NEWSLETTER No. 2

KRALJEVO

On 22 July 2002, Cacak non-governmental organisations denounced the incident that took place at the exhibition of war photographs by Ron Haviv "Blood and honey" in this town, when one of the exhibition organisers, Ivan Zlatic, was assaulted. Centre for Free Elections (CESID), Civic Parliament of Serbia, Civic Parliament of Cacak, G17+, Association of Roma, Associations of Citizens "Independence” and "Resistance", demanded that there be a meeting titled “Cacak, town without fear and violence” on 23 July at the Municipal Assembly regarding the incident at the opening of the exhibition by Ron Haviv. These NGOs severely condemn any shape of exerting violence, intolerance, hatred and creating an atmosphere of fear and persecution towards people with different views as well as people of different ethnic affiliation, religious and political orientation.

Public tearing of daily newspapers "Danas" and "Politika" on 17 July in the centre of Cacak was organised by the members and activists of "Ravna Gora Freedom Movement". The mentioned papers were torn because they are "anti-Serbian, directed against Bishop Nikolaj, Ravna Gora Movement, as well as against Velimir Ilic, President of Cacak Municipal Assembly", stated the president of the Cacak Board of Ravna Gora Movement. According to the information received from the Citizens’ Parliament of Serbia (NGO from Cacak), members and sympathisers of this movement were the ones who caused the incident that occurred at the opening of the exhibition by Ron Haviv "Blood and honey", on 15 July in Cacak. Ivan Zlatic, one of the founders of the Civic Parliament of Serbia and the exhibition organiser, was beaten.

On the occasion of opening the exhibition of photographs by Ron Haviv "Blood and honey", on 15 July in Cacak,  there was an incident when  a group of members and sympathisers of "Ravna Gora Freedom Movement" assaulted one of the exhibition organisers, Ivan Zlatic. Zlatic, one of the founders of the Civic Parliament of Serbia and a well-known fighter for human rights, was inflicted with heavy bodily injuries (his mouth and nose were severely hurt). The day after the incident, even though the police secured the exhibition to continue, the director of the Community Centre (insistitution under the competence of Cacak local authorities), decided to end the exhibition, at his own initiative. As to the frequent verbal and physical assaults on people who have been activists of Human Rights Movement for many years (Ivan Zlatic being one of them), as well as on professional journalists, NGO Forum –Kraljevo emphasizes that it is necessary for Serbia to start a process of facing and probing its own responsibility for war crimes of the former regime for the last ten years.

                Cooperation mechanisms and assistance to community boards – was the subject of the meeting held in Kragujevac on 9 July within the ACDI/VOCA CRDA Project. In conversation with Anne Randall Johnson, Programmme Manager, representatives of 8 partner NGOs from Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Pozarevac, Cacak and Smederevska Palanka agreed on forming Support Centres in the stated municipalities. The Centres will provide technical and logistic assistance to community boards, aiming at enhancing the implementation of the project "Community revitalization through democratic action", started last year in Central Serbia by ACDI/VOCA . NGO Forum and ACDI/VOCA agreed on establishing a Support Centre within the NGO Forum premises at 14 Vuka Karadzica Street in Kraljevo.

Fighting corruption was the subject of the meeting organised by NGO Forum-Kraljevo, held on 26 June at the Social Development Centre LINGVA, in Kraljevo. At the meeting with the World Bank high representative, Miroslav Ruzica, Senior Social Scientist for Europe & Central Asia Region, the representatives of “Resistance” and NGO Forum -Kraljevo presented the guest from Washington with the activities and  dynamics of anti-corruption campaigns these NGOs are conducting in Kraljevo Region. Mr Ruzica emphasized the importance of a more active NGO participation in pointing to the corruption problem, the aim of which would be the encouragement of citizens to become personally engaged in counteracting this deviant phenomenon in our society.

NGO PR is the title of the seminar organised on 23 June 2002 by CRNPSCS, for the representatives of 25 NGOs from Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Krusevac, Trstenik, Brus and Cacak. The seminar was held at the Social Development Centre "Lingva" in Kraljevo. The lecturers at the seminar were: Cvijetin Milivojevic (Pragma), Slobodan Reljic (NIN), Zvezdan Mancic (Blic) and Zoran Markovic (CRNPS). The following topics were discussed: characteristics of communication between  NGOs and media, public relations, communication through the Internet and photographs. The seminar was financially supported by the European Commission.

Human Rights School – is a seminar organised in Vrnjacka Banja by the Helsinki Human Rights Board from Belgrade. In the period from 22 to 30 June, the seminar was attended by 25 secondary school children of various national and ethnic background from Serbia. The lecturers at the seminar were experts from Serbia, Norway and Croatia in the field of human rights. The seminar was also attended by a three-member filming team from Norway, as well as by the representatives of the Norwegian Helsinki Board, who were also the school co-organisers. The Human Rights School was opened by Radovan Milicevic, CRNPSCS Coordinator and Programme Manager for NGO Forum-Kraljevo.

Social Development Centre - LINGVA, is the title of the programme, continued in Kraljevo as of 17 June 2002. In a representative building, for socially most vulnerable category of citizens (refugees and IDPs from collective centres, as well as the local vulnerable population) several project are being realised: Health and psychological consultancy centre; Kindergarten; Computer school and Internet cafe; Microcredit centre; Volunteer centre; Info desk; Women’s workshops. The Centre is visited by over 300 beneficiaries a day, on which occasion they are provided with professional services from 15 Lingva activists of different occupations. The programme is realised by the Regional Centre of Civic Action Lingva-Kraljevo, and the Norwegian People’s Aid from Belgrade donated 130,000 euros.

Within the campaign "Bravely say no to corruption!" on 16 June 2002 the activists of NGO Forum conducted the action of sticking posters and giving out leaflets, with the subject of police corruption. At the back side of the leaflet there was an excerpt from the FRY Criminal Law, referring to punishment in case of accepting bribery and similar illegitimate activities. The action was realised in Kraljevo.