On 5 March, the Human Rights Director of the Council of Europe, Mr Christophe Poirel, received the State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice of Serbia, Mr Radomir Ilić, at the margins of the CMDH meeting (3-5 March). The State Secretary informed the Director that on 29 February Parliament adopted the law setting up an investigation mechanism to establish the fate of “missing babies” in response to the European Court’s judgment in Zorica Jovanović.
The Human Rights Director welcomed this positive development and thanked the Serbian authorities for their relentless efforts to ensure adoption of the law, including the consultations with parents at the initiative of the Prime Minister of Serbia. It was highlighted that the priority now should be ensuring the Convention compliant and effective implementation of the law in order to end the plight of parents of “missing babies”. The authorities were called on to rapidly take the necessary practical measures to ensure:
- the efficient implementation of the new fact-finding mechanism, in particular through conducting an awareness-raising campaign to alert possible victims about that mechanism and the 6-month deadline;
- the setting-up of the DNA database to facilitate the truth-seeking process;
- and the training of investigating judges and police who would deal with cases of “missing babies”.
The State Secretary expressed his authorities’ interest in continuing cooperation with the Council of Europe in this matter in particular in order to rapidly organise the first training for judges and police officers, if possible in March, as well as in the establishment of the DNA database. He received assurances that the Council of Europe continues to stand ready to provide any other assistance necessary.
