On the occasion of the upcoming European Commission’s Progress Report on Serbia, Praxis participated in the consultation meeting with the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia, and also submitted a written contribution on the progress achieved and the obstacles observed after the last, 2016 Commission’s report. The written contribution submitted by Praxis focused on the field of public administration reform and access to basic rights, while special attention was paid to the situation of Roma children. Praxis presented the observed shortcomings regarding the implementation of the new Law on General Administrative Procedure and pointed out that Serbia did not have yet the Law on Free Legal Aid, despite the ten-year debate on its adoption. The written contribution also mentioned the remaining obstacles to the prevention of statelessness and recalled that there was still no legal framework that would ensure that every child was registered immediately after birth. Praxis also warned about the over-representation of Roma children in the fostering system, and stressed the need for taking additional measures to prevent segregation in education and to ensure access to quality education for every child. Finally, the written contribution warned about the problem of child, early and forced marriages, especially affecting Roma girls who, due to the lack of adequate response to this practice, were denied access to a series of basic human rights.

Download the written contribution here.

Praxis participated in the second meetingof the National Working Group (NWG) for Monitoring Public Administration Reform (PAR) in Serbia held in Belgrade on 26 October 2017.

As an introduction to the NWG meeting, a workshop was held for representatives of civil society organisations (CSOs) implementing research projects within the framework of WeBER Small Grants Programme, during which they exchanged their experiences of the previous implementation of these projects and presented research progress and findings related to PAR monitoring at the local level.

Milijana Trifković from Praxis and Danijela Jović from Centre for Balanced Regional Development – Cen TriR spoke on behalf of the CSO recipients of small grants for PAR monitoring at the local level. The former presented the first findings of research on transparency of local self-government bodies and implementation of the new Law on Administrative Procedure in the City of Kraljevo, while the latter presented the findings of the current employment practice, the impact in the field of human resource management, as well as the civil society’s views of these issues in Užice, Požega and Gornji Milanovac.

The NWG is a national consultative mechanism for dialogue between the civil society and relevant public authorities on the design and monitoring of the PAR process in the Western Balkan countries. The National Working Groups have been established in each of these countries as part of a wider WeBER platform. More details about the NWG in Serbia are available here.

WeBER (Western Balkans Enabling Project for Civil Society Monitoring of Public Administration Reform) is a three-year project financed by EU and co-financed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. More details about the project are available here.

The report of the organisations European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), Institute for Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI) and the European Network on Statelessness (ENS)warns that the lack of documents has extremely negative consequences for the lives of thousands of Roma living in the Western Balkans and Ukraine.

These organisations urge the countries in the region to focus on stateless Roma and to facilitate the birth registration procedure, which poses obstacles to Roma in accessing documents without which they cannot prove their identity and citizenship. It is emphasized that leaving Roma children without birth certificates leads to their growing up and living as stateless persons. As a result, thousands of Roma face difficulties in accessing core services and rights, such as the right to education, health care and housing.

One of the interviewed Roma women from Serbia says: "I did not give up, but I do not see that something will happen and change my situation for the better. I'm sorry because I know that many things would be better if I only had citizenship and documents.”

The report reveals the serious consequences that Roma suffer as a result of wars and dissolution of the former SFRY, along with systemic discrimination and social exclusion. It is particularly difficult for those who could not prove citizenship. The Roma who were forced to leave their homes during the war, often without any documents, upon return faced with complicated procedures and numerous difficulties in attempting to obtain documents. In addition, institutional discrimination and racism, recorded in some of the countries covered by the research, have created obstacles that prevent Roma from accessing the basic rights that other citizens enjoy.

The research also shows some positive and successful examples of civil society cooperation with the state aimed at facilitating the procedures for registering into birth registry books, eliminating legislative shortcomings and raising awareness about the importance of solving this problem. These efforts show that the problem of statelessness can be solved with a proactive approach and in line with the recommendations given in this report, which can serve as an example of good practice for other countries in the region.

