Activity Details (ID# 4797)

Activity Synopsis

The objective of the seminar was to present to judges and prosecutors from the Novi Sad region the general principles developed by the European Court of Human Rights concerning Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and its application as regards defamation, insult, incitement to hatred, access to information, protection of sources, state secrecy and whistle-blowing.

The case studies on defamation, insult of public figures, privacy and whistle-blowing were discussed with the participants. 

The seminar was very well organised. Council of Europe documents concerning freedom of expression, translated into Serbian, were distributed to the participants (Case law concerning Article 10 of the ECHR, Media and Elections and Declaration and Recommendations concerning freedom of expression adopted by the Committee of Ministers).

The experts’ presentations were informative and provoked active participation on the part of judges and prosecutors in the discussion. They were especially interested by presentations and cases concerning defamation, access to information, privacy, criticism of public figures and whistle-blowing. They discussed the similar cases in their country and compared the decisions with European Court decisions.

The general impression was that the participants were perfectly aware of all changes that must be made in their country concerning Article 10 and the Convention in general. They were also aware of the fact that their attitudes must be modified and they stressed that this kind of activity is an important part of this process. 

In general the seminar was successful. An evaluation questionnaire was distributed to the participants at the end of the seminar.

The general conclusion was that most participants had attended some seminars on the ECHR but their understanding of the European system for the protection of human rights and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights was limited, especially concerning Article 10 of the ECHR. On the other hand, their wish to learn about and to apply the ECHR as soon as possible demonstrates an obvious progress in relation to the first seminars on the same subject a year ago and shows importance of this type of activity.

All participants expressed a wish to:
- continue this kind of activity
- participate in additional seminars on Articles 1, 6 and 8 of the ECHR
- invite the judges of the European Court of Human Rights to participate in future seminars
- have seminars on copyright, medical law, domestic violence

Two other regional seminars for judges and prosecutors will take place on 26-28 March 2003 on the same topic in the Nis region. 

19 District Court judges from the Novi Sad Region
12 District Public Prosecutors from the Novi Sad Region 

Ms Ingrid Blaauw, Judge, Vice-President of Regional Court of Zwolle (the Netherlands)
Ms Lucy Moorman, Barrister, Doughty Street Chamber, London (United Kingdom)
 

Ms Lejla Dervisagic, Media Division, Directorate General of Human Rights
Ms Ljiljana Breberina, Programme Adviser, CoE Office in Belgrade