In June 2019, Praxis participated in a series of training courses delivered as part of the project "Support to Local Integration of Extremely Vulnerable IDPs, Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Serbia", implemented by Amity in partnership with UNHCR and the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs. The training courses were held in Leskovac, Smederevo, Niš and Kraljevo for social welfare centre professionals and trustees of the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, with the aim of expanding their knowledge of anti-discrimination regulations relevant for work with refugees, internally displaced persons and asylum seekers in Serbia.

The training concept, prepared and implemented by Marija Dražović from Praxis, included information about the legal and institutional framework, including the sources of international law and good practice, as well as domestic legislation. Given the complexity of the notion of discrimination, as well as the richness and diversity of the norms governing the protection of the right to equality, the presentation is based on a comprehensive approach to the problem of discrimination, with particular reference to the protection of refugees, internally displaced persons and asylum seekers. In addition, the participants were informed about the mechanisms available to protect the rights to equality and the shortcomings identified through the analysis of the compliance of domestic framework with international obligations and good practice as well as the shortcomings emerging in practice. However, the presentation focused mainly on the problems regarding the implementation of the existing framework and the possibilities and recommendations for improving the implementation. One part of the training was dedicated to the problem of non-transparent and non-inclusive approach in the process of policy development and adoption, with a particular focus on local policies and the consequences of this approach in their later implementation.

After the training, it was concluded that the level of awareness about anti-discrimination regulations was very low among employees in the concerned institutions, which was certainly due to the complexity of the Serbian legal framework for equality but also the insufficient commitment of the state to creating and implementing public awareness campaigns on this issue. This also involves that the state should assume the responsibility for enhancing institutional knowledge about anti-discrimination and preserving the acquired knowledge among service providers employed by the institutions. Most participants who attended the workshops pointed out that they had never undergone similar training or received any other form of anti-discrimination education. Considering that the participants were actually the officials who conducted the procedures concerning the rights of the most vulnerable citizens, it can be assumed that the risk of misapplication of regulations and violation of citizens' rights is very high. Some participants did not refrain from presenting discriminatory attitudes towards the members of certain vulnerable groups, especially Roma. They believed that the affirmative action system had provided Roma with more opportunities in terms of accessing rights. Some of them also believed that Roma were prone to abuse their rights and that little could be done to improve their situation because their lifestyle was directly influenced by their tradition and habits. In addition to this, numerous other highly biased opinions and views were expressed. The expression of such views was a reason for opening a discussion to present appropriate and generally accepted arguments about the dangers and harmfulness of stereotypes and to point out, through the most common examples of practice, that stereotypes were the basis of discrimination and led to serious violations of rights, especially when this was done by civil servants.

The participants were reminded that it was first necessary to recognise discrimination as a social problem in order to combat it effectively. In fact, discrimination is the responsibility of every individual and of the whole society, and therefore, it is extremely important that everyone should direct efforts to eradicate or supress this harmful phenomenon.

The training courses were very useful as they raised the issue of knowledge of the concept, framework and practice in this area and indicated that there was considerable room for improvement of the situation of vulnerable groups exposed to discrimination on an almost daily basis. The role of employees in the institutions that provided services to citizens on a daily basis in eradicating and combating discrimination was particularly discussed. This is especially important taking into account that citizens are highly exposed to discrimination in the area of service delivery in procedures before public administration bodies, which is a particularly difficult form of discrimination, defined by law. 

In June 2019, Praxis continued providing assistance to refugees/migrants, through information, psychosocial support, referrals to the targeted assistance provided by various organisations/institutions or covering the costs of transport to the asylum and reception centres.

A total of 1434 newly arrived refugees/migrants were informed about current situation in Serbia and the region, legal status and available legal options (seeking asylum in Serbia, assisted voluntary return to the country of origin, possibilities of family reunification abroad or resettlement to a third country when possible), accommodation in asylum centres (AC) or transit-reception centres in Serbia, means of transportation to the assigned centres, other rights and available services (medical care, psychosocial support, food, NFIs, various workshops for refugees/ migrants etc).

