France to declassify long-secret documents related to war in Algeria


A group of French soldiers pose for a group photo in Algeria during the war that lasted for eight years in the 1950s and 1960s. File Photo/Wikipedia Commons

March 10 (UPI) -- French President Emmanuel Macron has ordered the release of a trove of long-secret government documents relating to France's eight-year war with Algeria in the 1950s and 1960s, which ended with full independence for the African nation.

Macron said in his order that the public will ultimately be able to access documents before 1970, which were long kept secret on national security grounds.

Macron said his order will speed up the declassification of the secret archives, which are decades old and will shine greater light on France's activities during the Algerian War between 1954 and its end in 1962.

Elysee Palace said in a statement that Macron's order will "significantly shorten the time required for the declassification procedure" to "encourage respect for historical truth."

Macron had commissioned historian Benjamin Stora to create a report on the secret documents. The release of documents relating to the years up to 1970, particularly those connected to French colonization and the Algerian War, was a key element of the report.

Officials say legislation will be created to detail the declassification process and is expected to receive a vote in the coming months.

France ruled Algeria for 132 years before the North Africa nation gained its independence in 1962. The death toll from the war varies among French and Algerian officials, but most independent experts agree that more than a million Algerians were killed.

Wednesday's announcement came a week after France admitted involvement in the torture and death of Algerian independence activist Ali Boumendjel during the war in 1957.


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FACTS VS FICTION/OPINION

Report: Japanese scholars raise objections to

 HARVARD 'comfort women' paper

IN SOLIDARITY WITH KOREA

Japanese academics have signed a petition showing strong concern about a paper authored by a Harvard Law School professor on “comfort women,” according to a South Korean press report. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo

March 10 (UPI) -- Japanese historians and scholars condemned a Harvard Law professor's controversial paper on "comfort women," as protests grow in South Korea and the United States.

Ryuta Itagaki, a professor of sociology at Doshisha University, told South Korean network KBS that the paper by J. Mark Ramseyer, the Mitsubishi professor of Japanese legal studies at Harvard Law School, is an example of denial regarding the abuse of women and girls forced to serve in wartime brothels.

NEO LIBERALISM PRO PRIVATIZATION IDEOLOGY NOT FACTUAL 

Itagaki said he and others request the journal, the International Review of Law and Economics, re-evaluate Ramseyer's work and withdraw the paper, "Contracting for sex in the Pacific War," from publication.

Itagaki is one of 4,400 Japanese academics who have signed a statement requesting a retraction, according to KBS. The journal, published by Netherlands-based Elsevier, is likely to go ahead with plans to make the article available in print.

Scholars in Japan opposed to the paper's publication said there was nothing consensual about the recruitment and retention of comfort women at Japanese military outposts during World War II, a main argument of Ramseyer's paper.

"The fact that women were forcibly subjected to acts against their own intention is itself an involuntary act," said Yoshiaki Yoshimi, professor of Japanese modern history at Chuo University. Yoshimi said Ramseyer's decision to "ignore this simple fact" is the greatest source of controversy.

Protests have taken place in the United States and Korea. On Saturday, about 100 demonstrators assembled outside Harvard to denounce Ramseyer, the Harvard Crimson reported.

Rally participants included representatives of the Korean American Society of Massachusetts and students from across the United States, the report said.

Protesters charged Ramseyer with distorting historical facts and "failing to meet research integrity."

A local official from Suffolk County, Linda Champion, said the paper "hit a nerve" in the Korean community.

"It was important for them to come out to express to Harvard University it was not OK for someone to bear a name as prestigious as Harvard and to write propaganda," Champion said, according to The Crimson.

Myanmar bans 5 media companies amid crackdown on protests



Burmese protesters carry signs during a demonstration against the military coup in Mandalay, Myanmar, Sunday, February. 28. Photo by Xiao Long/UPI | License Photo

March 9 (UPI) -- Myanmar's military junta has revoked the licenses of five independent media outlets amid reports that some of their offices were raided as military forces crackdown on protesters opposing its Feb. 1 coup.

