(”Belgrade, Serbia (Beograd, Srbija) St Sava Orthodox Temple” Photo by: sonja71/Flickr) Today Serbia officially put in for EU membership. Milica Delević, head of the Serbian Office for European Integration, said: "We officially confirm to be ready to accept all the values and obligations necessary to join the EU". Since 2003 Serbia has been admitted to the Council of Europe, and has also applied for admission to the NATO's programme "Partnership for Peace" : both NATO and EU underlined as a primary condition a Serbian full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. In addition to this, in May 2008, with the victory in the general elections of a party welldisposed to EU, Serbia has given a further proof of its willingness to cooperate. The road will be long, about 4 years, but this marks an important first step towards enlargement to include countries with important differences from the "European spirit" and the "Catholic-Christian values" so much discussed in these days: first of all, the religious order, which sees Serbia as one of the most multifaceted, with areas where the Muslim religion reachs 90% (such as in Kosovo). Moreover, according to the annual report issued by Amnesty International on September 14, 2009, Serbia, with its 9.9 million population, appears to be a country where human rights defenders are at risk and the authorities are coming under their obligation to protect them . In June, the Kosovo Assembly adopted a constitution which do not establish actual bodies for human rights' defence, and not even fully guarantee women and non-Serb minorities' rights. In November the UN Security Council approved a plan to "neutral status" to reconfigure UNMIK (acronym for “United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo”, which indicates the provisional administration of the Serbian province of Kosovo by UN, OECD and EU as well: often confused with a peacekeeping operation, it is actually a military operation involving the use of force) and which allowed in December the EU, through the European mission policy Security and Defense Policy (EULEX), to detect responsibility for international police operations, investigations and prosecutions relating to unresolved war crimes. There have been reports of mistreatment by the police, especially against Roma: in June, Serbia declared its priorities for the legalization of Roma settlements and preventing discrimination in the educational field, introducing in July, among other things, the Roma language as an optional subject in schools: however, Roma remain excluded from public jobs and are often incurred in evictions or other forms of discrimination in respect of their right to adequate housing. About women's rights many NGOs complained that the procedures for providing protection to victims of domestic violence have been often delayed and rarely prosecutors have begun legal proceedings. The report also describes the latest attacks against human rights' defenders, by some members of parliament, far-right organizations and members of the security services, who have been accused of war crimes, attacking them, threatening to lynch, destroying their homes or offices. Defenders such as Natasa Kandic, director of the Center for Humanitarian Law, Sonja Biserka, director of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Biljana Kovacevic Vuco of the Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights and several members of the organization for Women's rights “Women in Black ": the press accused these people of being against Serbian because of their position in favor of independence for Kosovo and for having asked to bring to justice those responsible for crimes committed in the nineties in Croatia ,Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. Troubles also for LGBT's rights defenders (of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender). In general, Balkans have never been gay friendly, considering that homosexuality ceased to be a crime just ten years ago: the LGBT community can not organize Pride since 2001 because of threats by right-wing fringe groups and religious organizations . The threats have had no feedback from local and international, despite repeated pressure from supranational bodies, showing the weakness of the state in addressing the conflict between religion and the rule of law: state institutions have provided a fertile ground for these violent actions, offering minimal resistance or anything. Amnesty International ask to the Serbian government to implement in practice the supranational laws, and to the embassies of EU member states to provide protection and support to human rights defenders in Serbia. These clauses must be the basis of preparation for the entry of the country to the EU.