Download the whole Protection Monitoring Report for June 2019 here.

In May 2019, Praxis continued providing assistance to refugees/migrants, through information, psycho-social support, referrals to the targeted assistance provided by various organisations/institutions or covering the costs of transport to the asylum and reception centres.

A total of 1208 newly arrived refugees/migrants were informed about current situation in Serbia and the region, legal status and available legal options (seeking asylum in Serbia, assisted voluntary return to the country of origin, possibilities of family reunification abroad or resettlement to a third country when possible), accommodation in asylum centres (AC) or transit-reception centres in Serbia, means of transportation to the assigned centres, other rights and available services (medical care, psycho-social support, food, NFIs, various workshops for refugees/ migrants etc).

Download the whole Protection Monitoring Report for May 2019 here.

On the Occasion of the World Refugee Day, we are presenting testimonies of migrants who we were talking to within the activities performed as part of the project "Protection Monitoring and Assistance to Refugees and Migrants in Belgrade" funded by Save the Children.

"My name is Batul. I am not sure whether I am 31 or 32 years old. I am Hazara by ethnicity like my parents. My three sisters, my brother and I were born in Mashhad in Iran where I lived all my life. My parents were born in the north of Afghanistan, region of Ghour. They arrived in Iran 48 years ago as refugees and lived in Iran without regulated status all the time. In Mashhad I lived with my mother, brother and sister. Our father died 15 years ago. My two older sisters are in Norway. In Iran where we were born, we could not have any status. Iranians consider us Afghans and Afghans consider us Hazara. They treat us as Roma, as worthless. I'm not even married; you can imagine how they look at me.

As a person born in Iran in exile I do not have the citizenship of any state. I have never been in Afghanistan. The only document I ever had was a refugee card that we had to renew every year. I was born in a hospital in Mashhad, but I never obtained a birth certificate. After the father’s death, I tried to regulate the status. However, I was refused and told me that I should better go and find myself a husband. 

The only job I could find illegally was cleaning. I worked for a very small salary. I did not even have any medical insurance so I could not go to a doctor at the Health Centre but only to a private doctor, which had to be paid each time. This is why I had the idea to open my cleaning agency, but it was not possible without documents. We could not even go to another city to find a job or move to another place. I heard that refugees from Afghanistan could get a "white" passport in the Embassy, but I did not inquire about conditions. Without documents, we were destined to life only in one place. Once, one of my sisters tried to go to another city, to Tehran. However, the police went into the bus and took her out, because she did not have any documents. They threatened to deport her to Afghanistan. She was crying and begging them to let her go home. After a few hours, she was allowed to return to Mashhad. My brother was arrested several times, especially in the evening when he was returning home from work.

Life was very stressful and difficult for a woman who did not want to marry and wanted to be independent. Once while I was working as a cleaner, the agency owner wanted to be intimate with me, you know what I mean. I refused him and he got angry. He reduced my already small salary, threatening to pull the strings to deport me to Afghanistan. I wanted to report him to the police, but the police asked for my documents to file my report. When I explained to the police my situation, they began to question me about how I worked without a work permit. I had some more unpleasant experiences with men, because I was a woman, refugee and Hazara. This is why I was always looking for a job near the house, which was not easy. I also had big problems with self-confidence.

I want to live freely, to have my business. I do not want to marry just for documents. For that reason I decided to join my sisters in Norway.

...

We have arrived in Serbia early this morning. I hope I will not stay in Serbia for a long time. I want to join my sisters in Norway as soon as possible.

Batul stayed overnight with the family in Miksalište. The next day, she was taken to registration together with the family."

Towards the World Refugee Day, we are presenting testimonies of migrants who we were talking to within the activities performed as part of the project "Statelessness and Forced Migrations" supported by European Network on Statelessness.

"My name is Yasemin. I am 45 years old. I was born in Al-Jahra town in Taima settlement. I lived in a tent with my husband and our four daughters. I’m a Bidoon. You know, the Government of Kuwait considers us to be foreigners and all our rights are denied. We cannot get education, employment, we do not have the right to vote... My parents were born in Kuwait and spent their whole lives in Al-Jahri, disadvantaged and poor. I do not want such a destiny for myself or my children. 

