What is Belgrade Forum ?

Belgrade Forum is an independent, non-partisan and non-profit association of citizens. It commenced the work in March 2000 by organizing the first International Conference on “International Relations at the Beginning of a New Century” in Belgrade. In nine years, the Forum has organized dozens of international and national conferences, public tribunes and round tables, published more than 30 books and publications, and established cooperation with a number of peer organizations in the country and abroad.
The objectives of Belgrade Forum are promotion of ideas of peace, cooperation, development, equality of nations, states, and people; advocating observance of social, economic, civil, and other human tights; fight against terrorism and separatism and against any form of discrimination and dominance. Belgrade Forum supports peaceful and just resolution of all disputes, observance of the international law, and in particular the respect for the United Nations Charter, and the right of all countries, big or small, to their sovereign right in their natural resources.

What Is It That the Forum Does ?

Belgrade Forum remains a small-scale organization. At present, it consists of some 350 members. These are mainly intellectuals from the country and Diaspora. The Forum’s membership comprises academicians, professors, diplomats, journalists, publicists, economists, engineers, writers, artists, entrepreneurs, publishers, military analysts, etc.
Belgrade Forum closely follows and analyzes political, economic, social, security and other major processes and problems, domestic and international. It organizes public tribunes, conferences and round tables. The Forum participates in international conferences abroad, where it brings the attention of the European and global public to the problems in Serbia and in the Balkans, such as the problem of Kosovo and Metohija, international organized crime and terrorism. It publishes the works of its analysts as volumes, bulletins, press releases. Some thirty published books cover topics such as: development strategy in volatile conditions and privatization; Kosovo and Metohija (four volumes and several press releases); autonomy of Vojvodina; international terrorism; refugees, displaced people and missing persons; relations between Serbia and Montenegro; the Constitutional Charter of the State Union (two volumes); Euro-Atlantic integrations;  foreign policy strategy; intellectuals and reality in Serbia; national and state priorities, the ICTY; lustration in Serbia; Diaspora – Motherland bridges; etc.
The members of Belgrade Forum maintain that any international and domestic problems should be resolved by peaceful and political methods, and through dialogue. The Forum supports good neighborly relations based upon equality and full reciprocity, as well as the integration processes in the region and in Europe. It holds that observance of the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, equality and refraining from interfering into internal affairs of other countries continue to be the fundamental presumptions of peace, stability and progress, and that the globalization in international affairs does not abolish the value of the above principles. These values are important not only for big and powerful states which often invoke them; these are also important for small and underdeveloped countries. Observance of these values constitutes the barrier to prevent neo-colonialism.

Equality instead of Hierarchy

Internal democracy is inconceivable without democracy in international affairs, and vice versa. It would be a sad future for the mankind if internal one should be based on the principle of hierarchy instead of the principle of democracy! As early as at the low-level economic, technologic, democratic and cultural development, the society chose to discard rubber-stamping and dictate as the means of the retrograde politics. Certainly, there is no rationale to revive such theories and efforts, such as, for instance, is the theory on “limited sovereignty” and the like. For example, which Western European or North American country would accept an open interfering in its electoral process in the name of globalization and “new notions of sovereignty and territorial integrity”?
The Forum promotes unreserved respect for fundamental human rights, such as the right to life, freedom of movement, right to health, education, and employment, freedom of faith, thought and association, as well as for all the other rights set forth under the instruments of the UN, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe. Belgrade Forum strongly condemns any discrimination and double standards, be it in the area of human rights or any other areas, and endorses full observance of both international and national law. The Forum supports fight against international organized crime under the patronage of the UN, efforts in eradication of the root causes of terrorism and equal treatment for all sorts of terrorism, notwithstanding if it, in a given case, affects the interests of a big or of a small country.

