective and experience of how these trainings have been implemented, and this could serve as a model for future events (trainings, conferences, workshops) on similar legal topics that could be organised by public and private training providers: bars, national institutes for the initial and continuous preparation of legal practitioners, non-governmental organisations.
More...The European Charter of Fundamental Rights is the first formal European Union (EU) document to bring together the values and the fundamental rights enjoyed by EU citizens. The issues raised by the Charter therefore go far beyond legal technicalities and are intrinsically linked with the question of what role the Union is expected to play in the lives of its citizens. The aim of this paper is to analyse these issues and suggest solutions to some of the problems which the Convention on the Future of Europe and the Member States are faced when considering the Charter, notably regarding the implications of incorporating the Charter within the treaties and Union’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). // This Paper, therefore, covers a number of points relating to incorporation, such as the status of the Charter in a Constitutional Treaty, the question of redrafting and amendments to the Charter, the impact on EU competences and access to justice. Regarding the question of accession to the ECHR, points covered include the question of whether the Union or European Community should accede, the creation of a legal basis for accession, forms of accession, the impact on competences and autonomy of the Community legal order, as well as on Member States’ individual positions and the relationship between the EU and ECHR courts.
More...Court is the least trusted Ukrainian public institution. The situation is far from unique for other countries of the Eastern Partnership. In the five years after the Revolutionof Dignity there have been tremendous changes in thejudicial system of Ukraine, key laws have been adopted, new bodies are being formed. Nevertheless, expertsbelieve that out of all the “20 deliverables of the EasternPartnership until 2020” the progress is the most modestin this particular sphere. Why the European experience does not work well in the Ukrainian context and what alternative recipes independent experts have to offer, Mikhail Zhernakov analyzed.The lessons of Ukraine will be useful for other countries in the region where the reform of the judicial system also stumbles over the old schemes or is only being planned. For example, in Georgia heated debates around this topic in February led to the collapse of the constitutional majority in the parliament. In Armenia the judicial systems will soon be able to demonstrate all its glory, when high-profile criminal cases against the former ruling elite come to trial. In February new charges were pressed against the Ex-President Robert Kocharian, his son Serdak and the brother of another ex-President Alexander Sargsyan. In Moldova, meanwhile, another state system - the electoral one – was tested. Experts believe that in many respects precisely because of the new mixed electoral system the parliamentary elections in the country did not bring the long-awaited peace. Neither single party won a majority, and no matter what the coalition will look like, Moldova remains in a precarious position. The Belarusian president is still preparing for the upcoming elections, again openly relying largely on security forces and offering citizens a simple social contract: independence in exchange for loyalty. In Ukraine, the elections are already around the corner. This time they will be held without Russian observers. The respective law to ensure it was adopted in February. In the meantime, before voting for the president of the country, the authorities received a powerful blow to their reputation: journalists unveiled corruption in defense. Whether this information will influence the choice of Ukrainians will become clear at the end of March. //// CONTENT: “New Armenia” nears one-year mark // Azerbaijan: Inflation rate on the rise // Belarus: Preparation for elections and “freezing” of integration with Russia // Georgia: $17 mn banking scandal // Moldova: Elections are over, what’s next? // Ukraine: Economic calm and political storm // Analytica: Major trends in Moldova’s parliamentary election // Can Ukrainian courts break the curse of the least trusted institution?Court is the least trusted Ukrainian public institution. The situation is far from unique for other countries of the Eastern Partnership. In the five years after the Revolution of Dignity there have been tremendous changes in the judicial system of Ukraine, key laws have been adopted, new bodies are being formed. Nevertheless, experts believe that out of all the “20 deliverables of the Eastern Partnership until 2020” the progress is the most modest in this particular sphere. Why the European experience does not work well in the Ukrainian context and what alternative recipes independent experts have to offer, Mikhail Zhernakov analyzed. The lessons of Ukraine will be useful for other countries in the region where the reform of the judicial system also stumbles over the old schemes or is only being planned. For example, in Georgia heated debates around this topic in February led to the collapse of the constitutional majority in the parliament. In Armenia the judicial systems will soon be able to demonstrate all its glory, when high-profile criminal cases against the former ruling elite come to trial. In February new charges were pressed against the Ex-President Robert Kocharian, his son Serdak and the brother of another ex-President Alexander Sargsyan. In Moldova, meanwhile, another state system - the electoral one – was tested. Experts believe that in many respects precisely because of the new mixed electoral system the parliamentary elections in the country did not bring the long-awaited peace. Neither single party won a majority, and no matter what the coalition will look like, Moldova remains in a precarious position. The Belarusian president is still preparing for the upcoming elections, again openly relying largely on security forces and offering citizens a simple social contract: independence in exchange for loyalty. In Ukraine, the elections are already around the corner. This time they will be held without Russian observers. The respective law to ensure it was adopted in February. In the meantime, before voting for the president of the country, the authorities received a powerful blow to their reputation: journalists unveiled corruption in defense. Whether this information will influence the choice of Ukrainians will become clear at the end of March. //// CONTENT: “New Armenia” nears one-year mark // Azerbaijan: Inflation rate on the rise // Belarus: Preparation for elections and “freezing” of integration with Russia // Georgia: $17 mn banking scandal // Moldova: Elections are over, what’s next? // Ukraine: Economic calm and political storm // Analytica: Major trends in Moldova’s parliamentary election // Can Ukrainian courts break the curse of the least trusted institution?
