The eighth of April, the International Roma Day, is an opportunity to remind the public every year about an extremely difficult position of the Roma in Serbia and that the authorities express declarative support and understanding to improve their position in Serbia.

However, it is also an opportunity to point out once again that it is necessary to urgently change the practice that brings us to the fact that each year on the occasion of marking the International Roma Day, people talk about the same problems faced by the Roma community and to listen to the announcement of solving their problems again and again. Roma face unequal treatment on a daily basis and also problems in exercising their rights and social exclusion, and the Republic of Serbia does little to improve their situation and eliminate systemic obstacles to improving of their situation.

Last year we wanted to point out at three problems that threaten the lives, violate the guaranteed dignity and hinder the integration of the entire Roma community. These problems are violence against Roma men and women, living conditions and forced evictions of Roma settlements and problems of legally invisible persons. This year, we can only repeat that, in addition to many others, these problems still remain unresolved and that, except in a small part, we do not see that declarative support follows the real results aimed at improving the position of the Roma.

Hate speech and violence against the Roma community has not been reduced, while impunity or mild punishment for these offenses have not been stopped. In addition, it has been noted that some media put ethnic labels on perpetrators of criminal acts and used open hate speech against Roma, which produces anti-Roma sentiment and violence against the Roma community.

The exercise of the right to adequate housing boils down to random conducting of forced evictions of informal settlements, without any plan for the improvement of living conditions in Roma settlements and with the lack of respect for international human rights standards. Only in the second half of 2011, seven Roma settlements were evicted without any plan and based on already seen model which completely ignores the standards of adequate housing. In addition, the eviction of one more informal Roma settlement – Belvil has been announced.

Legally invisible persons cannot exercise their basic human rights this year either. They still cannot be cured, employed, registered as parents of their children, included in social welfare system or exercise other rights that are available to all other citizens of Serbia. The law that would largely solve systemic problems in exercising the right to be recognized as a person before the law is the National Assembly, but its possible adoption, with all declarative support of the state authorities, will have to wait for the new convocation of the National Assembly.

Many international organizations – treaty bodies of the United Nations, European Commission and bodies of the Council of Europe have drawn attention to the problems we were drawing to last year and we are still drawing to. However, despite all recommendations and assurances that the Republic of Serbia is genuinely committed to the respect of human rights of all citizens and improvement of the position of the Roma, the results in this and many other areas important for the improvement of the Roma position have been persistently missing.

We demand that the state take all necessary measures and without any further delay solve these problems to which human rights organizations permanently point. Declarative commitment, verbal support and vague promises of the state are not an expression of willingness to solve the problems, but to conceal and postpone their solution. We demand that the state take concrete actions and ensure measurable results of the mutual effort to improve the situation of Roma.

Coalition against Discrimination consists of: Center for Advanced Legal Studies, Civil Rights Defenders, Labris - Lesbian Human Right Organization, Anti-Trafficking Centre, Network of Committees for Human Rights in Serbia (CHRIS Network), Association of Students with Disabilities, Gayten- LGBT, Praxis and Regional Center for Minorities.

On the occasion of International Roma Day, we are sending our best wishes to all fellow Roma citizens.

On this day we are obliged to once again emphasise that many Roma in Serbia still face poverty, violation of their human rights, discrimination in education, housing, health care and employment, and different treatment jeopardizing their lives, hurting dignity and hindering integration. What is also worrying is anti-Roma rhetoric and violence. Eviction of Roma families from their homes, segregation in schools, and difficulties in accessing health insurance, social protection, personal documents, citizenship and permanent residence all illustrate their exclusion and isolation.

Serbia cannot progress if a part of its population remains socially excluded and at the margins of society. The State must invest significant efforts to adopt and implement affirmative policy measures in order to enable social inclusion of Roma and ensure their equality with other citizens of Serbia.

