Holding the Pride Parade is currently the most important issue that can be discussed in relation to the human rights situation in Serbia. Are the members of LGBT community third-rate citizens? Are they the only group of population whose right to assembly and expression of opinion is constantly denied, year after year? Are the state authorities free from the obligation to respect and protect their rights guaranteed by the Constitution of this country?

The Coalition against Discrimination and the Coalition for Access to Justice demand from the Government of the Republic of Serbian to publicly respond to these questions. For a number of years, the responsible representatives of state authorities have been repeatedly claiming that the holding of the Pride Parade is a matter of security and not of human rights.

This arbitrary and artificial political position, which opposes human rights to the right to personal safety, is intended to cover up from public view the correspondence between the political ideologies of those who resort to violence in society and are called hooligans and those who are entrusted to provide protection from violence in society in a limited period and are called the current representatives of the state government.

Neither of these want the Parade to be held because they have already developed their own political animosity towards it. Some threaten with violence, while others claim that the threat of violence is frightening for them and hence they are not able to suppress it.

This very harmonious emotional and political relationship between these two groups is repeatedly established every year, regardless of the efforts of the Parade organisers, demands of the international community, NGOs protests, statements and speeches of prominent individuals, the decision of the Constitutional Court of Serbia, regardless of the country’s legal system, ideas of equal justice and freedom, regardless of all.

The Coalition against Discrimination and the Coalition for Access to Justice demand from the Government of the Republic of Serbia to make a bold decision this year and get out of the vicious circle of violence that gives rise to futile policy. Resist the violence, stand for the rights and freedoms as the basic values of society, bare your teeth to political extremists, you know that you can do it when you want to do it! Otherwise, you will retain the position of an accomplice in the violation of human rights.

Signing organisations:

Coalition against Discrimination
Coalition for Access to Justice

The Coalition against Discrimination include: Center for Advanced Legal Studies, Civil Rights Defenders, CHRIS – Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia, Gayten LGBT, Labris - Lesbian Human Rights Organisation, Praxis, Regional Center for Minorities, Association of Students with Disabilities.

The Coalition for Access to Justice includes: Center for Advanced Legal Studies, Civil Rights Defenders, CHRIS – Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia, Humanitarian Law Center, Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina, Praxis, Sandzak Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms.