Non-Territorial Autonomy and the Legal Protection of the Symbols of Religious Organizations and National Minorities in Serbia

Abstract

This paper scrutinizes the history of legal rules that regulate the appearance and use of state symbols as well as the evolution of the legal protection of symbols of national minorities and religious organizations. Furthermore, it analyses the history of nonterritorial cultural and religious autonomy arrangements in Serbia. It investigated to what extent the institutional arrangements of non-territorial autonomy contributed to the legal protection of the mentioned symbols. The first hypothesis is that certain rudimentary forms of non-territorial autonomy existed in Serbia during the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. However, the focus of legislators in this period was on the regulation and protection of state symbols. In the second half of the 20th century, the preconditions for the development of the protection of national minorities were created, while the scope of the rights of religious organizations was significantly reduced. It was only at the beginning of the 21st century that the collective right to non-territorial autonomy was constituted. At the same time, constitutional and legal provisions protected the right of national minorities to choose and use symbols, which leads to the conclusion that the existing institutional arrangement of non-territorial autonomy contributed to better legal protection of the symbols of national minorities. On the other hand, there is room for additional improvement in the legal protection and regulation of the use of the symbols of religious organizations.