Mizzima Media confirmed that it along with four other media companies Myanmar Now, 7 Day, Khit Thit media and Democratic Voice of Burma had their licenses to publish and broadcast news revoked.

Myanmar Now also said its downtown Yangon office, which was evacuated days ahead of the coup, was raided earlier Monday by armed soldiers and police who arrived at the location via motorcade.

The news organization's editor-in chief Swe Win said they had expected the raid to have occurred earlier.

"We are now at a point where continuing to do our jobs means risking being jailed or killed," he said. "What is certain is that we will not stop covering the enormous crimes the regime has been committing throughout the country."

State media The Global New Light of Myanmar reported the Ministry of Information had banned the companies "from publishing or broadcasting with the use of a kind of media or technology" on Monday night, after the military, known as the Tatmadaw, confronted protesters with lethal force, killing at least three people nationwide.

Two protesters were were fatally shot by security forces in northern Myanmar while a third was shot dead in the southern Ayeyarwady region as protesters took to the streets in a countrywide strike, Myanmar Now reported.

More than 60 people have been killed and 1,857 have been arrested, charged or sentenced since the coup, Myanmar's Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said in its daily update.

Human Rights Watch early Tuesday also called for the junta to "promptly and impartially" investigate and hold accountable those responsible for the death of Khin Maung Latt, 58, a local politician in Yangon who died in police custody.

AAPP said Latt was arrested Saturday from his home and was tortured to death in his cell that night.

The next day, his family recovered his body from the hospital, HRW said.

"Myanmar's junta runs the security forces and can quickly find out who killed Khin Maung Latt if they want to," Brad Adams, Asia director at HRS, said in a statement. "If they want to show they believe in the rule of law, all those responsible should be held to account. Sadly, Myanmar's security forces seem intent on using nighttime raids and brutal mistreatment to create fear and break popular resistance to military rule."

Late last week, Tom Andrews, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, called for punitive measures to be imposed against the junta for its escalation in violence against protesters who have taken to the streets since it ousted the civilian-elected government in a coup early last month.

With green energy, Japanese governor wants to take Fukushima out of nuclear shadow
By Yuka Obayashi 
3/10/2021

© Reuters/YUKA OBAYASHI Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field (FH2R) and an adjoining solar power farm are pictured in Namie Town

NAMIE, Japan (Reuters) - A decade after Japan's devastating nuclear meltdown, the governor of Fukushima hopes the prefecture can step out of the shadow of disaster and become a symbol for green energy, although some residents are sceptical.

© Reuters/YUKA OBAYASHI 

Aizu Electric Power's Oguni solar power station is pictured in Kitakata

The March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami ravaged northeast Japan and crippled the Dai-ichi nuclear plant. It also triggered widespread opposition to nuclear power, complicating energy policy for resource-poor Japan.

Helped by about 250 billion yen ($2.3 billion) in government support, Fukushima has become Japan's biggest commercial-scale solar power generator and home to one of the world's largest green hydrogen plants, the 10 megawatt (MW) Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field.

© Reuters/YUKA OBAYASHI Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field (FH2R) is pictured in Namie Town

"Fukushima needs to achieve 100% renewable power, as we will not rely on nuclear energy," Governor Masao Uchibori told Reuters on Wednesday.

GRAPHIC: Fukushima renewable energy capacity - https://graphics.reuters.com/JAPAN-FUKUSHIMA/yzdvxeymkpx/chart.png

The government and major corporations are pushing hydrogen. A Toshiba-developed hydrogen plant opened last year in Namie, a town evacuated after the meltdown, using an adjoining 20 megawatt (MW) solar farm to power the process.

A new transmission line will eventually add 360 MW of wind power, putting Fukushima on track for 100% renewable energy by 2040, Uchibori said.

