HELSINKI FILES No. 29

Sandzak and European Prospects

Sandzak and European Prospects is a publication stemming from the project "Grassroots Dialogues in Sandzak: Helping to Overcome Divides and Articulate the Region's True Interests" realized in 2009-2010 with the assistance of the Delegation of the European Union - EIDHR. The Helsinki Committee has been monitoring the situation of human rights in Sandzak for years. Recent developments in and about Sandzak and each and every regime's discriminatory attitude towards the Bosniak minority indicate that the state policy for this part of Serbia has hardly changed in any substantial way. We witnessed repression against Bosniaks in 1990s, whereas nowadays this minority community is being criminalized (the Wehabits case) and the significance the Islamic Community has for Bosniak believers is being denied.

The publication is divided in nine chapters. Apart from the introductory section, this includes chapters titled "Grassroots Dialogues in Sandzak: Helping to Overcome Divides and Articulate the Region's True Interests" /transcripts/, "Helsinki Committee's Workshops" /briefs/, "Sandzak from Regional Angle," "In the Shadow of the Past," "Regionalization of Serbia and Position of Sandzak," "Economic Situation," "Human Rights and the Islamic Community" and "Mufti Muamer Zukorlic: from Religious to Political Leader."