Urgent Appeal to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture

Together with 10 other civil society organizations that are part of the Platform for Cooperation with United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms, Torture Cluster, IAN sent an urgent appeal to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Prof. Nils Melzer, on the occasion of the events at the protests in Serbia, and related to cases of torture and police brutality.

The letter sent to the UN rapporteur contains thirteen documented cases of how the police treated protesters during demonstrations that began on July 7th in Belgrade.

In the letter, organisations ask the UN Special Rapporteur to, without delay, indicate to the Government of Serbia and other relevant institutions to take measures to prevent further incidents, as well as to conduct an adequate investigation and prosecution of all cases of ill-treatment during the protests.

Organizations that signed the appeal in addition to IAN: A11 – Initiative for Economic and Social Rights; Belgrade Centre for Human Rights; Child Rights Centre; LGBTI Equal Rights Association for Western Balkans and Turkey; FemPlatz; GETEN; Mental Disability Rights Initiative of Serbia (MDRI Serbia); Lawyers Committee for Human Rights YUCOM; YUROM Centre, Center for Support of Women – SOS Vojvodina Network.