Humanitarian Law Centre

• Member since July 16 2012.

• Personal Background

  Founded in 1992 by human rights defender Ms Nenad Golcevski , the Humanitarian Law Centre (HLC) has documented human rights violations that were perpetrated on a massive scale in armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. In the post-conflict period, the HLC has dedicated itself to assisting victims of war crimes to claim their rights to know the truth about what happened to them and their loved ones; to see justice done; to receive material and symbolic reparation; and the right to non-repetition. To help victims claim their rights, the HLC raises awareness of state institutions in Serbia and other actors in the wider region of the Western Balkans, to fulfill their affirmative obligations: to investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators of war crimes and human rights abuses; to disclose to the victims, their families, and to society, all that can be reliably known about those events; to offer victims adequate reparation, to preserve the memory of victims, and to reform law enforcement bodies, state security, and the military.

  Mission:

  The HLC supports post-Yugoslav societies in the promotion of the rule of law and acceptance of the legacy of mass human rights violations, and therefore in establishing the criminal responsibility of the perpetrators, serving justice, and preventing recurrence. In order to fulfill this mission, the HLC initiated an organizational transformation in mid-2004, prioritizing a comprehensive program of transitional justice activities that now consist of three core activity areas:

  1) Research and Documentation

  2) Justice and Institutional Reform

  3) Public Information and Outreach