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enforcement officers on international human rights treaties. The Government also
cooperates with civil society to promote human rights.
48. The King Abdulaziz Centre for National Dialogue organizes meetings to
condemn, inter alia, acts of intolerance, hatred and discrimination in all forms. The
Centre signed an agreement with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs to train 40,000
mosque imams on how to disseminate a culture of tolerance i n society through
sermons and talks.
49. The Government places legal restrictions on the right to freedom of
expression, in keeping with relevant international standards, in order to safeguard
other rights. For instance, the Anti-Cyber Crime Law makes it an offence to use
information technology to harm others and the Printing and Publications Act
criminalizes defaming or insulting another person.
K.
Serbia
50. The Government referred to its strategy for prevention and protection against
discrimination for the period 2013-2018, which had been adopted to set the policy
for combating discrimination in order to improve the status of all vulnerable social
groups.
51. In October 2013, the National Assembly ratified two international conventions
that have become an integral part of the national legal system of Serbia, namely, the
Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against
Women and Domestic Violence and the Convention on Protection of Children and
Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption.
52. The Government informed that education courses, seminars, workshops, round
tables and conferences have been organized for holders of judicial offices (judges,
public prosecutors and police officers) in order to improve their knowledge a nd
understanding of discrimination and anti-discrimination legislation.
53. The competent prosecutor’s offices initiated criminal charges, including for
instigating national, racial or religious hatred or intolerance, injury to reputation due
to racial, religion, ethnic or other affiliation, and ruining the reputation of a foreign
State or international organization. Those charges were brought against 159 persons,
mostly for inciting national, racial and religious hatred and intolerance.
54. The Government adopted a national strategy for combating violence and
misbehaviour at sporting events for the period 2013 -2018, a strategic document that
sets out the basic principles and security policy for combating violence and
misbehaviour at sporting events within the action plan for the implementation of the
strategy.
55. In February 2013, the Ministry of Youth and Sport established the National
Committee for the implementation of the campaign for combating hate speech
online. The aim of the Committee is to reduce violence on the Internet, create a
safer Internet environment and raise the awareness of young people on the issues
related to the abuse of the Internet, discrimination and hate speech on social
networks and their consequences, especially bearing in mind th e increasing number
of cases of online violence among young people. The work of the Committee has
been presented by the Council of Europe as an example of good practice for the
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