Human Rights Organizations Condemn Statements by Mayor of Belgrade Dragan Djilas

19. 8. 2011. Human rights organizations strongly condemn the statement given by the Mayor of Belgrade Dragan Djilas, who said that Serbia has greater problems to deal with than to organize the “Pride Parade”.

By using populist rhetoric, the Mayor tries to compare problems in the society and ignores rights of LGBT population, who faces discrimination and hate speech on daily basis and lives in fear of violence. Unfortunately, this population experiences discrimination and hate speech coming from the state and politicians, who should be protecting rights of all citizens of Serbia more often.

Djilas’s claim is a red herring, which implies that the “Pride Parade” is per se problematic and that the state is not obliged to protect citizens.

If rights are defined by the law and if the job of a Mayor is to protect people, as Djilas implies, we call for the Mayor to be consistent, support the organization of the “Pride Parade” and does everything that is in his power to keep safety of citizens unharmed in all aspects and at all times, not only during the “Pride Parade”.

Signatories of the press statement:

Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM)
Regional minority Centre
Humanitarian Law Center
Youth Initiative for Human Rights