Supporting defenders of human rights: the ODIHR and Natasa Kandic
One of the courageous defenders of human rights with whom the OSCE has been co-operating for years is Natasa Kandic, a lawyer by profession and founder of the Humanitarian Law Center in Belgrade.
Introducing Kandic at the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw in September, the ODIHR Director, Ambassador Christian Strohal, described her as "a truly great woman representing the best of what human rights advocacy can bring about. She has been stubbornly working not only for justice, but also dialogue and humanism during a period of hatred and fear."
Uncovering evidence of war crimes
Kandic was instrumental in tracking down and releasing in June 2005 a video showing Serb paramilitaries executing six Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica. This incontrovertible evidence, ten years after the Srebrenica massacre, has been a major step forward in forcing Serbian society and its leaders to acknowledge past war crimes.
Following the outbreak of conflict in the former Yugoslavia, Kandic risked her life to collect detailed evidence of ethnic cleansing and mass rapes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and was outspoken in her condemnation of atrocities committed in Kosovo in the late 1990s. Working in partnership with the OSCE, Kandic also helped translate into Serbian the OSCE's landmark report on human rights violations in Kosovo in 1999, As Seen, As Told, which spread the testimony of victims and witnesses throughout the region.
Speaking out for victims of injustice
The Humanitarian Law Center's current work includes witness support for domestic war crimes trials in Serbia, as well as working to collect and preserve documents and testimonies on war crimes. Such commitment to speaking out for victims of injustice, the refusal to see perpetrators go unpunished, and the recognition of the need for remembrance, are values very much shared by the ODIHR and are at the heart of its work.
"Civil society in general, and non-governmental human rights organizations in particular, play a major role in the struggle against the impunity and for the accountability and justice relative to the massive violations of human rights in the recent past. After the war in Kosovo, the ODIHR supported non-governmental organizations in Serbia and their efforts to reveal the truth about the war crimes committed in Kosovo," says Kandic. "The ODIHR's help is still badly needed by NGOs today."
Facing up to threats
During her long pursuit of the truth about the responsibilities of all sides of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, Kandic has been the target of many threats and hate campaigns, some coming from members of parliament in her native Serbia who accuse her of "anti-Serbian activities". This is a grim reminder of the risks that individuals and NGOs still face in some parts of the OSCE region when standing up for human rights.
"As an intergovernmental organization, showing support for activists, journalists and NGOs who share our ideals is an important way of protecting those who speak out against human rights abuses, and of encouraging the development of a strong civil society," says Ambassador Strohal.
"The ODIHR recognizes the essential part these people play in dealing with challenges such as coming to terms with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. You cannot ask peoples to reconcile when recent mass murder is still condoned or denied at official levels and when war criminals are still at large in much of the region.
"The wounds of the Balkan wars, the greatest human catastrophe in Europe since the OSCE Helsinki Final Act was signed, are still far from healing. Only once the true story is told can people in the region begin to come together again and start to build a common future."