Council of Europe (CoE) Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) rapporteurs expressed concern over the situation in Serbia and called for a dialogue to ease tensions.

“We are very concerned about the political climate in Serbia, which has recently been marked by a new wave of massive protests ….which have spread across the country and include various social groups demanding accountability, transparency and justice. Protesters denounce deep-rooted corruption in public institutions, which undermines the rule of law, public confidence and the proper functioning of democracy, co-rapporteurs Axel Schäfer (Germany, SOC) and Victoria Tiblom (Sweden, ECPA) said in a statement.

“In this unstable political context, we stress that constructive and inclusive dialogue is the only appropriate solution to defuse tensions in a democratic country. We urge the Serbian government, political leaders and public institutions to take all necessary measures to address the legitimate demands of the protesters and to avoid the use of violence,” they added.

The co-rapporteurs expressed particular concern over the violence against demonstrators by the police or private individuals, and incidents caused as a result of lack of sufficient protection of public assemblies by law enforcement, condemning them and calling for investigations.

“We also support the offer of the OSCE/ODIHR to deploy a monitoring mission to assess compliance with the framework for the right to freedom of assembly and with relevant international democratic standards and hope that an invitation on the part of the authorities for such a mission will be forthcoming,” the statement said and expressed regret for the deteriorating conditions for NGOs and human rights defenders and reports of harassment, smear campaigns and intimidation by the authorities against them. “We call on the Serbian authorities to put an end to derogatory rhetoric and restrictive and arbitrary practices and to respect their international human rights obligations, including the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly,” the statement said.

The co-rapporteurs expressed concern over reports of surveillance over Serbian journalists and activists and urged the authorities to end that practice.