Chinese rules in Serbia: Factory as a 'forbidden' city

Journalist teams that tried to make an article about the Linglong tire factory in Zrenjanin, in northwestern Serbia, in the last few months, had several inconveniences because they were intercepted by the factory security, outside the factory circle, and interfered with their work.

Lawyers point out that the state is responsible for the behavior of foreign companies in Serbia, and that it will soon be necessary, due to the harmonization of laws with the European Union, to begin work on assessing respect for human rights standards of both domestic and foreign companies.

Although Serbia is still not a member of the European Union, it is in the process of accession and harmonization with EU laws.

Danilo Ćurčić, a lawyer dealing with human rights from the NGO Initiative A 11, believes that the state needs to say how it will assess respect for human rights when it comes to foreign companies coming to Serbia - that is, how the so-called "human rights due diligence ”.

On 10 March this year, the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament adopted a revised version of the draft directive establishing requirements for assessing compliance with the general requirements on human rights and the environment.

The European Commission is expected to further present a formal proposal for this directive, which will potentially affect Serbia through harmonization with EU laws, but will also be important for Serbian companies that export to that market.

In the EU, requirements for respect for human rights and the environment are already in force in certain industrial sectors.

What happened in front of the Chinese company?

The Newsmax Adria team was stopped by security workers in camouflage uniforms that resembled military ones, in order to prevent the team of this television from doing their job in front of the construction site of the Chinese company Linglong in Zrenjanin, 90 kilometers from Belgrade on June 6.

Factory security workers, in uniforms but without IDs or other visible markings, left the factory circle and approached the TV crew, in order to disturb them while they were trying to record the report.

Earlier, on May 18, security workers at the Linglong factory left the factory to stop the TV crew of the Dutch media NOS (Nederlandse Omroep Stichting), which is part of the media network of the Dutch public service.

Dutch journalists from the public service came to the gate of the Linglong factory in Zrenjanin, and tried to record the statement of a local activist in front of the gate.

At that time, members of the factory security applied the method of interfering with the work of journalists for the first time, by standing between the camera and the activist who was supposed to speak for the Dutch public service, and at one point, as Serbian agencies report, they pushed the journalist away.

After these incidents, the H1 team had a positive experience, which managed to record a report in front of the factory on June 7.

According to H1 news, this time the TV crew was not prevented from doing their job.

"As we approached the entrance to the construction site, a Chinese worker with an interpreter approached us, introduced himself as a security guard and when we explained to him why we were here, we were told to feel free to continue doing our job," they said at the site of this media house.

An assessment of respect for human rights is needed

"We do not have high expectations from investors. As if the key is just for them to come and hire some people and give some salaries. In essence, there is not much talk about the standards they should respect, "Danilo Curcic told Radio Free Europe (RFE).

"Linglong is one of the examples, but we have had other examples before. "What is important is that even when we talk about environmental protection standards, or the amount of ore rent payments, or other obligations that an international company has, all those obligations seem to be frozen when a foreign investor comes to Serbia," he added.

According to him, the state should consider how foreign investments are attracted in general, that is, how it could encourage companies to, in fact, through additional subsidies or some kind of qualification for subsidies, seek an assessment of how human standards are met. rights in foreign companies.

"The current situation in every way facilitates the business of foreign companies in Serbia, that is, it gives them a kind of certainty that they will forever be treated in the same way as when they came to the country," says our interlocutor.

Chinese companies are increasingly interested in investing in Serbia. Some of the largest Chinese investments in Serbia are in the field of so-called heavy industry, such as the companies "Zijin Mining" in the mining and smelting basin Bor, and "HBIS Group", which has a share in the ownership of the Smederevo Ironworks.

According to the annual reports of the non-governmental organization Freedom House, the Chinese authoritarian regime has become more and more repressive in the last few years, and this organization evaluates China as a non-free country.

Serbia, on the other hand, according to Freedom House, is one step more free.

This organization evaluates Serbia as "partially free", that is, with other countries in the Western Balkans, it is an example of hybrid regimes between democracy and autocratic systems.

Freedom house: The decline of democracy in the Western Balkans

In January 2021, Radio Free Europe reported on poor working conditions of Chinese workers in a mine near Bor, in eastern Serbia, as well as working conditions in a temporary camp built near the Linglong factory in Zrenjanin.

Zijin and Linglong did not respond to RFE's inquiry at the time. Zidjin denied the allegations in other media.

On June 5, the union of employees in the company Zidjin in Bor assessed the collective agreement that the company offered to the workers as unfavorable. The workers also asked for the state's help in negotiations with the company's representatives.

The collective agreement defines the obligations, but also the rights of the worker, as well as the employer.

The company Zidjin announced on June 9, that "the offered collective agreement is a chance for the employees to improve the material position of themselves and their families with their efforts."

The state is responsible for foreign companies in Serbia

A lawyer who deals with human rights, Mihajlo Pavlović explains for RFE that, when it comes to the case when a foreign company makes a mistake, the responsibility is on the state.