At the same time, the report calls on the European Commission to recognise the problem of statelessness and discrimination against Roma as a matter of priority in the process of negotiations for EU membership. 

For more information, see the announcement at the following link. 

In the suburban settlement “Beranovac” near Kraljevo, the families are being evicted from the social housing apartments, which were built in order to find a durable and sustainable housing solution for the internally displaced persons from Kosovo.

It should be noted that after the expiry of the three-year period during which the internally displaced persons, former residents of collective centres, had lived in the social housing apartments in Kraljevo for free, paying only the costs of electricity and utility services, the Municipal Housing Agency in Kraljevo prescribed new conditions, unacceptable for the majority of the families. One of the requirements for concluding a new contract on apartment use was that the tenants of these apartments had to provide a minimum of 75 euros (in RSD equivalent) per household member. The offered contracts envisaged a monthly rental in the amount of 1.20 euros per square metre, which was unattainable for retired persons, beneficiaries of social allowance or temporary allowance for unemployed persons from Kosovo, and for the tenants without any income. For refusing to accept the unfavourable contractual conditions, in 2013 the Municipal Housing Agency sued 33 families requesting their eviction. The recent court decision was unfavourable for these families and their eviction from the social housing apartments is ongoing. The tenants, including children, the elderly and sick, have not been provided with alternative solution and are at risk of becoming homeless. 

Determination of new, unfavourable conditions for the use of social housing apartments was not done with prior consultations with tenants in order to find a solution that would respect their needs and prevent the conduct of lengthy court proceedings.

Finally, we draw attention to the fact that consultations with citizens is a requirement in the process of public administration reform and a key element of good governance, and good governance is a prerequisite for respecting human rights.

For more information, see the announcement at the following link. 

The failure to include the public in the decision-making process can result in the unlawfulness or unconstitutionality of adopted acts, which will always be the case if a public hearing has not been held despite the prescribed obligation to do so. Such a standpoint was taken by the Constitutional Court in deciding on the initiatives for assessing the constitutionality and legality of general acts. The Constitutional Court assessed that the disputed decisions of the administrative authorities in Ćuprija, Mionica and Kraljevo, which determined fees for environmental protection, were not in accordance with the Law on Local Self-Government Financing, since the administrative authorities had failed to hold a public hearing at the time of adopting the disputed decisions, which was prescribed as a mandatory phase in the procedure of adopting such type of acts.

It should be kept in mind that Article 51 of the Constitution prescribes that everyone has the right to be informed truthfully, fully and timely about issues of public importance and that the media have the obligation to respect this right and that everyone has the right to access information that is in the possession of state authorities. The non-transparent decision-making process and the failure to include citizens and civil society organisations may result in the unconstitutionality of adopted acts, which is confirmed by the practice of the Constitutional Court. With respect to the decisions of the administrative authorities in Ćuprija and Mionica, the Constitutional Court found that "failing to hold a public hearing in adopting (...) decisions violated the constitutional right to be informed under Article 51, paragraph 1 of the Constitution". 

In addition, it is important to point out also to the inappropriate decision of the Kraljevo City Assembly on compensating the costs of in vitro fertilisation, which excluded the right to compensation for marginalised groups. This decision unjustifiably excluded the internally displaced persons with the registered temporary residence in Kraljevo since 1999, since they were not able to fulfil the requirement regarding the registration of permanent residence. There were no consultations with CSOs or citizens before making this decision. After Praxis lodged a complaint with the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, the administrative authority changed the disputed decision, thus demonstrating the willingness to ensure the exercise of rights to all citizens under equal conditions. The civil society plays an important role in eliminating such deficiencies. However, there is no doubt that the actions of administrative authorities would be more efficient if CSOs and citizens were already involved in the process of drafting acts, in order to prevent the adoption of inappropriate or discriminatory decisions.

