Serbia
Progress in human rights protection was limited in 2016. Asylum seekers and migrant arrivals decreased, but the asylum system remains flawed with inadequate protections for unaccompanied children. Attacks and threats against journalists remain a problem. War crimes prosecutions progress remains slow. The Roma minority continue to face housing discrimination and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activists are subject to threats and attacks.
Kosovo
Human rights protections progressed slowly in Kosovo in 2016, though serious abuses persisted. Talks over the ratification of a border demarcation agreement with Montenegro were marred by repeated tear gas attacks in the Kosovo Assembly by the political opposition, blocking free debate, impeding the passage of legislation and halting progress on the Kosovo’s s visa liberalization agreement with the European Union.
A special court based in the Netherlands to try serious crimes committed during and just after the 1998-1999 Kosovo war was awaiting final approval by the Dutch parliament. Journalists faced threats and intimidation, and prosecutions of crimes against them remained slow. Tensions between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians continued, particularly in the north. Roma, Ashkali, and Balkan Egyptian communities continued to face discrimination. The process of normalizing relations with Belgrade made limited progress.
Read more at:https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2017/country-chapters/serbia/kosovo