In Kuwait I worked on a cow farm. I made cheese and other dairy products. Wages were small, because I do not have the right to work in Kuwait. But the farm owner was a good person and always helped my family when we needed it. Whenever my daughters were sick, in order to be examined by a real doctor, he would give us his daughter's health cards. Health care is free for Kuwaiti citizens, while we are not allowed to go to hospital. All my daughters were born in our tent. 

Many times my husband and I went to various institutions hoping that we would be able to exercise some rights and obtain documents. Each time they would send us back from the entrance and tell us that we had nothing to do there. I was once told that I should be happy that we were allowed to live in Kuwait at all. There are not even international organisations where I could seek help. Only few groups of humanitarians and some good people who helped giving us food and clothes. Bidoons protested numerous times. But every time the protests would end with arrests and aggression. At the 2009 protest, my husband was arrested. He spent several days in prison. He returned home humiliated and beaten. After many unsuccessful protests we began to lose hope that we would ever exercise any rights.

In Kuwait, people perceived us as a lower layer, slaves... I know it's wrong but whatever I do I cannot change it. I have never attended school. Neither have my children. I can write a bit, but my daughters have never learned it (the woman started crying). There is no help for us in Kuwait. It's a rich country, but it's a hell for us. That's why we decided to leave. There is no future for my children there."

Towards the World Refugee Day, we are presenting testimonies of migrants who we were talking to within the activities performed as part of the project "Protection Monitoring and Assistance to Refugees and Migrants in Belgrade" funded by Save the Children.

"My name is Mohammad Alif Islam. I was born on 26 May 2000. I was born in Talatuli, Arakan State, Myanmar. I am Rohingya, like my parents, and like their parents and parents of their parents. 

There were four people in my family: my father, my mother, my brother and I.  My father is no longer alive, and I do not have information about my mother and brother, I do not know where they are and whether they are alive at all. 

As a Muslim, Rohingya, I did not have the citizenship of Myanmar; I could not get a birth certificate, ID card, passport. I tried several times to obtain any document, but unsuccessfully.  Although the representatives of the Myanmar Government promised in the media that my ethnic group would be allowed to get documents, it was a lie. I did not have an opportunity to leave my fingerprints and obtain any document. My requests for the issuance of documents were later rejected in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, etc.

The fact that I have no citizenship has influenced my life a lot. I had no access to health care, I have never been in a hospital in Myanmar. When I got sick, I was usually treated with fruits or I would chew some leaves traditionally considered good for certain symptoms of diseases. Every couple of years, we would be visited by some international non-governmental organisation that would give us painkillers and we had to spend them rationally over a longer period of time. 

I did not have any formal education; I was not allowed to go to school. We gathered in houses, in groups of three or four, and studied. That is how I learned the letters. 

It was impossible for me to travel regularly. I was in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India. The only way to cross the border for me was to swim across the river dividing the two countries. I do not have a passport and there is no other way for me to cross the border.  

I have never been employed. 

I was forced to leave Myanmar because I am a Muslim. 

The army killed my father, they slaughtered him in my presence. 

They burned our house and the entire estate. They poured petrol and burned it.  I was watching our only cow burning, I was watching hens burning and dying. The army burned all the crops we had.

They tortured me. The Army of Myanmar. I was only 6 years old the first time. They were hitting me with machetes, cutting me, burning my shoulder, my body.

(Mohammad Alif undressed himself on his own initiative and showed us the terrible machete scars on the whole body: his arms, back, legs, back of the head and chest, and the burn scars on his shoulder.)

I was all bloody, continues Alif, I barely survived. 

 Why? Why did they do this to a child?  Why an I not allowed to live in my country?