Download: 2012 Regular Annual Report of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality

Download (only in Serbian): Discrimination in Serbia 2011

The possibility of subsequent birth registration in birth registries is particularly difficult for the children born in the territory of Djakovica and Decani after 1999, who were not timely registered in birth registries. Specifically, the employees of Jagodina City Administration responsible for dislocated registry books of the stated areas and for the concerned procedures of subsequent birth registration, often bring rejecting decisions upon these requests, which are overwhelmed not only with procedural flaws and violations of the rules of procedure but also with wrong application of substantial application; evidence in the procedure is wrongly assessed, and conclusions are often arbitrary, contrary to provisions of positive legal acts, which is, among others, in opposition to the state interest of eradication of the phenomenon of legally invisible persons.

Praxis lawyers, as proxies, have initiated several procedures of subsequent birth registration for persons born in the territory of Kosovo in competence of Jagodina City Administration. In addition to the above stated flaws, also common to rejecting decisions is the fact that those are children born after 1999. We point out that in almost identical situations of subsequent birth registration of persons born in the same territory before 1999, Jagodina City Administration reached decisions on adoption of requests.

In relation to the opinion of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, issued upon Praxis complaint filed against the Nis City Administration, Department of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, and against the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” from Nis for segregation and discrimination of Roma children, Praxis addressed the Commissioner with a request for delivery of information about whether and to what extent the stated Department proceeded in accordance with the recommendation contained in the Commissioner’s opinion within the given deadline.

Representatives of the Department of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport informed the Commissioner for Protection of Equality about the undertaken activities aimed at formulating and realizing the plan of measures whose implementation should overcome or at least reduce the circumstances stated in the complaint. The problem lies in the fact that, in the last twenty years, 90% of pupils enrolled in the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” in Nis have been children of Roma national minority, while on two to three children per generation have belonged to non-Roma population. The stated situation comes as a result of a circumstance that the school is located near a large Roma settlement, but also of the fact that responsible authorities have not taken any active measures in the previous years to change such state of affairs.

In addition to the statement that proceeding upon the recommendation is a process, the information received from the stated Department also pointed to the conclusions adopted at the meeting of the representatives of relevant organizations and bodies, organized with the aim of coordinating future activities for removal of the problem of segregation in this school. It was concluded that material conditions for work should be improved, that it was necessary to permanently work on improvement of the quality of activities the school offers, to undertake activities aimed at media coverage of school work, but also to interest parents and children of all nationalities through a marketing approach. It was pointed out that the NGO “Ponos” had accepted to conduct a poll in the upcoming period in order to define the causes of the problem and to give basis for further work on its elimination. The Department of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport ordered the participants at the meeting to deliver their suggestions in writing that would be used for shaping further activities related to drafting a comprehensive plan of measures for overcoming the stated problem.

What is noticeable is that the proposal of the actual measures or the proceeding that would efficiently reduce the existing differences between the pupils of the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” in Nis is still missing. By engaging all available mechanisms of the society, the response to each form of discrimination or any other negative social influence should be pragmatic and consistent, without investing time in formulating solutions that are hardly applicable in practice.

See the announcement: Commissioner for Protection of Equality Has Not Established Discrimination Irrespective of Segregation in Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” in Nis

In relation to the opinion of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, issued upon Praxis complaint filed against the Nis City Administration, Department of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, and against the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” from Nis for segregation and discrimination of Roma children, Praxis addressed the Commissioner with a request for delivery of information about whether and to what extent the stated Department proceeded in accordance with the recommendation contained in the Commissioner’s opinion within the given deadline.

Representatives of the Department of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport informed the Commissioner for Protection of Equality about the undertaken activities aimed at formulating and realizing the plan of measures whose implementation should overcome or at least reduce the circumstances stated in the complaint. The problem lies in the fact that, in the last twenty years, 90% of pupils enrolled in the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” in Nis have been children of Roma national minority, while on two to three children per generation have belonged to non-Roma population. The stated situation comes as a result of a circumstance that the school is located near a large Roma settlement, but also of the fact that responsible authorities have not taken any active measures in the previous years to change such state of affairs.

