In October 2025 (6–15 Oct), the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights visited Serbia and issued an end-of-mission statement in Belgrade on 15 October, assessing implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) through meetings with government bodies, local authorities, companies and associations (including Rio Tinto Sava, Serbia Zijin Copper and Linglong Tire), trade unions, communities and civil society across Belgrade, Bor, Loznica, Novi Sad and Zrenjanin; the Working Group noted it was unable to meet the Ministry of Justice despite repeated requests and said it would submit a report to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2026.  The Working Group described Serbia as having a solid legal framework and progress toward EU-aligned standards, but raised concerns that implementation and enforcement remain weak, including limited institutional capacity and awareness, limited investigations into alleged business-related abuses, and gaps in oversight by anti-corruption, labour and environmental bodies—particularly in the context of large, foreign-investment projects.    As context, it linked heightened public concern to nearly a year of protests following the 2024 Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse, described as connected to alleged corruption in public procurement and construction, and emphasized transparency, accountability and access to justice as central governance risks.    The Working Group also said it received troubling reports of intimidation, smear campaigns, surveillance and physical attacks targeting civil society actors and human rights defenders who challenge harmful business practices or corruption, including reports of excessive force and arrests around protests, concerns about SLAPP-type lawsuits, and a draft “foreign agent” law that could chill civic space.  On project decision-making, it called for major developments—particularly in the mining and infrastructure space—to be conditioned on comprehensive environmental and human-rights impact assessments, transparent data, public scrutiny and independent oversight, and it stressed meaningful consultation with affected communities; however, it reported that communities in areas hosting mining or industrial activities (including Bor, Zrenjanin and Loznica) experience limited or no meaningful participation, citing regulatory and planning uncertainty around the Rio Tinto Jadar lithium and boron project as one example.    In governance and permitting, it highlighted stakeholder concerns about opacity in procurement and approvals for “strategic” projects (referencing EXPO2027 and other projects), and reported instances of companies continuing activities without all necessary permits (including in relation to Zijin), alongside concerns about expropriation practices and land-use reclassification benefiting private businesses.  On labour and human rights, it noted a rapid rise in foreign workers and flagged exploitation and trafficking risks—citing the example of Vietnamese workers at the Linglong factory in Zrenjanin who were reportedly brought by a contractor, had passports confiscated, faced restricted movement and extremely poor conditions, with no evidence of prosecution and limited inspection oversight.  It further pointed to constraints on collective labour rights, including concerns about strike limitations and opaque, lengthy trade-union registration processes.  Environment-related findings were framed as human-rights risks: while environmental impact assessments (EIAs) exist in law, the Working Group said implementation is inconsistent and vulnerable to “salami slicing,” and it expressed concern over limited reliable information, monitoring transparency and community dialogue on health impacts around mining projects (including in Bor associated with Zijin), referencing data it received indicating higher cancer levels in mining areas and noting that fines for environmental violations are minimal; it also singled out the village of Krivelj for disproportionate impacts including heavy-metal pollution affecting water, livestock and agriculture.  The Working Group identified “groups at risk” in this context, including persistent discrimination affecting Roma communities (often in hazardous informal work and subject to displacement linked to development projects) and ongoing barriers faced by persons with disabilities, while also noting gender-related workplace discrimination concerns affecting women, including rural and Roma women.    Finally, it emphasized access-to-remedy gaps—reporting low trust in judicial independence and slow processes, concerns about prosecutors and policing around protests, and little evidence of effective company-level grievance mechanisms (including at Linglong), while recommending stronger cross-government coordination via a National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights and the introduction of Human Rights Impact Assessments for new economic developments to complement EIAs.