Serbia

The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was formed in 1918; its name was changed to Yugoslavia in 1929. Various paramilitary bands resisted Nazi Germany’s occupation and division of Yugoslavia from 1941 to 1945, but fought each other and ethnic opponents as much as the invaders. The military and political movement headed by Josip “TITO” Broz (Partisans) took full control of Yugoslavia when German and Croatian separatist forces were defeated in 1945. Although Communist, TITO’s new government and his successors (he died in 1980) managed to steer their own path between the Warsaw Pact nations and the West for the next four and a half decades. In 1989, Slobodan MILOSEVIC became president of the Republic of Serbia and his ultranationalist calls for Serbian domination led to the violent breakup of Yugoslavia along ethnic lines. In 1991, Croatia, Slovenia, and Macedonia declared independence, followed by Bosnia in 1992. The remaining republics of Serbia and Montenegro declared a new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) in April 1992 and under MILOSEVIC’s leadership, Serbia led various military campaigns to unite ethnic Serbs in neighboring republics into a “Greater Serbia.” These actions led to Yugoslavia being ousted from the UN in 1992, but Serbia continued its - ultimately unsuccessful - campaign until signing the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995. MILOSEVIC kept tight control over Serbia and eventually became president of the FRY in 1997. In 1998, an ethnic Albanian insurgency in the formerly autonomous Serbian province of Kosovo provoked a Serbian counterinsurgency campaign that resulted in massacres and massive expulsions of ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo. The MILOSEVIC government’s rejection of a proposed international settlement led to NATO’s bombing of Serbia in the spring of 1999, to the withdrawal of Serbian military and police forces from Kosovo in June 1999, and to the stationing of a NATO-led force in Kosovo to provide a safe and secure environment for the region’s ethnic communities. FRY elections in late 2000 led to the ouster of MILOSEVIC and the installation of democratic government. MILOSEVIC was arrested in 2001 and sent to be tried in The Hague for crimes against humanity; he died in March 2006 before the completion of his trial. In 2001, the country’s suspension from the UN was lifted. In 2003, the FRY became Serbia and Montenegro, a loose federation of the two republics with a federal level parliament. Widespread violence predominantly targeting ethnic Serbs in Kosovo in March 2004 caused the international community to open negotiations on the future status of Kosovo in January 2006. In May 2006, Montenegro invoked its right to secede from the federation and - following a successful referendum - it declared itself an independent nation on 3 June 2006. Two days later, Serbia declared that it was the successor state to the union of Serbia and Montenegro. A new Serbian constitution was approved in October 2006 and adopted the following month. In February 2008, after nearly two years of inconclusive negotiations, the UN-administered province of Kosovo declared itself independent of Serbia - an action Serbia refuses to recognize. At Serbia’s request, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in October 2008 sought an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on whether Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence was in accordance with international law. In a ruling considered unfavorable to Serbia, the ICJ issued an advisory opinion in July 2010 stating that international law did not prohibit declarations of independence. In late 2010, Serbia agreed to an EU-drafted UNGA Resolution acknowledging the ICJ’s decision and calling for a new round of talks between Serbia and Kosovo.

republic

167 municipalities (opcstine, singular - opcstina)

5 June 2006 (from Serbia and Montenegro)

National Day, 15 February

adopted 8 November 2006; effective 10 November 2006

based on civil law system; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; note - Serbia is working to reform its justice sector and harmonize its judicial systems with EU standards

18 years of age; universal

unicameral National Assembly (250 seats; deputies elected according to party lists to serve four-year terms)

courts of general jurisdiction (municipal courts, district courts, Appellate Courts, the Supreme Court of Cassation); courts of special jurisdiction (commercial courts, the High Commercial Court, the High Magistrates Court, the Administrative Court)

Coalition for Sandzak or KZS [Sulejman UGLJANIN]; Democratic Party or DS [Boris TADIC]; Democratic Party of Albanians or PDSh [Ragmi MUSTAFA]; Democratic Party of Serbia or DSS [Vojislav KOSTUNICA]; Democratic Union of the Valley or BDL [Skender DESTANI]; Force of Serbia Movement or PSS [Bogoljub KARIC]; G17 Plus [Mladjan DINKIC]; League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina or LSV [Nenad CANAK]; League of Vojvodina Hungarians or SVM [Istvan PASTOR]; Liberal Democratic Party or LDP [Cedomir JOVANOVIC]; Movement for Democratic Progress or LPD [Jonuz MUSLIU]; New Serbia or NS [Velimir ILIC]; Party of Democratic Action or PVD [Riza HALIMI]; Party of United Pensioners of Serbia or PUPS [Jovan KRKOBABIC]; People’s Party or NS [Maja GOJKOVIC]; Roma Party or RP [Srdjan SAJN]; Sandzak Democratic Party or SDP [Resad HODZIC]; Serbian Progressive Party or SNS [Tomislav NIKOLIC]; Serbian Radical Party or SRS [Vojislav SESELJ (currently on trial at The Hague), with Dragan TODOROVIC as acting leader]; Serbian Renewal Movement or SPO [Vuk DRASKOVIC]; Social Democratic Party of Serbia or SDPS [Rasim LJAJIC]; Socialist Party of Serbia or SPS [Ivica DACIC]; Union of Roma of Serbia or URS [Rajko DJURIC]; United Serbia or JS [Dragan “Palma” MARKOVIC]

Obraz (Orthodox clero-fascist organization); 1389 (Serbian nationalist movement)

BIS, BSEC, CE, CEI, EAPC, EBRD, FAO, G-9, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MONUSCO, NAM (observer), OAS (observer), OIF (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, SECI, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer)

three equal horizontal stripes of red (top), blue, and white - the Pan-Slav colors representing freedom and revolutionary ideals; charged with the coat of arms of Serbia shifted slightly to the hoist side; the principal field of the coat of arms represents the Serbian state and displays a white two-headed eagle on a red shield; a smaller red shield on the eagle represents the Serbian nation, and is divided into four quarters by a white cross; a white Cyrillic “C” in each quarter stands for the phrase “Only Unity Saves the Serbs”; a royal crown surmounts the coat of arms

Serbian Armed Forces (Vojska Srbije, VS): Land Forces Command (includes Riverine Component, consisting of a river flotilla on the Danube), Air and Air Defense Forces Command (2010)

17 years of age for male compulsory military service; 18 years of age for voluntary service; conscription to be abolished effective 2011; 6-month service obligation, with a reserve obligation to age 60 for men and 50 for women (2010)

Serbia with several other states protest the U.S. and other states’ recognition of Kosovo’s declaring itself as a sovereign and independent state in February 2008; ethnic Serbian municipalities along Kosovo’s northern border challenge final status of Kosovo-Serbia boundary; several thousand NATO-led KFOR peacekeepers under UNMIK authority continue to keep the peace within Kosovo between the ethnic Albanian majority and the Serb minority in Kosovo; Serbia delimited about half of the boundary with Bosnia and Herzegovina, but sections along the Drina River remain in dispute

transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin moving to Western Europe on the Balkan route; economy vulnerable to money laundering