Human Rights in the News: Twelve Year-Old Serbian Boy Fights for Human Rights

BBC News featured today a video on Rastko Pocesta, a Serbian boy who has gained international attention for his blog posts and Facebook messages which focus on the fight for human rights and the spread of liberal ideas. Some of his views include the support of Serbia joining the European Union and the complete independence of Kosovo from the country. As a result of his democratic ideology, he has been harassed and has even received death threats.

One of the main reasons the story caught my attention was how young this boy is. At such a young age he has already developed a deep interest for human rights and politics. In the United States, I do not believe you would find a kid in the 6^th or 7^th grade who is writing about the ideals for the future of his country and ways to move away from past human rights violations. Pocesta is also not afraid to stand up for what he believes despite the fact there have been threats made on his life.

Human rights violations run deep in Serbia and the ethnic conflict between Kosovo Albanians and Serbs has gone on for some time now (Background can be found here). Serbia and U.S. relations have been strained since the U.S. backed NATO on the airstrike of Serbia in 1999 in order to stop attacks being made on the Kosovo Albanian people in the southern region of the country. This explains why the boy is receiving so much backlash for his promoting of Western democracy. At the end of the video, you hear a Serbian general secretary saying that he thinks that there is something wrong with Pocesta and that he hopes since he is young, Pocesta will eventually change his mind and become a “better Serb.” I was somewhat annoyed at this man’s reaction as he seemed to paint Pocesta as having some sort of mental problem, as if the boy was disturbed or something. The reaction just shows how many Serbian nationals are resistant to anything having to do with the West.

What were some of your reactions to this story? Will joining the European Union help with keeping the peace between Serbia and Kosovo or make it worse? Are there any human rights that you feel are still worth fighting for even if your life is being threatened?