Serbia

Internal Affairs Sector, existed earlier as the Inspector General’s Service (IGS) of the Department of Public Safety (DPS) within the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia. Inspector General’s Service was formally founded on 12 March 2001, when Police Code of Procedure for the Inspector General’s Service of the DPS was adopted. However, the actual process of setting up the Service did not begin until June 2003, with the naming of the first Inspector General in Ministry. The founding of the Inspector General’s Service of DPS was one of the priority tasks within Reform Programme of the Ministry of Interior, where the function of control and surveillance of the police was defined as one of the key areas of this Ministry.

Internal Affairs Sector is an independent organizational unit of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia, which according to provisions of the Police Law (November 2005), monitors the legality of work performed by MoI law enforcement officers, especially when they conduct police tasks and use police authority in order to safeguard and protect human rights. Head of Sector, who is also under-secretary to the Minister of the Interior, manages Internal Affairs Sector and is appointed by the elected Government of the Republic of Serbia, according to the Law on Public Servants and previously conducted public competition, for a five-year period. Head of Sector answers for his or her own performance and the overall performance of the Service to the Minister of the Interior and submits regular and priodical reports of the performance of the Internal Affairs Sector.

The Sector pays special attention to observance of international conventions ratified by our country which refer to the area human rights (European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, European Codes of Police Ethics and other international acts referring to the police), domestic laws and sub-legal acts (Police Law, etc.), but also Code of Police Ethic adopted by the Government of Serbia and other adopted standards of professional conduct for police officers.

The Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies – CEAS is an independent, atheist, socially oriented left liberal think-tank organization, founded in 2007 in Belgrade. With its high quality research work CEAS generates precise analysis in the field of foreign, security and defense policy of the Republic of Serbia. Simultaneously, CEAS publicly promotes innovative, applicable recommendations and creates practical policy whose aims are:

- Strengthening of the socially oriented, left liberal democracy in Serbia
- Adopting the principle of precedence of individual over collective rights, without disregard for the rights which individuals can only achieve through collective action
- Development of the of the concept of transitional justice and the establishment of mechanisms for its enforcement in the Western Balkans region, exchange of positive experiences, emphasizing the importance of mechanisms of transitional justice for a successful security sector reform in post-conflict societies in transition towards democracy;
- Acceleration of the processes of Serbian EU integration and strengthening of its capacities for confronting global challenges through collective international action.
- Strengthening cooperation with NATO and advocacy for Serbian Atlantic integration
- Strengthening a secular state principle and promoting an atheistic understanding of the world,
- Contributing to the erection and preservation of a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international order, founded on the principles of smart globalization and equitable sustainable development and the international norm of ‘Responsibility to Protect’

CEAS fulfils the mentioned activities through various projects assorted in four permanent programmes:

- Advocacy for Serbian Euro-Atlantic Integration
- Security Sector Reform in Serbia
- Transitional justice
- Liberalism, Globalisation, International Relations and Human Rights

CEAS is an active member of the REKOM coalition which gathers more than 1,800 civil society organizations, individuals from all the countries stemming from the break-up of former SFRY. Among them are also missing persons’ parental and family societies, veterans, news reporters, representatives of minority ethnic communities, organizations for the protection of human rights, etc. The REKOM coalition suggests that governments (or states) establish REKOM, an independent, inter-state Regional Commission for the Establishment of Facts on all the victims of war crimes and other heavy human rights violations undertaken on the territory of the former SFRY in the period 1991-2001.

During 2012 CEAS became an associate member of Policy Association for an Open Society – PASOS, the international association of expert non-governmental organizations (think-tanks) from Europe and Central Asia which supports the erection and functioning of an open society, especially in relation to issues of political and economic transition, democratization and human rights, opening up of the economy and good public governance, sustainable development and international cooperation. PASOS now has 40 full and 10 associate members, amongst which is the prestigious European Council on Foreign Relations from London - ECFR, and, until now, only the Belgrade Center for Security Policy - BCBP, from the non-governmental sector in Serbia.

During the same year, the Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies became the first civil society organization from the region of South-Eastern Europe to join the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect – ICRtoP as a full member. The coalition brings together non-governmental organizations from all over the world to collectively strengthen normative consensus for the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (RtoP), with the aim of better understanding the norm, pushing for strengthened capacities of the international community to prevent and halt genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity and mobilize the non-governmental sector to push for action to save lives in RtoP country-specific situations. Among the prominent members of the Coalition are organization such as the Human Rights Watch - HRW and the International Crisis Group – ICG.

Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) is an independent research centre dedicated to advancing security of the citizens and society they live in on the basis of democratic principles and respect for human rights. In the midst of the Centre's interest are all policies aimed at the improvement of human, national, regional, European, and global security.

BCSP supports consolidation of security sector reform and integration of Western Balkan countries into the Euro Atlantic community through,

Specifically, BCSP probes into the dynamics and achievements of reform of Serbia's state apparatus of force, as well as problems of placing this sector under democratic civilian control and oversight.

Many of the Centre's activities are directed at research, and concerned with raising the stakeholders' awareness of the needs and prospects for integrating Serbia in the processes of regional and global security cooperation.

Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM) is an association of towns and municipalities in Serbia. Founded in 1953 and modeled in the tradition of national and international associations of local authorities around the world, SCTM is an organization dedicated to developing local self-government, advocating the interests of local authorities, strengthening their capacity to provide services to citizens and their mutual cooperation.