I escaped first to Bangladesh. I was beaten up there also for being Rohingya. In 2015, I moved to India and lived one year in Calcutta. It was not any better there. I headed from India through Pakistan, Iran and Turkey to Europe. I spent four months in Greece in a reception centre. When I realised that I would not get documents in Greece either, I continued my journey together with my three acquaintances from the centre who had come from Bangladesh. We only passed through Macedonia and arrived in Serbia last night. We had been 15 minutes in Belgrade when you met us." 

Towards the World Refugee Day, we are presenting testimonies of migrants who we were talking to within the activities performed as part of the project "Protection Monitoring and Assistance to Refugees and Migrants in Belgrade" funded by Save the Children.

“My first association to childhood is my mother stroking my head. Yes, it was more than ten years ago but I remember it clearly.

Kunduz is my town and a place where I played with my brothers, where I went to school, but I did not feel sorry when I set off on a journey, as I knew that I had to. I will tell you why.

I lived with two brothers and three sisters on the outskirts of the town, in a small earth house. As a boy I used to play with my brothers all the time since one is four years older than me, and the other one year younger. We loved sports, especially football and cricket and we would often stay out all day playing. When we did not have to help our parents, of course. 

Our mother was in the house while the father was recruited by the military service fighting a war against the Taliban. The problems started when he came back home. The Taliban controlled the entire area and when dad returned from the army they found out that he had fought against them and that he was alive, so they started to threaten to slaughter us all. 

We decided to run away to Pakistan, while my older brother went to Germany illegally. The life in Pakistan was tough, dad worked, assisted the carpenters, we were very poor. In addition, the Pakistanis were very unpleasant to us, and when they started threatening us too, we decided to go back to our home in Kunduz. 

The Taliban greeted us with rifles and renewed threats to kill us. After a month of mistreatment, one day, my dad told them: “Do whatever you want to me, just don’t hurt my children.” The next day, they dropped a bomb under his car, he survived but both his legs were amputated. We were desperate. For the next several months we lived of the money that my brother sent from Germany, as he found a job and was working as a cleaner in a gym, at least that’s what he told us.   

It is then that I realised that it was my turn. In Afghanistan I had a choice to either join the military service or to be abused by the Taliban daily. There was no other work outside the military service. I gave up on college because in Afghanistan people who have diplomas sell scarves, there is no work. I brought the decision to join my brother and start earning money so that I could help my family. My parents borrowed 6,000 Euros, paid a smuggler to take me to Germany and one night the smuggler came to pick me up. I was sad while I was leaving my home, but I knew that my parents were hungry at that moment and I also knew what my responsibility towards them was. “

Following a complaint for service delivery discrimination on the grounds of disability lodged by Praxis, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality initiated a misdemeanour procedure before the Basic Court in Kraljevo against the owner of the children’s playroom “Maša i Medved” from Kraljevo for committing the misdemeanour referred to in Article 52, paragraph 1 of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination. 

In fact, the playroom owner committed discrimination and misdemeanour by refusing to provide the service of using playroom to an 18-month-old girl because of her disability, i.e. by imposing conditions that were not imposed on other persons.   

Since such conduct of the playroom owner is contrary to the Constitution, the provisions of anti-discrimination legislation and international conventions, which are directly guaranteed by the Constitution, and given that such conduct undoubtedly constitutes an act of discrimination that violates the right to equality motivated by the physical disability of a minor, Praxis lodged a complaint requesting from the Commissioner to establish discrimination and recommend measures to eliminate the consequences of such conduct. The Commissioner initiated a misdemeanour procedure against the responsible person, which is an option envisaged by the institution's mandate, i.e. a measure of responding to discrimination and the prevention of discrimination. 

In addition to protecting the victims of discrimination, we believe that the Commissioner’s decision and the outcome of the initiated misdemeanour procedure will significantly contribute to raising the capacity and knowledge of service providers, both in the public and private sector, about the obligations they must comply with in accordance with anti-discrimination regulations. We also hope that it will empower potential victims of discrimination to seek more protection of the right to equality.     

It should be emphasised that Serbian anti-discrimination legislation has been criticised for the lack of legal remedies addressing the cause of discrimination and it has been pointed out that the remedies are largely focused on the victims of discrimination. The Commissioner’s decision to initiate a misdemeanour procedure is also very important from that aspect since international good practice stresses the need for structural remedies that are beyond the provision of individual damage compensation to victims. 