"By making Namie the town of hydrogen, we want to support the regional economy and create a new symbol," Uchibori said.

Toyota Motor Corp's president visited last week and pledged new pilot projects. But some residents say they need support with everyday life, not green energy projects.

"Namie needs more basic infrastructure such as hospitals that are open for 24 hours and care homes for the elderly," said one 27-year-old man.

He returned last year, but without his parents because hospitals aren't open on the weekends. He declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Uchibori said the local government wants to restore infrastructure, develop new projects and attract residents.

Tokuko Shiga, 73, a shopworker, said projects weren't providing enough local jobs. Even if there were jobs, many evacuees live elsewhere, she said.

Many green projects are geared towards big companies and supplying Tokyo with power, just as the nuclear plant did, said Yauemon Sato, a Fukushima sake brewer who started a renewable power company.

His company has built 6 MW of solar farms and plans more.

"We need a business model that helps the local community and promotes autonomy," he said.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Gavin Maguire and David Dolan)

Missile Defense Agency to consider two sites for Hawaii-based radar

MARCH 8, 2021 

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is considering two sites for the Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii, including the Kahuku Training Area, pictured. Photo by Sgt. Sarah Anderson/U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific

March 8 (UPI) -- The Missile Defense Agency is again considering a radar defense array in Hawaii, with two sites under consideration, after previously dropping plans to build it because of adverse public reaction.

The proposed Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii, which MDA is accepting public comment on through April 12, would face North Korea and have properties similar to the Long-Range Discrimination Radar in Alaska, a facility largely completed with initial operating plans scheduled for the end of 2021.

A $1.9 billion cost for the potential Hawaii facility was included in the 2017 defense bill, which called for a radar array to defend Hawaii and quickly identify missile threats as lethal or non-lethal.

This time, two sites are under consideration, at the Army's Kahuku Training Area on Oahu and at the southern end of the Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai island.

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An additional $133 million was added to the project by Congress in 2020, and the Hawaiian congressional delegation has pushed for the project to be constructed.

Input in 2018, "scoping meetings" for three sites on Hawaii's Oahu island brought considerable public objection, with concerns about overdevelopment, an additional military facility on an island already hosting thousands of service personnel, and cultural concerns by Native Hawaiians.

The project was complicated by recent Chinese and Russian advances in hypersonic missiles and low-flying, radar-evading cruise missiles, as well as Pentagon plans to involve outer space as a defense platform, according to officials.

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The most recent defense bill includes an authorization for the MDA to continue Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii development and siting efforts.

The array would include several buildings, each 85 feet tall and emitting high-intensity electrical radiation, and restricted airspace arcs would fan out over the ocean to a distance of 9 miles.

Site consideration comes as the Defense Department reduced the current funding for a radar array on Hawaii to zero, citing a shift in priorities.

RELATED Space companies use Earth-imaging satellites to combat climate change

Although the MDA may find an appropriate location for its radar array, it may be eliminated in what MDA Vice Admiral Jon Hill called, in 2020 testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, the "need for a persistent space-based global sensor capability."

THAT OTHER GEORGIA NOT IN USA

Georgia emerges as unlikely hotspot for digital nomads

AFP

© Andrey BORODULIN Georgia has become a cool hotspot for digital nomads, offering something for both those seeking to ski and relax by the sea, as well as its rich culture

American travel addict Candy Treft radiates enthusiasm while she extols the virtues of her new home country Georgia as one of the world's best locations for digital nomads. Georgia has become a cool hotspot for digital nomads, offering something for both those seeking to ski and relax by the sea, as well as its rich culture

The 51-year-old medical professional arrived in Georgia in 2019 and is now running a co-working and co-living space for foreign remote workers flocking to the tiny former Soviet republic nestled between the Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea.

© Vano Shlamov Georgia's Black Sea port city of Batumi is also a draw for digital nomads

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, a growing number of people who could work fully remotely were striking out and adopting a digital nomad lifestyle -- answering emails from the beach or a picturesque town square.

