March 12 , 2008
Embassy of the United States of America
Belgrade

U.S. State Department Releases 2007 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

On March 11, 2008, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the release of the State Department's annual Human Rights Report.

"In every region of the world, men and women are working peacefully, and often at great risk to themselves and their families, to secure human rights and fundamental freedoms, to follow their consciences and speak their minds without fear, to choose those who would govern them and to hold their leaders accountable and to achieve equal justice under the law."

"Change may, indeed change will, take time, but change will come. As long as citizens around the world champion the universal values of human rights, there is hope. And we, in the United States, continue to believe that it is our duty to support these courageous men and women. And it is in that spirit that I am pleased to present these Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007."

For Serbia, the report noted that the government generally respected the human rights of its citizens and continued efforts to address human rights concerns; however, numerous problems persisted, including corruption in the police and the judiciary; inefficient and lengthy trials; government failure to apprehend fugitive war crimes suspects under indictment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), specifically Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic; harassment of journalists, human rights workers, and others critical of the government; limitations on freedom of speech and religion; societal intolerance and discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities, particularly Roma; large numbers of internally displaced persons; violence against women and children; and trafficking in persons. The section of the report on Serbia (includes Kosovo) can be found at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100583.htm

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