Serbia's new human-rights role questioned
Serbia takes the lead of a European rights council Friday, even as ultranationalism deepens.
from the May 11, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Credibility concerns raised
Serbia takes over the Council presidency from San Marino, under an alphabetical formula for rotation. The Council is not part of the EU. It was founded with 10 states in 1949 as a forum for civil and humanitarian reforms, but now has 46 members. It denied membership to Belarus for "lack of respect" for human rights.
"The real story is how this makes a mockery of the founding assumptions of the Council of Europe," says John Packer of Human Rights Internet in Ottawa. "The question is what is Serbia doing in the Council of Europe, let alone as president? How can the foreign minister of Serbia tell you how to run a democracy? This undercuts any credibility."
Mr. Nikolic, the new parliamentary speaker in Belgrade, is acting head of the Serbian Radical Party while its leader, Vojislav Seselj, is on trial in The Hague for war crimes. Both Mr. Seselj and Nikolic were strong allies of Mr. Milosevic and the Serb policy of "ethnic cleansing" and have championed a pro-Slavic alliance with Orthodox Russia.
This Wednesday, a day after he was elected speaker, Nikolic advocated a new alliance with Moscow and to "find a way to bring together nations that will stand up against the hegemony of America and of the European Union."
In response, the Council of Europe voted on the same day to cancel the ceremony in Belgrade Saturday for its new president and instructed Serbia not to hoist the European flag in front of the assembly in Belgrade, as planned.
US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, speaking from Berlin, said, "We were very disappointed with the reemergence of the Radicals."
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