Following the emergence in public of a video in which an employee of a diplomatic mission is publicly singled out and labeled a “spy,” the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Milan Antonijević, warns that the public targeting of a woman, as well as of any individual, constitutes unacceptable conduct that may lead to stigmatization and jeopardize their dignity and safety.

Serious accusations, particularly in the field of security, may be established exclusively by the competent state authorities, and not by media headlines and content, videos, or public naming-and-shaming campaigns, the Commissioner states.

Antonijević emphasizes that all actors in the public sphere, including the media, politicians, public figures, and social media users, bear responsibility not to contribute through their actions to an atmosphere of lynching and stigmatization.

The Commissioner recalls that the legislative framework of the Republic of Serbia provides broad protection against discrimination, which applies to all persons, including foreign nationals.

Respect for the dignity and rights of every person, regardless of sex or any other actual or presumed personal characteristic, is one of the fundamental values of every democratic society, Antonijević concludes.