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In 2019, the National Strategy for Exercising the Rights of Victims and Witnesses of Crimes, for the period 2019-2025, as well as the Action Plan for the first three years of the Strategy's implementation were drafted.
The Public Prosecutor's Office, the Judicial Academy and the OSCE Mission to Serbia continued organizing training events for public prosecutors in 2019, with the aim of improving the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes. These events included the presentation of the Guidelines for the prosecution of hate crimes in the Republic of Serbia, developed jointly by the Public Prosecutor's Office, the OSCE Mission to Serbia and civil society representatives, as well as examples of practical actions of the competent bodies concerning hate crimes, and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights.
Praxis reported a physical assault, in which an Iraqi migrant was beaten and stabbed by a group. The Regional Centre for Minorities (RCM) reported a physical assault on an Albanian-speaking Ashkali teenager; and seven incidents of graffiti on buildings and monuments.
The Regional Centre for Minorities (RCM) reported an incident involving two clashing groups; one incident of anti-Roma graffiti on a building; and damage to a car owned by a Roma family, committed by a person who had threatened the same family.
ILGA-Europe and Gayten-LGBT reported a physical assault carried out by a group on a transgender couple. Praxis reported two physical assaults.
The Regional Centre for Minorities (RCM) reported an incident in which an Orthodox church was damaged, and the desecration of a grave.
SETA reported one incident of graffiti.
Transgender Europe reported two physical assaults, including one that involved knife threats. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Human Rights First reported a further physical assault on four women.
Following a country visit to Serbia, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe expressed concern about the occurrence of hate crimes and called for courts to follow a stronger sentencing policy related to hate crimes, including by making better use of the aggravating circumstances provisions of the Criminal Code.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has, in co-operation with the Commissioner for Equality and the Ombudsman, conducted eight training sessions for representatives of local municipalities on the subject of the rights of internally displaced people, which also addressed hate crimes.
ODIHR observes that Serbia has not reported on hate crimes separately from cases of hate speech and discrimination.
A pilot program "Hate crimes - training for the judiciary," was initiated as a part of the continuous training of judges, public prosecutors and assistant prosecutors in late 2015. This was accomplished in co-operation of with the Judicial Academy and the Office for Human and Minority Rights, with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia.
Eight training seminars on hate crime legislation are planned during 2015 and 2016.
In order to meet the standards of EU Directive 2012/29, the Public Prosecutor's Office established an Information Service for hate crime victims, injured parties and witnesses at the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad, Niš and Kragujevac. Similar information services were are already in place in Belgrade.
On 22 December 2015, the Public Prosecutor issued a guide that stipulates that the appellate court, and the higher and basic public prosecutor's offices keep separate records of criminal offences that are determined to be hate crimes within the meaning of Article 54a of the criminal code.
