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Activists from all over Serbia learned more about the powers of the police, communal militia and private security
The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy and partner organizations, prepared a series of seminars for activists throughout Serbia. In the period from August to December, over 15 meetings and trainings were held in which about 150 activists from local communities participated.
BCSP Researcher Bojan Elek talked with the activists about the powers of the police and the communal militia. In his presentation, he put special focus on practical advice regarding the conduct of these institutions in situations in which human rights defenders may potentially find themselves.
“The main advice we can give you is to get to know and learn about your rights as much as possible and refer to them when meeting with the police – that increases the chances that your rights will be respected” Elek pointed out.
He added that in the context of narrowing the space for civil society to act and the increased repression of security institutions, it is important to have contacts of lawyers who can ensure protection of citizens’ rights during police actions.
In his lecture, BCSP Programme Director, Predrag Petrović, presented the way in which private security is regulated in Serbia, what are the powers of private security guards and what are citizens’ rights when encountering them.
“Citizens meet with private security on a daily basis and it is important to know that in order for the application of their powers to be legal and correct, they must wear a visibly marked uniform as well as a clearly marked ID, which is often not the case,” said Petrović.
As additional problems related to the work of private security, Petrović mentioned insufficient training of staff and relatively weak mechanisms of supervision over their work, which should be implemented by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Trainings were organized within the project “Defending the Defenders”, which BCSP conducts in partnership with the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM) and the People’s Parliament Leskovac (PPL) with the aim of strengthening the capacity of human rights defenders both nationally and at the local level in Serbia
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