© Vano SHLAMOV Candy Treft, who runs a co-working and co-living space for foreign remote workers in Tbilisi, says the country 'ticks off all of a digital nomad's boxes'

Bali has long been a favourite of digital nomads, and for European destinations Lisbon and the Estonian capital Tallinn have been popular.

Besides distinctive cuisine, rich culture and nature, Georgia "ticks off all of a digital nomad's boxes", Treft told AFP in her three-storey house in Tbilisi's old town, where she provides lodging and workspaces to nomadic professionals.

"The cost of living is more than affordable here, Internet access is very good, and safety -- safety in Georgia is better than one can experience in most other places in the world."

Georgia emerged as a top tourist destination around 2004 after former president Mikheil Saakashvili launched major infrastructure projects, rebuilding entire cities such as Batumi on the Black Sea or the Mestia ski resort

.

© Vano SHLAMOV Digital nomad Andrew Braun, a 28-year-old web developer from the US state of New Jersey, says he appreciates the friendliness of Georgians

Some nine million tourists visited the country of 3.7 million 2019, but after the coronavirus pandemic struck, its economy shrank by six percent last year and lost more than 100,000 jobs.

In an effort to boost the devastated tourism industry, which accounts for nearly a fifth of the gross domestic product, the Georgian government launched a programme last summer to lure high-income foreign remote workers.

Dubbed Remotely from Georgia, the scheme allows nationals of 95 countries who can prove a monthly income of at least $2,000, have tested negative for coronavirus or have been vaccinated to live and work in Georgia for a year.

- A 'desire to explore' -

Thousands of people have applied and hundreds have already arrived under the programme, National Tourism Administration spokeswoman, Tea Chanchibadze, told AFP.

"The programme aims at attracting long-term high-income visitors in a situation when massive tourist inflow is impossible," she said.

Digital nomad Andrew Braun, a 28-year-old web developer from the US state of New Jersey who works for a financial management firm, said Georgia is a "great place to explore even in the time of Covid".

"There are growing numbers of digital nomads in Georgia," he said.

"What I like most in Georgia is friendliness and flexibility in the culture. I am a foreigner, but I never feel too out of place here."

Digital nomads "are different kinds of people, but united by their desire to explore things and experience new stuff -- curiosity is a big driving force," Braun said.

Treft described her fellow nomads as people who "get bored of the mundane, want to mix it up, to see things different."

Compared to being on vacation, "as a digital nomad, you are much more able to dig a little bit deeper into the countries and cultures and experience it on a deeper level."

But a nomad's remote work also comes with specific challenges.

A study carried out by Britain's Cranfield University showed that employers often "intensify remote workers' workload with requests that can't be accomplished within certain timeframes."

Nomads in Georgia agreed that living and working abroad was not a one-stop solution to drastically improving anyone's quality of life.

"'Leave, do my work online, live in a different country and my life will be better...' Sometimes it is, but sometimes... you bring all your problems with you too," said Braun.

im/jbr/rl/oh

Thriving in German car region, Greens set sights higher

AFP 

At first glance, the affluent southwestern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg with its booming automobile industry might look like an unlikely stronghold for the Green party

.

© THOMAS KIENZLE "You know me" says Baden-Wuerttemberg state premier Winfried Kretschmann, the Green's candidate for re-election

But the Greens, who have headed the government in the conservative industrial region for ten years, are set to consolidate their grip in the state, opinion polls in the run-up to the next state election on Sunday show

.

© THOMAS KIENZLE Baden-Wuerttemberg's regional transport minister Winfried Hermann says "we have proven that it can work, even if it is complicated at times" to govern in a coalition with the conservative CDU

"We have proven that it can work, even if it is complicated at times," said Winfried Hermann, Baden-Wuerttemberg's transport minister -- a key post in a region that Mercedes, Daimler and Porsche call home.