Public participation in policy making is one of the key elements of good governance, and good governance is a precondition for creating a framework for full respect for human rights. Transparency in the actions of administrative authorities and the participation of civil society organisations and citizens in the decision-making process is one of the focuses of the project Contributing to Public Administration Reform in Kraljevo implemented by Praxis.

For more information, see the announcement at the following link.

On 28 July 2017, an informative meeting was held with media representatives in the premises of the Kraljevo City Administration. The aim was to highlight the importance of public administration reform and the role of the media in this process. The meeting was held as one of the activities of the project Contributing to Public Administration Reform in Kraljevo, implemented by Praxis as part of the Western Balkans Enabling Project for Civil Society Monitoring of Public Administration Reform (WeBER), financed by the European Union and co-financed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Marija Dražović, Praxis Legal Advisor, informed the participants about the importance of public administration reform in the EU accession process. She also stressed that it was one of the priority tasks that Serbia had to perform successfully in that process. It was noted that the EU enlargement criteria recognised and emphasised the need for building a national public administration that would have the capacity to pursue the principles of good governance and effectively transpose and implement the acquis communautaire.

Taking into account the significance of the role of the media in monitoring of and reporting on the complex process of administration reform, its progress and challenges, the SIGMA Principles of Public Administration were presented and media representatives were invited to get acquainted with the content of these principles and the monitoring framework, which facilitated the monitoring of progress development over time.

Jasmina Miković, Praxis Deputy Executive Director, spoke about the role of civil society organisations and the media and emphasised their importance in raising awareness and knowledge of citizens about the progress of reforms and their significance for the European integration process through responsible and informed monitoring and reporting.

If we take a look at the stage of legislative drafting, as the main policy instrument, we shall notice  that it is often performed without sufficient preliminary analysis and regulation impact assessment, without a public hearing and citizen involvement. Research indicates that a public hearing is held for every tenth regulation only, while the percentage of law adoption by urgent procedure exceeds 70, which cannot be justified with the pace of the European integration process. In this regard, it is noticeable that there is a narrow space for the participation of civil society organisations, and there is also an impression that public authorities recognise their importance only because of the need to fulfill the EU’s expectations, and not because they consider it a condition of functional democracy.

The role of the media, as an initiator of public debate, is not sufficiently developed in the area of public administration reform, either due to financial instability or insufficiently conducive environment for investigating specific topics, which particularly applies to the local media.

Finally, media representatives emphasised that they recognised the importance of their participation in the process of public administration reform, but also the low level of awareness among citizens about the effects of successful reforms on their everyday lives.

It was concluded that the civil society and the media faced numerous challenges in the reform of public administration, and therefore it was very important to strengthen their capacities in order to be efficient "monitors" and active participants in the reform process.

For more information, see the following link.                         

Praxis, jointly with the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, the European Network on Statelessness and the European Roma Rights Centre, under the third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review, made a submission to the Human Rights Council about the outstanding issues related to the prevention of statelessness and protection of stateless persons in Serbia. The submission focuses on the obstacles concerning the timely registration of the fact of birth into civil registry books, problems in acquiring citizenship for the children born in Serbia who are not entitled to citizenship of another state, and the problem of persons who had been registered into civil registry books that were destroyed during the 1999 conflict in Kosovo or that are considered unavailable by the authorities of the Republic of Serbia.

Since Serbia could soon get a new Law on Foreigners, the submission also points to the current version of the Draft Law on Foreigners whose provisions on the determination and prolongation of immigration detention discriminate against stateless persons and make them subject to arbitrary detention. The submission also mentions the difficulties that may arise because of the lack of procedures for determining the status of a stateless person.

Finally, the submission contains clear recommendations suitable for ensuring timely registration of the birth of each child and more constant respect for the right to citizenship, and for facilitating access to guaranteed rights to the persons who have remained stateless and protecting them from prolonged or arbitrary deprivation of liberty.

