The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) calls on German Federal President Olaf Scholz to use his meeting with Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić to demand Serbia to align itself with Euro-Atlantic integration and immediately distance itself from Russia.

“Vučić claims that Serbia is working towards membership in the European Union, while at the same time maintaining close relationships with authoritarian regimes such as Russia under Vladimir Putin and China under Xi Jinping. Serbia’s official support for Putin’s aggressive regime must no longer be tolerated,” demanded Jasna Causevic, expert on genocide prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, before the meeting. “Serbia’s alleged commitment to the EU must be followed by concrete actions.” Besides Belarus, Serbia is the only country in Europe that has not imposed sanctions against Russia.

Scholz and Vučić will be meeting up in Freiberg, Saxony, today (Tuesday, December 10, Human Rights Day). The meeting will focus on sustainable lithium extraction. For Germany and the EU, Serbia – which has one of the largest lithium deposits in Europe – is an important partner for the energy transition. In July, when signing a memorandum of understanding on lithium mining between the EU and Serbia, Scholz had stated that it was “a good project because it will be developed in an environmentally friendly way and because it will create economic opportunities and prosperity” in the country. “Scholz’s views on lithium extraction in Serbia are questionable. There are serious doubts about compliance with environmental standards. The EU must insist on the implementation of environmental and social standards in Serbia – and also monitor this,” Causevic said.

“Human rights violations in Europe must not be ignored in an attempt to become less dependent on lithium from China. European politicians who are publicly praising Vučić while remaining silent about the autocratic system and the human rights violations in Serbia are giving him legitimacy,” Causevic criticized. Thus, the alarming human rights situation in Serbia should not be ignored during the meeting. Chancellor Scholz should clearly demand the government of Serbia to uphold the European Convention on Human Rights and to guarantee rule of law as well as freedom of the press and freedom of expression. Also, the fact that Vučić is denying the genocide of Srebrenica cannot be tolerated any longer,” Causevic emphasized, adding that Vučićs hegemonic policies towards neighboring countries must be stopped.

The STP and the human rights activist and journalist Dinko Gruhonjić – who was awarded the Weimar Human Rights Prize on December 6 – invited the German chancellor to visit Serbia to get an impression of the human rights situation there. “I am confident that you will realize that Novi Sad and the courageous people of Serbia deserve every moral and symbolic support,” Gruhonjić said in a statement for the STP.

On November 1, a total number of 15 people lost their lives and two were injured when a renovated station building in Novi Sad collapsed. The authorities reacted to the following demonstrations against the government with repressive measures. The civil society is accusing President Vučić of manipulating the public sphere and the media, of censorship, and of having ties to criminal organizations that benefited from the economic upturn in Serbia.