Human rights are a corner stone in the process of European integration of Serbia and Montenegro and its general reform process. It is therefore essential to have a dynamic and sustainable system which supports the development and implementation of human rights in dialogue between national and international actors. Such a system consists of the following:

• Monitoring and Reporting. Processes ensuring national and international dialogue between states and the relevant stakeholders with the objective of constant improvement and adjustment of the human rights of the individual as well as the society at large.
   

• Law Reform. Rights from the Constitution and international legal commitment need to be reflected in the legislation of the state. Such a process encompasses a continuous harmonization of national legislation with international and state human rights standards.

The following system illustrates the interrelationship between both components, ensuring national and international dialogue between states and the relevant stakeholders with the objective of constant improvement and adjustment of the human rights.

Both reporting and law reform are a continuous process, which are interlinked and require continuous development. An overall description of the system is given below the model. The system and the different steps are described in much more detail in the Manual on Reporting which can also be found on this CD ROM.

Project

Implementing Human Rights in Serbia and in Montenegro were developed in the framework of the State Union Ministry of Human and Minority Rights Support Initiative, funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by the Danish Institute for Human Rights and the European Centre for Minority Issues with the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights of Serbia and Montenegro. The project developed over a 20 month period (November 2004- May 2006) a mechanism for reporting and monitoring the implementation of key international human rights conventions in Serbia and Montenegro and established a law reform catalogue to harmonize national legislation with international and national human rights standards.