The gathering marked the 10th anniversary of the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade and 10 years of involvement of the parliamentarians of the Republic of Serbia in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The National Assembly Speaker was pleased to be able to address the participants of the gathering at the National Assembly House as the host:

“At the same time, I am pleased to be the guest at the 10th anniversary of the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade. On the behalf of the National Assembly’s MPs, allow me to congratulate you on your work and success so far.

In the last 10 years, the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade has been the initiator of numerous activities, particularly in the sphere of human rights culture. In addition, the 10 years of involvement of Serbian parliamentarians in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has constituted a great deal of our parliamentary practice.

Allow me to briefly remind you of some of our activities:

The Republic of Serbia chaired the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe from May to November 2007, a period which Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davies declared a chairmanship by a country “worthy of bearing European colours".

We hosted numerous gatherings from the jubilee thousandth meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, to the meeting of the Bureau and Standing Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.

In the current convocation, the NARS delegation to PACE, headed by esteemed Professor Micunovic, has been exceptionally active.

In 2011, the PACE adopted 6 resolutions directly important for our country.

The National Assembly is also taking part in the project “Joint Initiative to Support Parliamentary Institutions”, realised in cooperation with the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.

As many as twelve roundtables were held, nine study visits for the MPs and five for the National Assembly’s Service were realised.

I would particularly like to stress the National Assembly’s involvement in the Council of Europe Campaign for the prevention of sexual abuse of children, based on the Lanzarote Convention which the National Assembly ratified last year. The NARS Children’s Rights Working Group pays special attention to the topic. I am sure that the cooperation between the NARS and PACE would become both deeper and wider in the upcoming period.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Today’s conference titled “Towards a Culture of Human Rights: Vision for Serbia”, should point us toward future activities aimed at coming up with the National Assembly’s response to the question contained in the title. The film we are about to watch should help our efforts - "What kind of society do we want to live in?", which is another question for us. The answer we are looking for is: we want to live in a civilized world, to overcome the human an ethical identity crisis - in a society where human rights are measured by the values of the society itself.

The 10th anniversary of the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade and involvement of our parliamentarians in the PACE marks another step in the development of Serbian democracy in our supreme legislative body.

Today’s gathering recognises the National Assembly’s contributions to the development of democracy in Serbia.

Allow me to thank the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade for its cooperation and support in the last decade, and assure you that our side would not fail to offer strong cooperation in future”.