"When human behavior violates the company's behavior, the company will not be responsible for that behavior, but the state, because it has not taken all reasonable measures to protect the rights of individuals," says Pavlović.

What does the law prescribe?

RFE failed to determine whether members of the security of the Linglong factory in Zrenjanin, who repeatedly obstructed the work of journalists trying to do their job in front of the factory, were employees of the factory, or were hired security who worked for a third company.

The company did not respond to RFE's inquiry.

Serbia does not have a law that specifically regulates the area of company security.

The Serbian Law on Private Security defines that the activities of private security "of persons, property and business are performed in a way that does not interfere with the work of state bodies and does not disturb the peace of citizens."

The same law defines that security must be uniformed and marked, and that the protection of the company is performed by the personal presence and direct activity of security officers "within the protected facility or up to the border of the protected area".

In two incidents experienced by journalists who tried to report on the Linglong company, due to which local activists warn of endangering the environment, journalists were disturbed outside the fence of the factory.

The state is obliged to respect international conventions

As lawyer Pavlović explained - the interpretation of the law on security clearly shows that "formally legally, if it is official security, it should be uniform and cover the location belonging to the company, and outside that area, it has no authority to act or to interfere in any way with a citizen or journalist who would like to record or record news ”.

Pavlovic says that in the event that one of the journalist teams that had a problem in front of the Linglong factory called the police and reported obstruction of filming outside the factory, the police would have to go to the field, make a report and allow journalists to do their job.

Lawyer Mihajlo Pavlović explains that there is a misunderstanding in the society when it comes to the rights, obligations and responsibilities of companies in the context of human rights protection.

"The fact that the state has signed a contract, or agreement, or act, with a foreign company that comes here to invest, does not in itself mean that the provisions of the human rights convention can be derogated from," Pavlovic explains.

As he stated, “whatever agreement is concluded, signed or agreed between the company and the state, it does not deprive the state of its obligation to take into account whether a particular company respects all international standards, in this case, guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights. ”.

"We see from previous practice that the European Court of Human Rights does not tolerate deviations when it comes to human rights," Pavlovic said.

Sabic: No one was allowed to disturb the journalists

Former Serbian Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, lawyer Rodoljub Sabic, said in a statement for RFE that no one should interfere with journalists and television reporters in their work.

"Television crews came to record something that is interesting for the public, and no one is allowed to disturb them, neither these people nor anyone else, on anyone's orders," says Sabic.

As he explained, the Constitution of Serbia guarantees freedom of expression, like most democratic constitutions, and it, among other things, implies that ideas and information are spread through the picture.

Uniformed Chinese in Zrenjanin

Zeljko Veljkovic, a journalist from Newsmax Adria, who was part of the team of that television, which was prevented from working by the company's security, told RSE that in front of the Linglong factory, before the incident, everything looked like a boring day, when a black jeep with two Chinese citizens, Belgrade plates, who began to photograph journalists.

"About ten minutes after that, Chinese workers appeared in completely different suits than the ones we had seen before. All the others had mostly blue overalls and helmets, and these were in camouflage uniforms without insignia ", says Veljković.

"That this is tragic (that the representatives of the Chinese company interfere with the work of journalists in Serbia) and that it is actually frightening, we realized much later. At that moment, everything seemed like a play. "Wherever we turned the camera, three Chinese workers in camouflage uniforms covered our camera with a jacket."

Veljkovic managed to record with his mobile phone what everything looked like.

"While I was trying to film in front of me, I had people in uniform holding cell phones pointed at the lens, and behind me people who were preventing filming with a jacket," he explains.

According to him, the people from the security of the Linglong factory in Zrenjanin, apart from disrupting the work of journalists, did not want to communicate.

UNS: Linglong to allow uninterrupted recording

On June 8, the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) announced the problems that journalists had while trying to perform their task near the Linglong factory in Zrenjanin, and assessed such behavior as unacceptable.

The association called on the management of Linglong to enable television crews to freely record reports and conversations with interlocutors in front of the facility under construction, referring to the freedoms guaranteed to journalists by the laws of Serbia.

The Ministry of Information of Serbia also came forward, reminding in a statement on June 8 that journalists have the right to ask questions, and companies to ask for denials and corrections.

Land free of charge

According to the contract signed in March 2019 by the director of the Serbian Property Directorate Jovan Vorkapić and the legal representative of the Linglong company in Serbia, Feng Wang, the tire factory of the Chinese company Linglong will cover 97 hectares, and the Chinese company has land in around Zrenjanin ceded without compensation.

The agencies transmitted the statement of the Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, who stated at the beginning of the works on the construction of the factory that the Chinese company will invest 800 million euros in opening a tire factory in Zrenjanin, and by 2025, will employ more than 1,200 workers.

MEPs warned of the consequences of Chinese industrial projects in Serbia

Linglong has also been a sponsor of the first Serbian football league since March 2019, when it signed a three-year contract.

The Serbian government declared the project on the construction of the Linglong tire factory in Zrenjanin a project of importance for Serbia, which enabled the free provision of land to a Chinese company.