More...Keywords: Ethnic minorities in Romania; Roma-Gypsies and education; inter-ethnic relations; Socio-economic research; job-market for minorities;
The present article aims at presenting shortly the results and preliminary conclusions of a research undertaken in an ethnically mixed locality in the North-Western region of Romania. The research questions were focused mainly on interethnic relations and on socio-economic topics. The economic activities of the Roma represent the extension of the principal activities of the majority. To see what exactly the activities of the Roma are, we will focus on the relation between Roma and other ethnic groups. We will try to understand what the main characteristics of these relationships are and what the rules of these relationships are, if there are any. Afterwards, we will try to describe and to analyse two of survival strategies of the Roma. At first sight the presence of the institution of godfatherness among the Roma and Gadjo seemed to be just an “innate” characteristics of the historically peaceful multiethnic community, but later this proved to be just the surface. The second strategy, called “the List”, is also a constitutive element of the survival strategies of the Roma, although in this case not the Roma are the initiators of it. Finally, we will focus our attention on the problem of trust which is the connecting element of all informal strategies and through which we will be able to understand better the characteristics of the relation between Roma and non-Roma. The question of education is a crucial one, as the low presence of the Roma population on the formal job-market is partly due to their low educational level. The last chapters discuss the problem of school-attending of the Roma children in the studied community.
More...Keywords: BiH; public institutions; internet; policies; practices;
Freedom of Access to Information Laws in Bosnia and Herzegovina do not contain provisions on the publishing of public information online, which impedes the development of proactive transparency of public institutions. Moreover, different sector laws and special policies, as well as guidelines and recommendations that pertain to the maintenance of websites of public institutions, partially oblige public bodies to publish certain types of information on the Internet. Such a fragmented legal framework for online information disclosure leads to uneven and undeveloped practice of web presence and transparency of public institutions in BiH. It is of key importance to improve the existing Freedom of Access to Information Laws by introducing provisions on mandatory proactive disclosure of a wide spectrum of information on the websites of public institutions, and operationalize such disclosure further in bylaws on the development and maintenance of official websites.
More...Keywords: BiH; discrimination; protection; NGO; civil society; role; importance;
Usvajanjem Zakona o zabrani diskriminacije (u daljnjem tekstu: ZZD) u julu 2009. godine dopunjen je postojeći antidiskriminacioni okvir u Bosni i Herce govini. Time se i Bosna i Hercegovina priključila širokom krugu država koje eliminaciju diskriminacije nastoje da obezbijede kroz usvajanje sveobuhvatnog antidiskriminacionog zakonodavstva kojim se omogućava sudska zaštita od diskriminacije počinjene kako od države i njenih organa tako i od privatnih lica. Ovaj značajni zakon, pored ostalog, prepoznaje važnu ulogu koju nevladine organizacije mogu da odigraju na polju borbe protiv diskriminacije priznajući im, između ostalog, i određene procesne uloge u sudskom postupku za zaštitu od diskriminacije. Na međunarodnom i komparativnom planu, kao jedna od najznačajnijih aktivnosti nevladinih organizacija na polju borbe protiv diskriminacije ističe se njihova uloga u postupcima za zaštitu od diskriminacije. Razlog davanja mogućnosti organizacijama civilnog društva da učestvuju u postupcima za zaštitu od diskriminacije, u suštini, leži u činjenici da suzbijanje diskriminacije predstavlja djelatnost od javnog interesa, te da svaki dobro uređen sistem za zaštitu od diskriminacije treba da sadrži različite modalitete učešća nevladinih organizacija u postupcima za zaštitu od diskriminacije. Stoga djelovanje NVO-a u postupcima za zaštitu od diskriminacije možemo označiti kao specifičan vid parničenja u javnom interesu. Poseban značaj NVO-ima u ovom domenu, barem u zemljama Evropske unije, dale su direktive u oblasti diskriminacije, koje od država zahtijevaju da u svojim pravnim sistemima, u cilju obezbjeđivanja što efikasnije zaštite od diskriminacije, omoguće nevladinim organizacijama da djeluju u ime žrtava diskriminacije ili kao podrška ovim osobama u postupcima povodom zaštite od diskriminacije. Ove procesne uloge nevladinih organizacija su