SERBIA: Srebrenica Resolution & more – 28th May 2024

Dobar dan from BA! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 28th of May twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

On Thursday the 23th, the UN General Assembly adopted a Resolution establishing the 11th of July as an annual day of remembrance of the Srebrenica massacre. The massacre, which took place in nineteen ninety-five in Bosnia’s east, was part of the Bosnian war with Serbia and left 8,000 Bosnian men and boys dead. Out of 171 countries, eighty-four voted in favor of the Resolution, nineteen against, and sixty-eight abstained.

China and Russia were against because they said that the Resolution’s lack of consensus in Bosnia could lead to potential unrest in the country. President Vucic said that the Resolution risks branding Serbians responsible for the massacre, despite it stating that “guilt cannot be attributed to any ethnic community as a whole.” Those who abstained said that UN resolutions haven’t officially marked many instances of genocide that have occurred in the past.

Wanna know more? Check out Rorshok’s Multilateral Update with the link in the show notes!

Last week, Kosovo police shut down six offices of Serbia’s Post Savings Bank in the four predominantly Serbian municipalities in Kosovo, amidst meetings between Kosovo and Serbia on the Serbian dinar. Petar Petkovic, the Director of the Office for Kosovo, condemned the closures and said that Kosovo’s movie was a blow to the Belgrade-Pristina normalization dialogue. Along with Petkovic, many international organizations did not like the shutdown of Serbian banks in Kosovo, with the EU calling it “escalatory.” The US and the UK shared the same view, adding that they now doubt Kosovo's commitment to improving relations with Serbia through EU-mediated talks.

The closure of the Post Savings bank premises comes after Kosovo switched its official currency from the Serbian dinar to the Euro, after which both Serbia and Kosovo participated in meetings regarding the issue, but ultimately never came to an agreement.

Moving on, Zorica Mrsevic, the author of the Guidelines for the Implementation of the Law on Gender Equality, announced the beginning of the Law’s provision implementation, which focuses on applying gender-sensitive language in the media, education, and science. The provision will make institutions use gender-inclusive language in textbooks, certificates, diplomas, titles, licenses, among others. Mrsevic said that current law has already made gender-sensitive language mandatory, but the new provision introduces penalties for any violations. She emphasized that the provision has major significance because it enhances the status of women in society and promotes gender equality.

Despite the efforts to boost gender equality, women still fall victim to gender-based violence, with the number of femicides in the last decade exceeding hundreds. The Autonomous Women’s Center published the results of their research on the Femicide Memorial platform, where they displayed a list of femicide victims and the details surrounding their deaths in the span of twelve years, from twenty eleven to twenty twenty-three. Vanja Macanovic, one of the center’s activists, pointed out that in almost half of the cases, the victims died in their own homes, with their killers usually being their own partners. She also highlighted that in many of the cases, the victims have previously reported violence to institutions, which didn’t take enough measures to protect them.

Macanovic acknowledged the improvement of the legislation when it comes to protecting the victims of gender-based violence. However, she said that these institutions still failed to do their jobs properly, by not taking harsh enough measures against the perpetrators of violence.

In some news on the economy, the Ministry of Internal and External Trade published that the average consumer basket for February amounted to around 1,000 dollars, which is an increase of around six percent compared to the same time last year. The minimum consumer basket value increased by the same amount, and was around 500 dollars in February. The Ministry said that for those residing in smaller cities, the average net salary covered the minimum consumer basket, but could not cover the average consumer basket.

Speaking of unaffordable prices, the Radio Free Europe portal reported that Serbia borrowed more than one billion dollars to cover the costs for the EXPO twenty twenty-seven exhibition, which will take place in Belgrade. They showed a preliminary feasibility study which notes that EXPO twenty twenty-seven could cost Serbia up to six billion dollars, with all the construction and planning. It also estimates that it will take Serbia more than thirty years to repay all the loans and see a return on the exhibition investment.

Recall that in our last episode, we mentioned that EXPO twenty twenty-seven was a specialized world exhibition that aims to showcase the host country’s advancement in technology and science, and attract and facilitate foreign direct investment into key sectors of the Serbian economy.

Aside from attracting investors, EXPO twenty twenty-seven also aims to renovate Belgrade, with plans to open up six new museums around Sava Square. These will include the Historical Museum of Serbia, the Children’s Museum, and the Aviation Museum, and will be housed in both newly constructed and renovated buildings. Some of the buildings planned for reconstruction are the former main railway station, which dates back to the eighteen hundreds, and the old post office building, which was severely damaged in World War II. So far, the work is underway to reconstruct the Belgrade City Museum, which is set to be the largest one in the country.

However, Belgrade’s budgeting in other areas is not as good. Belgrade had to suspend the procurement of air purifiers for kindergartens and schools. Even though Belgrade was awarded two million dollars for the purchase, the Commission for Public Procurement said that the contract requires more funds than Belgrade anticipated at the time of signing.

Last year, in August, the city’s Secretariat for Environmental Protection launched a public call to buy air purifiers for schools and kindergartens, after Belgrade topped the list of air pollution levels in the region.

On that note about the environment, the works on establishing a trade partnership between the EU and Serbia to source lithium from the Jadar region are in full swing, despite the citizens’ fears of its possible negative impact on the environment. The trade deal has been in the works for a while now, and EU officials noted that there is significant development in spite of some issues that were brought up in the past. These have mostly revolved around the environmental impact of lithium mining, and are somewhat still not solved. However, the EU stresses that it has been helping the Serbian government to make sure that all the environmental impact assessments are dealt with.

In the past few years, the Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto was in charge of lithium mining in the Serbian region of Jadar. However, locals from the area managed to get the company’s permit to mine revoked due to Rio Tinto’s harmful impact on the rivers and the land. Still, the company is working on getting the permit again.

Back on the topic of the economy, on Friday the 24th, the State Statistics Office, or RZS, reported that the average net salary in the country amounted to around 900 dollars, and that the average gross salary stood at around 1,200 dollars in March. Compared to the same time last year, the salaries increased by around eight percent.

On that note about salaries, on Tuesday the 21st, RZS published data about the average salary of healthcare workers. Depending on their specialty, these workers can earn anywhere from 600 dollars to 1,200 dollars a month on average in the country, with nurses being on the lower end, and specialists being on the higher end of the spectrum. RZS noted that healthcare workers’ salaries in Serbia are the lowest in the Balkan region. On average, specialists earn around 1,500 dollars a month in Bosnia, around 2,000 dollars in Albania and Bulgaria, and around 4,000 dollars in Romania.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Quick question, listeners! Do you ever go to libraries? If you do, we'd love to talk to you about them. Let us know. Rorshok's Ourzine project is interested in libraries. Find out about Ourzines on our website, there’s a link in the show notes. Thanks!

Do daljnjeg, zbogom!