The regional poll, which comes just six months before a general election on September 26, is seen as a bellwether of what might lie ahead as Chancellor Angela Merkel prepares to bow out of politics

.

© THOMAS KIENZLE Green territory? The parent company of Mercedes Benz has fared fairly well in Baden Wuerttemberg

The state's Green-led coalition government with Merkel's CDU could in fact be replicated on the federal level, albeit with the conservatives as the senior partner.

In Baden-Wuerttemberg, the Greens are now up to 10 points ahead of the conservatives, who are under pressure because of frustration with the government's pandemic management and a corruption scandal.

As a result, the ecologists could score their best result since they first came to power in the state in 2011, propelled by fear and anger over the Fukushima disaster.

After five years in coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens formed an unlikely partnership with the CDU in 2016, the only coalition partner available to them as the left imploded and the far-right AfD sucked votes away from the centre.

- 'Not as radical' -

"Who could have imagined this years ago, when the differences between black and green were so great and personal animosity so strong," 60-something transport minister Hermann told AFP, referring to the parties' traditional colours.

© THOMAS KIENZLE It would be "hasty" to predict how a coalition between the Greens and the conservatives might work at the national level based on the regional picture, political scientist Ursula Muench said

"We can see that the CDU has moved on climate issues, while the Greens are not as radical as they were 10 or 15 years ago," he said.

Arthur Roussia, 28, a deputy for a CDU candidate in industrial state capital Stuttgart, agrees that "on the whole, the collaboration has worked well".

Roussia puts this down to the "pragmatism" of Baden-Wuerttemberg state premier Winfried Kretschmann, who he credits with being "more reasonable" than many Green colleagues.

The 72-year-old, with his crop of white hair and rectangular glasses, features prominently on the party's main campaign poster for the election, accompanied by the slogan: "He knows what we can do."

"I appreciate that he is always looking for dialogue and consensus, whether with the business world or farmers," said one Stuttgart resident, Julia, as she passed a campaign stand.

- 'Common sense' -

For political scientist Ursula Muench, director of the Academy for Political Education in Tutzing, Bavaria, Kretschmann's political style has been a decisive factor in the success of the Greens in this prosperous region.

"As a Catholic who is attached to his roots, someone who represents a certain common sense, he speaks to traditional CDU voters," Muench said.

The former biology and chemistry professor is a founding member of the Greens, though his politics sometimes appear out of step with the party's general ethos.

Last year, for example, Kretschmann supported a scrappage scheme to incentivise the purchase of new cars to help automobile companies struggling in the coronavirus pandemic.

Such stances have angered the region's more hardcore environmentalists, who have proposed their own "climate list" of candidates for the election.

Peculiarities like these mean it would be "hasty" to predict how a coalition between the Greens and the conservatives might work at the national level based on the regional picture, Muench said.

The Greens at the federal level are also significantly to the left of those in Baden-Wuerttemberg and must appeal to a much more diverse electorate.

Johanna Molitor, a candidate for the liberal FDP party in Stuttgart, warned that "such a coalition at the national level would be too unstable".

Even Hermann admits that "there have been conflicts".

But he noted that in the end, "everyone knew that there was no alternative but to carry on" and find a compromise.

smk-fec/hmn/wai/oho

Argentine fans demonstrate to demand 'justice' for Diego Maradona

Wed, 10 March 2021, 


Claudia Villafane (C), the ex-wife of Diego Maradona, marches with her children and others to demand "justice" after his death

Hundreds of Argentine football fans demonstrated on Wednesday in Buenos Aires to demand justice for superstar player Diego Maradona, who died on November 25 in circumstances under investigation.

"Maradona has been left to die and it is not fair, it is not fair that a person who gave us Argentines so much ends up like that," Abel Chorolque, a 44-year-old cab driver, told AFP at the protest.

Maradona, who was 60, died of a heart attack just weeks after undergoing brain surgery on a blood clot.

