In May 2015 Partners Serbia started to work on the project Privacy Protection and Presumption of Innocence in the Media, within which we monitored printed, electronic and online media, with the aim of studying the observation of the two rights in media reports. An analysis was also made of the activities undertaken by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and public prosecutors’ offices, aiming to improve the level of personal data protection in these institutions, and especially prevent information abuse and disclosure to the media. We hope this report will represent a useful basis for further analysis, both of the situation in the media and of the achievement of the rule of law principle in Serbia, and that it will also serve as an impetus for further work aimed at protecting human rights in general in our society.

The access to information in the possession of public authorities represents one of the foundations of an open and democratic society based on the rule of law. In terms of court decisions, the access to such information represents a mechanism for the realization of the procedural rights of participants in court proceedings, as well as for the achievement of transparency of the work of courts, which can considerably improve the public confidence in the judiciary. However, despite the fact that court decisions undoubtedly represent the information the public should have access to, in many jurisdictions, including Serbia, the rules of personal data protection, which also refer to the protection of personal data contained in court decisions, have been established.

The Brochure is primarily intended for defense attorneys in criminal cases, but also for prosecutors and judges in assessing the justifiability of detention in a specific case. It can also be useful for persons accused or detained, as a practical guide to fulfilling their procedural rights. It explains possible alternative measures to detention prescribed by the Serbian Criminal Procedure Code. It aims at determining whether it is possible to use detention less frequently as a measure than how it is currently used in Serbian jurisprudence, while ensuring at the same time that the criminal procedure is conducted with the same level of quality, without interference, and with the presence of the defendant.

The “Trial Advocacy in Criminal Proceedings” manual for defense attorneys is also one of the results of this Project. It is not a detailed analysis of the new Criminal Procedure Code, but instead, it was developed with the aim of helping attorneys and trainees in improving their trial advocacy skills, such as developing a theory of the case, negotiations and plea agreements, direct and cross-examination, and effective opening and closing arguments.

In many countries, overreliance on detention is a major problem both at pretrial and dispositional stages of criminal proceedings. International standards strongly encourage the imposition of non-custodial measures during investigation and trial and at sentencing, and hold that deprivation of liberty should be imposed only when non-custodial measures would not suffice. The overuse of detention is often a symptom of a dysfunctional criminal justice system that may lack protection for the rights of criminal defendants and the institutional capacity to impose, implement, and monitor non-custodial measures and sanctions. It is also often a cause of human rights violations and societal problems.

This publication contains an overview of the legal framework governing the protection of personal data in Serbia and presents the methodology and results of the research on the implementation of the Law, including presentation of actions of data controllers’ upon Requests for exercising the rights regarding personal data processing, the Commissioner‘s decisions upon appeals, actions of data controllers upon decisions of the Commissioner, the analysis of internal documents of data controllers and undertaken measures of personal data protection, as well as four case studies selected by the authors during the six months of the research.

With the aim of contributing to the promotion of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms, particularly mediation, this publication presents a comprehensive report on the implementation of mediation in Serbia, as well as recommendations for future development and implementation of mediation in Serbia. This publication also includes examples of good practice in the use of ADR in Serbia, one in the field of anti-discrimination, within the institution of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, and the other in the field of commercial disputes, particularly the procedure of consensual financial restructuring of companies, within the CCIS.

There is growing recognition internationally of the need for effective debt restructuring tools to improve the opportunities for business recovery. These tools also are one of the means of tackling the systemic issue of non-performing loans. The purpose of this Guide is to make the CFR procedure accessible to all potential users and to highlight the principal features and benefits of CFR. We hope that you find the Guide to be a useful source of information on CFR and debt restructuring generally.

This Practicum was developed under the “Partnership for Tolerance and Anti-Discrimination Protection in Serbia” (PTAPS) project, aimed at improving the system of protection against discrimination in Serbia and contributing to building social cohesion. It seeks to do so by increasing citizens’ awareness on issues of discrimination and the available protection mechanisms, as well as building the capacity of civil society organizations, legal aid providers and other representatives of marginalized groups to respond adequately and establish conditions for the use of mediation in discrimination cases.

Taking into account that corruption occurs only if the system is vulnerable to such phenomenon, it is crucial to determine mechanisms within the institutions that enable corrupt behavior. We attempted to improve transparency, accessibility and accountability of public administration through implementation of a comprehensive methodology for fighting corruption at the local level, which includes active civil society and implementation of innovative strategies. Bearing in mind the results of the implemented anti-corruption interventions, interest and participation of citizens, organizations and institutions at the round tables, promotional campaign, as well as visits and reviews at the anti-corruption internet platform, it can be concluded that the project has improved understanding of the problem of corruption, as well as citizens’ awareness on the role and responsibilities of the institutions responsible for the fight against corruption.