Kosmet – Autonomy Pursuant to International Standards

Status of Kosovo and Metohija, in the opinion of Belgrade Forum, can be justly resolved only in pursuit of consistent implementation of the provisions of UNSCR 1244 (1999) and the Kumanovo Agreement, and in full compliance with the principles incorporated in the OSCE Helsinki Final Act, the United Nations Charter, and the Paris Charter. This implies acknowledging the fact that Kosovo and Metohija is an integral part of the Serbian state territory, within which it may have extensive autonomy. Prior to any initiation of the talks on the elements of extensive autonomy, it will be necessary to implement the basic segments of the mandate specified by the UNSCR 1244 (1999) comprising the following: factual security for all Serbs and other members of non-Albanian communities living in Kosovo and Metohija; free, secure and dignified return to the Province of some 250,000 Serbs and non-Albanians who have been expelled in the ethnic cleansing campaign after June 1999; safeguards for the freedom of movement; construction and reconstruction of some 150 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries and of some 50,000 homes destroyed and/or burnt over the same timeframe; disarmament and dissolution of the terrorist KLA no matter under which name it operates at present; revealing the destiny of several thousands missing persons in the same period of time; bringing all perpetrators of crimes to justice; gathering and decommissioning illegal weapons hidden in illicit storages or by individuals; disrupting channels of illegal arms imports in Kosovo and Metohija; expelling foreigners who have illegally established in the Province coming from the neighboring countries; reinstating in the Province Serbian police and military staff as foreseen under UNSCR 1244 (1999) and its Annexes and under the Kumanovo Agreement; and establishing effective control on borders with Albania and Macedonia with participation of the Serbian security forces which will, among other effects, disrupt movements of terrorists, trafficking in drugs, arms, and persons, and the international organized crime in general.

Preventing Terrorism in the Balkans

Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals resolutly condemns the international terrorism, and maintains that the fight against terrorism may only have a chance to success if all the international stakeholders adopt a common approach, including a common definition of terrorism. This presupposes abandoning the double standards policy vis-à-vis any terrorism, notwithstanding whether in a given case it affects the interests of a big, or of a small country. Belgrade Forum stands against abuses of some powers or their organizations in the fight against terrorism, committed for the purpose of gaining control over markets and strategic communications. Any fight against terrorism must observe the Charter and the role of the United Nations as the coordinating body. The emphasis must be places on eradication of the root causes of the international terrorism (economic, social, cultural, political, etc.).
Serbia proffers advantages for fight against the international terrorism, which is its costly but valuable experience in fighting Albanian terrorism in Kosovo and Metohija and in the Serbian southern municipalities, and extensive knowledge of methods, prevalence and connections among the terrorist organizations in the Balkans, Middle East, Central Asia, Magreb, and parts of Europe. Serbia’s geo-strategic position offers a special advantage, as a region where the terrorist transit paths travel and intersect, leaning on the so-called “Green Transversal” as a crucial element in the plans of terrorist’ bosses.
All these indicate that Serbia may become an important and unavoidable factor in the fight against the international terrorism.
Regretfully, it seems that those in charge in Serbia are unaware of that, save for their paying lip service to intentions of joining Serbia in that fight. And according to statements of some of top politicians and ministers, such joining would mean sending Serbian troops to Afghanistan, Iraq, or similar destinations, which is both wrong and dangerous. Firstly, our legislation does not permit sending our troops to any mission other than those having explicit UN mandate. Afghanistan and Iraq do not meet this requirement. Secondly, fight against terrorism is more than mere expression of loyalty to any given power or regional military organization; instead, it primarily consists of intelligence, human, organizational and technical resources that produce a meaningful contribution to this fight in a given surroundings. Such fight does not imply deployment of troops without a UN mandate in missions that would result in an enormous increase of risk of terrorist assaults within our country. In a situation where several countries decided, exactly for the cited reasons, to withdraw their forces from the non-UN-mandated missions, it is utmost irresponsible for anyone to offer our own soldiers to these high-risk destinations.
There remains enough to be done in the Balkans in this regard: anti-terrorist intelligence and counter-intelligence, coordination of such activities in the country and with the partners in the region, training and especially upgrading the equipment of the specialized anti-terrorist units.
If we intend to valorize the above values, to contribute more to fight against terrorism in the world, to upgrade our own security, to respect our partners and to strengthen international position of our country in the present-day conditions, we need an urgent and multiple increase of the resourced invested in people and equipment for this fight. This need goes beyond ministers bickering about whether the funds are available and whether these could be secured by sale of one facility or another; instead, this is about making strategic political decisions and about the state leadership. That is, if we have one. Only this would be a significant contribution to the global fight against terrorism.
In its work, Belgrade Forum promotes expertise, facts, truth, equal standards and principles.  We remain open to cooperation with all peer and similar organizations in the country and abroad.