individually and in association with others: (…) to know, seek, obtain, receive and hold information about all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including having access to information as to how those rights and freedoms are given effect in domestic legislative, judicial or administrative systems”.2 The old Serbian legislation on the execution of criminal sanctions did not provide explicitly for the possibility of human rights NGOs to carry out monitoring missions in places of detention. The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia monitors all Serbian prisons regularly on the basis of an agreement with the Ministry of Justice. The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia chose the most typical closed institutions in their country for the purpose of the visit of the IHF delegation. During the mission, the IHF delegation put together three monitoring teams, comprising five persons in each, and visited eight institutions. These teams visited up to two facilities per day. The level of support provided by the relevant authorities varied, ranging from supportive in some facilities, to inadequate and hindering the delegation’s efforts to monitor in others. During the visits to the closed institutions in Serbia, the delegations were not always able to conduct private interviews with the inmates without being closely supervised by the prison authorities. The prison directors and other staff members were often in the immediate vicinity of the inmates, which prevented an objective information-gathering. Although all visited institutions had been provided with and asked to fill out a general information questionnaire in advance, some of the institutions did not complete the questionnaire. One institution’s director refused to provide information altogether, while some others failed to provide the additional information they had initially promised, or claimed that they did not have some of the requested information. The IHF delegation was, nevertheless, able to conduct meaningful research, and come up with a set of recommendations on the visited facilities and the system as a whole. The IHF will certainly appreciate the comments of the Serbian government, listed institutions and individuals in response to its findings and recommendations, and will be ready to follow up on them.
2
General Assembly resolution 53/144.
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