različito regulisane u različitim pravnim sistemima. Ipak, kao moguće oblike djelovanja nevladinih organizacija u ime žrtve generalno možemo da izdvojimo podnošenje tužbe u ime i za račun žrtve – dakle, pravno zastupanje, mogućnost pojavljivanja nevladine organizacije kao sutužioca uz žrtvu ili, pak, kao samostalnog nosioca tužbe uz pristanak žrtve. Pored navedenog, kao specifičan način djelovanja za račun žrtava diskriminacije izdvajaju se aktivnosti nevladinih organizacija u pravcu podnošenja kolektivne ili grupne tužbe. Veoma važan oblik podrške žrtvama diskriminacije u postupcima povodom diskriminacije svakako je i učešće organizacija civilnog društva kao umješača u postupku na strani žrtve ili, pak, kao prijatelja suda (amici curiae). Na kraju, jedan od ključnih doprinosa nevladinih organizacija u oblasti borbe protiv diskriminacije nesumnjivo je i njihova uloga u takozvanim strateškim parnicama pokrenutim radi obezbjeđenja podrške implementaciji antidiskriminacionih zakona ili rasvjetljavanju različitih koncepata sadržanih u antidiskriminacionom pravu. Imajući u vidu navedeno, ovaj izvještaj nastoji da analizira postojeća zakonska rješenja u svjetlu komparativnih iskustava te da ukaže na prepreke koje stoje na putu aktivnijem angažmanu nevladinih organizacija u sudskim postupcima za zaštitu od diskriminacije. Pored toga, izvještaj nastoji da ponudi određena rješenja koja bi dodatno motivisala nevladine organizacije da aktivno koriste procesne uloge koje su im dodijeljene ZZD-om, a u najboljem interesu žrtava diskriminacije. Izvještaj je prevashodno zasnovan na sekundarnom, komparativnom istraživanju fokusiranom na ulogu, aktivnosti i najbolju praksu organizacija civilnog društva u sudskom postupku zaštite od diskriminacije. Pored toga, analizirana su relevantna zakonska rješenja koja se tiču procesne uloge nevladinih organizacija u sudskom postupku zaštite od diskriminacije, kao i prve presude u predmetima diskriminacije u Bosni i Hercegovini. Analiza usvojenih zakonskih rješenja u Bosni i Hercegovini je izvršena u svjetlu komparativnih iskustava, prije svega iskustava zemalja u okruženju, s obzirom na to da upravo one sa Bosnom i Hercegovinom dijele sličnu pravnu tradiciju i slične probleme, ali i zemalja Evropske unije kojima se Bosna i Hercegovina nastoji pridružiti. Analiza je obuhvatila i druge slučajeve kada je to bilo potrebno radi odgovora na konkretna pitanja. Na kraju, konsultovani su i dostupni izvori o aktuelnom stanju u nevladinom sektoru u Bosni i Hercegovini, sa posebnim fokusom na organizacije koje se bave zaštitom ljudskih prava. U svom prvom dijelu, ovaj izvještaj analizira rješenja predviđena Zakonom o zabrani diskriminacije Bosne i Hercegovine u pogledu procesne uloge nevladinih organizacija u postupku antidiskriminacione zaštite. Drugi dio se fokusira na prepreke koje organizacijama civilnog društva onemogućavaju da se aktivnije uključe u sudske postupke za zaštitu od diskriminacije. Kroz pregled komparativnih iskustava, nastoji se ukazati na najvažnije uslove i kriterije za efikasno korišćenje opcije učešća nevladinih organizacija u postupku antidiskriminacione zaštite u Bosni i Hercegovini. Konačno, u zaključnim razmatranjima sumiraju se zapažanja ove analize te formulišu određene preporuke u pogledu zakonodavnih i praktičnih rješenja u ovoj oblasti u Bosni i Hercegovini.
More...Keywords: Western Balkans; war in Ukraine; politics; security; foreign policy; EU; NATO pressence;
Numerous talks and diplomatic efforts have been launched in the past year to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, which intensified with the accumulation of Russian military forces near their shared border, but Putin has nevertheless opted for a classic military-political subjugation of Ukraine. After recognizing the renegade regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, he launched what is in fact the largest military offensive in Europe since World War II. Although Russia has been engaged in an unofficial conflict since Ukraine’s first democratic revolution in 2004, and in an open war with the country since 2014, there had been no military escalations since the end of 2015 (except for minor breaches of the ceasefire which the OSCE has duly recorded). The conflict in Ukraine was almost “forgotten”; the Minsk agreements were mentioned on the eve of major world political events; the West tolerated the occupied and annexed territory of Ukraine by Russia as if it were a natural force majeure, and its sanctions and other responses were overly lukewarm and inconsistent. Moreover the West, especially Angela Merkel’s government, has continued to trade with the Russian regime and actively contribute to the Kremlin’s economic and political goals.
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