Serbia

26.01.2006 Two in ten 16-year olds in Serbia tried some type of narcotic, almost all of them have tried alcohol, and three in ten are active smokers, show the results of the survey conducted in Belgrade, Nis and Novi Sad in October 2005. The survey was implemented under the Drug-Abuse Prevention in Serbia project.

25.01.2006 OWPSEE’s Dejan Milovac visited the site of the terrible railway accident, at Bioce near Podgorica, in which 45 people were killed and over 200 injured.

24.01.2006 The most tragic railway accident in the history of Montenegro happened yesterday at 16:03 hours, when the local diesel-electric train 6103, travelling from Bijelo Polje to Podgorica, derailed near Bioce while exiting a tunnel, with all four cars falling into a ravine. According to latest official data, at least 44 passengers lost their lives, five of them children, with over 200 injured.

23.01.2006 About 60% of the citizens of Leskovac estimate that the competent state institutions are inefficient in processing of the criminal offence of violence in the family and that the state bodies lack the capacity to solve the problem, report the representatives of “Zenski Centar” (Women Centre) the results from a recent poll.

20.01.2006 The Chief Prosecutor of the ICTY, Carla del Ponte, set July 2005 as the new deadline for the Belgrade authorities to apprehend and arrest general Ratko Mladic. She said in her meeting with high EU representatives, Xavier Solana and Olie Rehn, that Mladic is hiding in Serbia and he is helped by factions in the Army of Serbia and Montenegro.

19.01.2006 The Human Rights Committee in Leskovac received, in December 2005, 30,000 EUR worth of humanitarian assistance, which it has not been able to distribute to the beneficiaries. The Committee claims that the Police prevents the distribution of the assistance, while the Police responds that the problem lies in incomplete documentation, i.e. a missing stamp of approval on one document.

18.01.2006 Does Anyone Have a Plan?, a documentary on expectations and fears of the citizens of the Balkans in view of the coming talks on the final status of Kosovo, will be screened at the Belgrade Cultural Centre on January 25.

16.01.2006 The Valjevo Penitentiary was the site of the first festival of convict art held in Serbia. The occasion was also used to open the exhibition of the “Obnica” Art Colony (the third colony was organized in August of 2005).

13.01.2006 The Youth Initiative for Human Rights and the Social Emancipation Centre condemned the violence against two homosexual Kosovar Albanians in Pristina, December 31, 2005 and the later mistreatment of the two victims at the hands of the officers of the Kosovo Police Service that investigated the incident.

12.01.2006 The Fund for Development of Vojvodina Non-Profit Sector refuted the accusations by the Patriarch Pavle of the Serb Orthodox Church directed at the nongovernmental sector in Vojvodina for its alleged dissipation of hatred towards the Church.