Investigators are looking into the health treatment he received prior to his death to determine whether or not to bring a case of wrongful death, a conviction for which would result in a prison sentence of up to 15 years.

The "10M" demonstration was organized on social media by different Maradona fan groups under the slogan "Justice for Diego, he did not die, he was killed."

Two of his adult daughters, Dalma and Gianinna, as well as the youngest of his five children -- Diego Fernando, 8 -- were at the protest, though they had to leave as the atmosphere turned tense.

As darkness fell some in the crowd chanted death threats against Matias Morla, Maradona's last lawyer, who would have appointed the medical team that treated him at the end of his life.

Maradona underwent surgery on November 3, just four days after he celebrated his 60th birthday at the club he coached, Gimnasia y Esgrima.

However, he appeared in poor health then and had trouble speaking.

Maradona had battled cocaine and alcohol addictions during his life. He was suffering from liver, kidney and cardiovascular disorders when he died.

A panel of experts, made up of 10 official specialists and 10 more selected by the interested parties, is due to deliver its findings on his cause of death in two or three weeks.

Maradona's neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov and psychologist Carlos Diaz are under investigation as well as two nurses, a nursing coordinator and a medical coordinator.

ls/cl/st/bgs

Giant fresco appears in floating Benin village

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Giant fresco appears in floating Benin villageGuillaume Legros, also known as Sype, painted vast joined hands in Benin as part of a chain of similar works around the world


Josue Mehouenou

Wed, March 10, 2021,

On a small island surrounded by hundreds of wooden huts on stilts, in the middle of Lake Nokoue in southeast Benin, a giant painting is taking shape.

For the past three hours, in 41 degrees Celsius (106F) heat, French artist Saype has been busy transforming a playground in the floating village of Ganvie.

Shapes gradually appear on the grass in grey and black paint from the nozzle of his sprayer.


Fishermen, women selling fish, and children from the village are gathered around him, observing the scene with wonder as a drone hovers above their heads.

"No one knows yet what this man is doing," resident Sonagnon Dagbedji says, his eyes fixed on Saype.

The 33-year-old says he's seen paintings before in a local gallery, "but painting on the grass? That's a first."

It's not just the art attracting curious residents -- the artist himself intrigues many.

"Seeing a white man coming to Ganvie to paint, that's an event in itself," said another resident, Sokin Agodokpedji.

"We were told the final result would be special so we are waiting," said the eager 25-year-old fisherman.

At last, the fresco is ready. Onlookers congregate to watch a video from the drone's camera on a small screen.

The strokes of paint have formed into two giant interlaced hands.

For Saype, whose real name is Guillaume Legros, this painting is part of "the largest human chain in the world."

The "Beyond Walls" project started in Paris in front of the Eiffel Tower and has over several years travelled around the world, reaching Andorra, Berlin, Geneva, Ouagadougou, Yamoussoukro, Turin, Istanbul and Cape Town before coming to Benin's floating village of Ganvie.

"We are at a point in history where the world is polarising, and where a part of people are more and more turning in on themselves," Saype wrote in a presentation on the project.

The interlaced hands are "a symbol of kindness and goodwill between people," he says, "to try and build bridges."

str/cma/lhd/tgb/oho

For Serbia's LGBT community, same-sex unions are progress but not equality

Issued on: 11/03/2021

A gay couple kiss during the Pride Parade in Belgrade in 2014 Andrej ISAKOVIC AFP/File

Powerful Photos Show The First Gay Pride March In Serbia In Four Years (buzzfeednews.com)

Belgrade (AFP)

When Andjela dropped to her knees and proposed to the love of her life two years ago, she thought that officially tying the knot with her partner Sanja was just a fantasy.

But the couple is now planning their wedding at home in their Balkan country, with the promise of a new law that will recognise same-sex partnerships marking an important victory for the LGBT community that faces widespread homophobia.

