As I wrote yesterday (read here), Serbia banned the gay pride parade in Belgrade. In my opinion, it was a grave mistake and it is my strong belief that the EU should not leave this step unnoticed.
The first reaction came yesterday. European Parliament rapporteur for Serbia Jelko Kacin criticized the Serbian government’s decision, as the Serbian news agency B92 reports:
“[H]e underscored that he deeply regretted the fact that such a decision was adopted because it deprived citizens of their constitutional and legal rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. “Instead of unambiguously backing the Pride Parade, the National Security Council transferred the responsibility for the ban to the police and the interior minister,” Kacin stated in a release submitted to Tanjug.
According to the EP rapporteur, there is no such moment when a country hoping to join the EU is not capable of extending a guarantee of human rights to its citizens.
He announced that he would visit Belgrade to give full support to the organizers of the Parade and all those who fight against discrimination in Serbia.”
Here I would like to say some words about this Member of European Parliament, Mr. Kacin. He, indeed, is a liberal and everyone is entitled to disagree with his positions on all of the political issues. But, more interestingly, he comes from Slovenia, which is one of the countries that emerged in early 1990s, after the break-down of Yugoslavia.
In contrast to Serbia, Slovenia permits gay pride parades in its capital. By the way, Slovenia has hosted the LGBT film festival “Magnus” since 1984. Moreover, the Slovenian state recognizes the same-sex partnerships since 2006. Not surprisingly, the country has a good record in the field of human rights and it entered in the EU in 2004. In 2007, it was the first from the Central and Eastern European countries to introduce euro as its currency.
This exemplary development and human rights record, indeed, is worth emulating. Even by Serbia.
