Civil Law and Criminal Law aspects of protection the identity of national minorities in the legislation of the Republic of Serbia

Abstract

The protection of the national minority as a community implies the protection of not only the physical integrity of its members, but also the protection of their national identity. Certain authors in contemporary legal and sociological theory believe that national identity is important for the survival and prosperity of the state and people because the common idea of citizens about their country and its values binds them together into one body. Questions of determining national identity, European identity, as well as the mutual determination of these two categories are very current in the modern conditions of life and work. Identity, in principle, represents a specific mold for the socialization of individuals through which the ability to communicate and interact in the community is acquired. Within a certain modern national community there are multiple forms of identity (ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, state, regional, religious, etc.) that together can create a unity of national identity. The right to identity protection derives from Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees members of minorities the right to a separate cultural life and the expression and exercise of their own religion or use of their own language. The Framework Convention of the Council of Europe for the Protection of National Minorities, by provision from Article 5, requires states to take care of preserving the necessary elements of the identity of minorities: religion, language, traditions and cultural heritage. The right of minorities to identity, therefore, consists of all those special rights that are guaranteed to national and ethnic minorities. In the Republic of Serbia, the identity of national minorities is protected in the first place by the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, as the highest legal act. In addition to the presentation of these provisions, the paper will discuss the Civil Law aspects of protection the identity of national minorities prescribed in the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities, as well as the Criminal Law aspects of the protection of the identity of national minorities in situations where certain rights that constitute it are violated.