"At first, we thought it would be a small, intimate wedding, but when we realised how many people we need to invite, it turned out it will be a gala ceremony", Andjela Stojanovic, a 27-year-old postal worker, said with a laugh next to her partner Sanja Markovic, 30, who works in graphic design.

Despite being one of few nations to have an openly gay prime minister, Serbia's machismo-heavy culture leaves many LGBT people living in fear.

Holding hands in public remains a taboo for same-sex couples in a country where almost 60 percent of LGBT people have reported physical or emotional abuse in the course of a year, according to a survey by human rights organisations IDEAS and GLIC published in 2020.

"To all those who oppose the law, I can only say -- if you don't like same-sex partnerships, don't live in one," Minister of Human and Minority Rights Gordana Comic, who has championed the law, told AFP.

Yet even among the new generation of high schoolers, only 24 percent of those surveyed expressed support for LGBT rights such as adoption, according to a study by the Helsinki Committee.

Sonja, a 17-year-old high school student who declined to give her surname, told AFP that she doesn't know anyone her age who is openly gay, while those who show support for LGBT rights get "ridiculed or attacked".

"Most of my class believes it's fashionable to hate gay people, especially boys", she lamented.

- Church 'understands' -

Expected to be passed this spring, the legislation would grant LGBT couples legal benefits such as joint healthcare and inheritance rights -- but not the option to adopt children.

"It's far from equality, but is a step forward", LGBT activist Vladan Djukanovic told AFP.

Elsewhere in the Western Balkans, only Croatia and Montenegro have passed similar laws.

While the bill has not stirred up significant protests in Serbia, in recent history violence has trailed every inch of progress for the LGBT community, from hooligan attacks on Belgrade's Pride parade a decade ago to tense stand-offs with the police over an art exhibit in 2012 that presented images of Jesus among transgender people.

The influential Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) has historically played a key role in shaping public opinion, such as branding the annual Belgrade Pride march "a parade of shame".

However, the tide seems to be turning inside the conservative institution too.

The church's new leader, Patriarch Porfirije, has shifted away from the usual discriminatory rhetoric by stating that, while the Church does not consider same-sex unions as marriages, he sympathises with the frustrations the community faces.

"I can understand people with that kind of sexual orientation, their countless administrative problems, challenges and pressures, and their need to regulate their status", Porfirije recently told public broadcaster RTS.

Having an openly gay Prime Minister for the past four years may have also made an impact, although Ana Brnabic has been criticised for failing to be a more vocal advocate of expanding LGBT rights.

Brnabic has previously underlined that her mission is not to be a "gay prime minister", but a leader of a country.

Yet some accuse the 45-year-old of failing to use her position of power to help the rest of the community.

While the prime minister's female partner gave birth to a baby boy in 2019, months later artificial insemination was banned in Serbia for couples who have "recent history of homosexual relations".

"Serbia remains a country in which the prime minister, despite receiving congratulations, still can't be listed as a parent of her son, cannot enroll him in kindergarten, take him on a vacation abroad, nor visit him in hospital as member of the family", Labris, a lesbian human rights organisation, said at the time.

Activists also carried a sign that read: "For all the victims of violence in Serbia."

Pinkwashing -

Some gay activists also see the new law as the government's latest form of "pinkwashing" -- the practice of promoting some progressive ideas in order to overshadow other illiberal ones.

Serbia's government has come under heavy criticism in recent years for cracking down on political critics and independent media.

"It's a practice to allow certain rights for the LGBT community, in order to mask general deterioration of human rights in the country", activist Djukanovic said.

Minority rights minister Comic rejected the notion, saying that "human rights are not a distraction".

The "hardest task is to actually bring them to life", she added.

For now, Stojanovic and Markovic, who is in a wheelchair, plan on building a family in Serbia after undertaking artificial insemination that will have to be conducted abroad.

"I think (our children) will be in high school before their status is regulated", Markovic told AFP.

"The children will be ours in every sense, apart in the eyes of the law."

© 2021 AFP