Serbian Authorities' Restrictions of People's Liberties During Pandemic Greatest in Europe

Virus (BETAPHOTO/DRAGAN GOJIC)

According to a survey performed by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute, the greatest violations of international democratic liberties during the pandemic were registered in Serbia, three times the European average.

The author of the analytical text in UK's Guardian daily recollects that, during the state of emergency in Serbia, refugees, migrants and asylum seekers were selectively targeted and placed in 24-hour quarantine, and that reception centers were secured by the military. It is also stated in the text that they were prohibited from leaving the centers and that personnel were denied entry.

The survey has shown that eastern European countries were more inclined towards implementing measures by force, as well as towards misinformation and discrimination, and the most frequent violations were the limitations of media freedom.

The text in the Guardian also reads that certain countries of the central and eastern Europe with a history of undermining democratic principles had used the pandemic to further spread anti-democratic practices. Slovenia is cited as an example, where the  government has introduced financial and legal limitations for non-governmental organizations and amended the law on the environment, within measures for alleviating the consequences of the pandemic.