Smilja Avramov ( sr-Cyrl, Смиља Аврамов; 15 February 1918 – 2 October 2018) was a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

academician An academician is a full member of an artistic, literary, engineering, or scientific academy. In many countries, it is an honorific title used to denote a full member of an academy that has a strong influence on national scientific life. In syst ...

legal scholar Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

, social activist and educator in

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

. She was a member of the

Senate of Republika Srpska The Senate of Republika Srpska () is consultative body of the highest constitutive institutions of Republika Srpska, an entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its organization and functions are regulated with the Constitution of the Republika Srpsk ...

from 1996 to 2009. Before she retired she was a

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

International law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

at the Law Faculty at Belgrade University.

Education and career

Avramov finished high school in Sušak, Rijeka,

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...

, in 1936. She was maternally related to

Petar Preradović Petar Preradović (19 March 1818 – 18 August 1872) was a Croatian poet, writer, and military general. He was one of the most important Croatian poets of the 19th century Illyrian movement and the main representative of romanticism in Croatia. ...

and Pavle Solarić. During

World War II in Yugoslavia World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the US ...

, eleven members of her family were murdered at

Jasenovac concentration camp Jasenovac () was a concentration and extermination camp established in the village of the same name by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. The concentration camp, one of the ...

. She graduated in the Zagreb Law Faculty in 1947. She received her

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and a PhD in Belgrade in 1950. She also studied at the

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Harvard and Columbia Universities. Since 1949 until her retirement, Avramov worked as an assistant and a professor at the Belgrade Faculty of Law where she was also head of the Department for International Law and Relationships and director of the Institute for International Law. These positions included membership of the Judicial Council of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Yugoslavia. Avramov was active in many law associations including the one in Belgrade. She was president of the Yugoslav International Law Association and, since 1980, a president of the

International Law Association The International Law Association (ILA) is a non-profit organisation based in Great Britain that — according to its constitution — promotes "the study, clarification and development of international law" and "the furtherance of international ...

. As distinguished scholar Avramov was a member of the first convocation of the Senate of

Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is locat ...

, serving from 1996 to 2009. Avramov was also a member of Committee on Formation of Customary (General) International Law whose report was submitted at London conference held in 2000. Avramov was president of the International Confederation for Disarmament and Peace. Since 1999 Avramov has been a member of the presidency of the movement "Women authors – Conscience of Serbia".

Public engagement

She publicly opposed the practice of

humanitarian intervention Humanitarian intervention is the use or threat of military force by a state (or states) across borders with the intent of ending severe and widespread human rights violations in a state which has not given permission for the use of force. Human ...

ism, emphasizing that the main danger for the modern world is neither

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

, but

legal nihilism Legal nihilism is negative attitude toward law. Legal nihilism is "an erosion of the belief in law as a beneficial institution of societal organization." Many scholars believe that legal nihilism is a destructive phenomenon. Depending on the law ...

. In her work ''The Trilateral'', she alleged a conspiracy of the

Bilderberg Group The Bilderberg meeting (also known as the Bilderberg Group) is an annual off-the-record conference established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally to prevent another world war, is now defi ...

, the Council on Foreign Relations and the

Trilateral Commission The Trilateral Commission is a nongovernmental international organization aimed at fostering closer cooperation between Japan, Western Europe and North America. It was founded in July 1973 principally by American banker and philanthropist David ...

in the context of Balkan politics and global relations. In 2006, Avramov was one of the professors who signed the request for rehabilitation of Draža Mihailović. She served as an advisor to Slobodan Milošević between 1991 and 1992 and was a witness for the defence at his trial in 2004. She helped to found the Committee for the Protection of Serbs from the Hague Tribunal and was a member of the International Committee for the Truth of

Radovan Karadžić Radovan Karadžić ( sr-cyr, Радован Караџић, ; born 19 June 1945) is a Bosnian Serb politician, psychiatrist and poet. He was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal Tr ...

, also assisting with his unsuccessful defence on charges of war crimes. Avramov expressed her disagreement in 2013 when the Government of Serbia signed the Brussels Agreement with the Government of Kosovo, saying that it violates the Constitution of Serbia and the

Charter of the United Nations The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: the ...

and indirectly recognizes

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

as an

independent state Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

Death

Avramov died in Belgrade on 2 October 2018 at the age of 100.

Selected works

*''Međunarodno Javno Pravo'', 1976 *''International criminal law and the UN Charter'', 1993 *''Genocide in Yugoslavia'', 1995

References

External links

The International Legal Aspect of the Crisis in Kosovo and Metohia
sanu.ac.rs; accessed 26 April 2015.
Beskrajno_lutanje_u_tami_[Endless_ramble_in_the_darkness
/nowiki>_–_Smilja_Avramov_(June_1999).html" ;"title="ndless ramble in the darkness">Beskrajno lutanje u tami [Endless ramble in the darkness
/nowiki> – Smilja Avramov (June 1999)">ndless ramble in the darkness">Beskrajno lutanje u tami [Endless ramble in the darkness
/nowiki> – Smilja Avramov (June 1999)
Moja Srbija [My Serbia
/nowiki> – Smilja Avramov profile], vidovdan.org; accessed 26 April 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Avramov, Smilja 1918 births 2018 deaths University of Belgrade Faculty of Law alumni Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb alumni People from Pakrac Serbs of Croatia Serbian centenarians Serbian women writers Serbian writers Politicians of Republika Srpska 20th-century Serbian women politicians 20th-century Serbian politicians 21st-century Serbian women politicians 21st-century Serbian politicians Women centenarians Yugoslav writers Presidents of the International Law Association