In addition to the statement that proceeding upon the recommendation is a process, the information received from the stated Department also pointed to the conclusions adopted at the meeting of the representatives of relevant organizations and bodies, organized with the aim of coordinating future activities for removal of the problem of segregation in this school. It was concluded that material conditions for work should be improved, that it was necessary to permanently work on improvement of the quality of activities the school offers, to undertake activities aimed at media coverage of school work, but also to interest parents and children of all nationalities through a marketing approach. It was pointed out that the NGO “Ponos” had accepted to conduct a poll in the upcoming period in order to define the causes of the problem and to give basis for further work on its elimination. The Department of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport ordered the participants at the meeting to deliver their suggestions in writing that would be used for shaping further activities related to drafting a comprehensive plan of measures for overcoming the stated problem.

What is noticeable is that the proposal of the actual measures or the proceeding that would efficiently reduce the existing differences between the pupils of the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” in Nis is still missing. By engaging all available mechanisms of the society, the response to each form of discrimination or any other negative social influence should be pragmatic and consistent, without investing time in formulating solutions that are hardly applicable in practice.

See the announcement: Commissioner for Protection of Equality Has Not Established Discrimination Irrespective of Segregation in Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” in Nis

NGO Praxis appeals to the relevant authorities to find an urgent solution for funding the Children's Shelter, since its closure has been planned for 1 April this year.

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We hereby appeal to the competent State and City authorities to urgently find a solution for sustainable and comprehensive financing of one of the most important services of social protection – the Drop-in Center for street involved children, bearing in mind the envisaged closure of the Drop-in Center as of 1st April.

We are aware of the difficult economic situation in the Republic of Serbia, but we hope that, prior to the announced closure, a manner will be found to enable the Drop-in Center to continue its work without hindrance, so that the children living and working in the street can have a safe place where they will be provided necessary support, understanding and help. Without services of the Drop-in Center, the City of Belgrade and the Republic of Serbia will express unwillingness and incapability to protect one of the most vulnerable categories of children. The announced closure of the Drop-in Center and lack of full understanding for the service will be a blow to all those who hope that they can change the society for the better with their ideas and actions.

Therefore, we appeal to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy to urgently find a solution for financing the Drop-in Center for street involved children in cooperation with the Centre for Youth Integration and the Secretariat for Social Welfare of the City of Belgrade.

The Appeal has been supported by 59 civil society organizations and 309 individuals.

See: Appeal
Centre for Youth Integration Announcement: Decision on Closure of the Drop-in Center (Serbian only)

The latest changes of the Regulation of the content, form and manner of submitting a unique application for mandatory social insurance, unique methodological principles and unique codex of codes for entry of data in the unique basis of the Central Register of mandatory social insurance (Regulation) have envisaged that persons of Roma nationality need to enclose the evidence on registration of permanent residence at the address of institution or social welfare center (SWC), in addition to the statement on national belonging, when applying for health insurance.

However, the problem of inability to obtain health booklets for persons of Roma nationality who do not have permanent or temporary residence registered and do not fulfill the conditions for insurance on some other grounds has not been solved in this way. The greatest problem in the application of newly adopted provision lies in the fact that this norm has been adopted based on the solution of the new Law on Permanent and Temporary Residence of Citizens and accompanying bylaws which provide for the possibility of registration of permanent residence at the address of SWC, which has not been consistently applied yet. The reason for that is the lack of detailed information and precise guidelines on the manner of acting of state bodies in relation to registration of permanent residence at the address of SWC.

It is clear that the solution envisaged by the Regulation, at least under the current conditions, cannot facilitate the access to right to health insurance for persons of Roma nationality. Considering the fact that it is one of the most vulnerable social groups in Serbia, the regulations in this area need to be changed as soon as possible and the access to health protection and health insurance for members of Roma population ensured, without violating the previously achieved level of human rights.

Read the announcement: New Conditions for Persons of Roma Nationality Applying for Health Insurance – Inapplicable Solutions