OSCE Mission helps Serbian law students learn more about minority rights
The Law Faculty of the University of Belgrade is offering third-year students a new course on minority rights. The aim of the course is not only to impart students with knowledge of relevant law, but also to enhance their understanding of the highly sensitive political and regional aspects of the problem of minority rights in Serbia.
The three-month elective course, which has been supported by the OSCE Mission to Serbia since its conception, was attended by about 30 students from February to May 2009 and is set to take place again next year.
The Mission has offered expert advice for the development of the course, provided financial contributions for the purchasing of course books and paid for the two best students to attend a minority rights summer school in Ireland.
Growing demand
Law professor Ivana Krstic, who, along with her colleague Professor Miodrag Jovanovic, is in charge of this course, explains that it answers a growing demand. "In the past 20 years, the problem of minority rights has gained an increasingly central place in the national and international political arena, and has consequently attracted the interest of students and teachers."
"Up to now, the subject of minority rights was tackled mainly within more general human rights courses. But many important European higher education institutions have responded to the new needs of their students by introducing courses specifically focused on this topic," Krstic continues. "We have tried to follow the example of these European universities," she adds.
By co-ordinating its teaching with other European universities in this way, the Law Faculty is also supporting Serbia's participation in the Bologna Process, which aims to create a more uniform higher education system in Europe.
Sensitive issue
"The matter of minority rights is particularly sensitive in Serbia, since a significant number of citizens belong to one of its several minority communities," says Christina Davis, adviser on minority issues at the OSCE Mission.
"The Mission runs several minority programmes addressing, for example, the social inclusion of Roma, but the question of minorities in Serbia is larger and much more complex. In several areas of northern Vojvodina, Hungarians represent the majority of the population, while in some municipalities in south and south-western Serbia, members of the Albanian and Bosniak communities are in the lead," Davis explains.
"Aspirations for further political autonomy and for wider recognition of a specific cultural identity may cause serious tensions in these regions, sometimes erupting into episodes of violence," she continues. "We want to help to form young professionals that have a better understanding of the needs and problems of minorities in Serbia."
The course on minority rights was designed with both students from Serbia's minorities and the majority community in mind. It addressed several topics, including language, religion and symbolic rights, as well as self-determination and minority rights within the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia. These matters are frequently at the centre of public debate, and the students were obviously eager to learn more about them.
International discussions
At the same time, the course tried to link Serbian minority rights issues to international discussions of the subject. Much of the required reading was in English, and good knowledge of the language was one of the criteria on the basis of which students were selected for the course. "We also plan, with the support of the OSCE, to organize lectures by international experts next year," says Ivana Krstic.
The two best students of the course, Nenad Kovacevic and Marija Scekic, were awarded a study trip to the Irish Centre for Human Rights in Galway, Ireland. They found the course's outward-looking and international approach highly beneficial in their preparation for the trip.
"Our stay in Galway was definitely an outstanding experience. We were lectured by experts who were top in their fields, and the extremely varied, international group of which we were part left us with new perspectives, new answers and also new questions," said Nenad.
"For me, Galway confirmed that minority rights are a delicate issue affecting not only nations in transition but also more developed countries, some of which are well-established multi-ethnic societies," added Marija.
"Respect for minority rights is crucial for achieving a truly modern, democratic and multicultural society. I hope this course will establish itself not only as an elective but as a mandatory requirement, since I consider it imperative that all educated lawyers be familiar with the rights of the minority groups in their own country," she concluded.