Praxis participated at the first public hearing on Draft Law on Child’s Rights and Child Ombudsman that was held in  Belgrade, on 5 June 2019.  The Children’s Rights Council of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, consisting of representatives of relevant state institutions and the civil sector, in 2017 unanimously launched an initiative for adopting a comprehensive Law on Child’s Rights and Child Ombudsman. 

At present, professionals apply more than 80 legal texts in the field of child’s rights and their mutual incompatibility is one of most often highlighted problems. Therefore, the future Law on Child’s Rights and Child Ombudsman, as the so-called "umbrella" law, should contribute to the harmonisation of the entire legal system in the field of children's rights, because it will be necessary to harmonise the existing legal solutions in all sectoral laws with the solutions contained in the said law.

The civil sector has continuously pointed out, to both state institutions and international UN bodies that monitor the implementation of international instruments for the protection of human rights in Serbia, the necessity of adopting a comprehensive law in the field of child’s rights. By adopting this law, our country would fulfil one of its international obligations stemming from membership in the Council of Europe, which was the recommendation of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child from 2008, repeated in the next cycle, and the recommendation from the latest Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council from January 2018.

Praxis also had the opportunity to participate actively in the public hearing on the Draft Law on Child’s Rights, held ten years ago, but due to the lack of political will, further work on drafting the Law was suspended. We hope that this time the state will be more determined and adopt by September 2019, as planned, this extremely important law as an instrument whose primary aim will be to promote and improve the rights of the child, coordinate activities in exercising the child’s rights and control the observance of child’s rights by public authorities and other entities in society.

Public hearings will be held also in Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Novi Pazar and Niš. 

In the European Commission’s Serbia 2019 Report, the EC states that most Roma in Serbia have civil documentation, but emphasises that the procedure for registering the birth of children whose parents lack personal documents needs to be monitored, and related secondary legislation needs to be amended.

In this way, the European Commission has joined a significant number of international organizations and treaty bodies which have also pointed to this problem in their reports and recommended to Serbia to enable birth registration to every child immediately after birth. Similar recommendations have previously been produced for Serbia by the UN Human Rights Council, UN Human Rights Committee, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Last year, the European Parliament also called on Serbia to enable full realization of the right to timely birth registration, while Serbia has also committed to fulfil the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including, inter alia, the one to provide legal identity for all, including birth registration.

All these recommendations were produced because of the two by-laws that regulate the procedure for birth registration which prevent the birth registration immediately after birth of children whose mothers do not possess personal documents. In this way, in Serbia the right of the child to birth registration immediately after birth, which is also guaranteed by the ratified international conventions and Serbia’s Constitution and law, is violated. In the interpretation of the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF states that birth registration “immediately after birth” implies the deadline of several days, rather than months. However, in Serbia, these procedures last long, in some cases even more than half a year.

This problem in Serbia almost exclusively affects Roma ethnic minority, since a number of Roma women still do not possess personal documents. In relation to this, Praxis has sent appeals to competent bodies to amend the disputable by-laws for the purpose of resolving this problem. 

Finally, the EC Serbia 2019 Report also points to other problems faced by the Roma population in Serbia, to the difficult social position of the Roma and the gap that exists between them and the majority population. It is, thus stated, among other things, that almost 60% of girls from Roma settlements are married at an early age. It also states that the right to parental allowance depends on the children being vaccinated, while only 12.7% of Roma children have received all recommended vaccines, whereas this percentage among non-Roma children is 70.5. The Report also points out that significantly fewer number of Roma children attend kindergarten, and that drastically fewer Roma students finish school, compared to non-Roma children. The Report also provides data that show higher unemployment rate among the Roma, compared to the rest of the population, and also draws attention to insufficient representation of Roma in the public administration. 

Praxis took part in the process of preparation of the EC Report, both through consultations and by sending a written contribution to the Report precisely emphasising the above-stated problems.