Download the submission here.

Over the past few days, Praxis recorded two cases in which the notaries requested from citizens to pay drastically higher fees for the verification of signature than those prescribed by the notarial tariff. Thus, the Praxis beneficiaries were asked to pay about 4,000 dinars in Kragujevac and about 5,000 dinars in Belgrade, although according to the Public Notary Tariff, this service should be charged 360 dinars.

In both cases, the affected persons did not possess ID cards and were not registered in citizenship registry books. Therefore, in order to certify the power of attorney, their identity was determined on the basis of the statements of two witnesses, and for this reason the notaries wanted to charge a much higher fee for the verification of signature, although the Public Notary Tariff does not allow the increase of fee in such cases.

Due to the improper conduct of the notary, Praxis assisted the damaged party to lodge a complaint with the Chamber of Public Notaries. Praxis expects the Chamber to respond properly and thus prevent the occurrence of similar cases in the future. It is extremely important to ensure that the prescribed tariff is strictly applied, because the people who do not possess personal identification documents and whose identity must be established with the help of witnesses are almost exclusively legally invisible Roma. They are undoubtedly among the poorest citizens, and now they are required to pay more than a tenfold amount of the fee prescribed for verification. In addition, the powers of attorney are certified with the aim of initiating procedures for registration into civil registry books, which should enable them to finally become full and equal citizens. The described unlawful practice of certain notaries prevents the legally ignorant and poverty-stricken Roma in doing so.

It should be mentioned that as of 1 March 2017 the verification of signatures, transcripts and manuscripts can be performed only by notaries. At that time, the President of the Chamber of Public Notaries said that the notarial verification would be cheaper than it was in the municipalities. However, this does not apply to legally invisible Roma who previously were completely exempted from the payment of republic fees for the verification of documents used for registering into civil registry books. Now, however, not only are they not exempted from the payment of fees, but they are placed in a much more difficult position than other citizens with the unlawful conduct of certain notaries. In fact, the poorest citizens are required to pay the most. Therefore, the urgent response of the Chamber of Public Notaries is necessary in order to put an end to and prevent this unacceptable practice of certain notaries.

Since 1 June 2017 Praxis has been implementing the ten-month project Contributing to Public Administration Reform in Kraljevo, within the framework of the Western Balkans Enabling Project for Civil Society Monitoring of Public Administration Reform (WeBER), financed by the European Union and co-financed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The main project goal is to have transparent data on public administration reform at the local level, improve the service role of local administrative bodies and the knowledge of citizens about it, improve the mechanisms of cooperation of the local self-government with citizens and civil society organisations and contribute to better embed the principles of public administration in local decisions and manner of providing services.

During the implementation of the project, the most important activities are focused on the analysis of decision-making and policy-making process at the local level, monitoring the implementation of the Law on General Administrative Procedure, the public awareness campaign, advocacy for ensuring the consistent application of the Law on General Administrative Procedure and publishing reports presenting the most significant results of project activities and providing recommendations for improving the process of public administration reform at the local level.

Praxis will achieve and promote project goals in close cooperation with Radio Television Kraljevo and Ibarske novosti as well as other local media. 

For more information, see the announcement at the following link. 

Today, we are celebrating the International Roma Day. Roma men and women are still the most vulnerable majority group in Serbia. The results achieved so far in improving their position have not yet removed some of the basic obstacles that impede their equal access to rights and inclusion in all social activities.

The Human Rights Committee, in its Concluding observations as of March this year, again expressed its concern that despite the efforts of the state to solve the problem, Roma are still facing widespread discrimination and exclusion, high unemployment rate, forced evictions and segregation in education and housing.

Our Roma fellow citizens, the residents of informal settlement in Cukaricka suma, welcome the International Roma Day this year in the settlement where living conditions are beneath human dignity, in the settlement surrounded by barriers that impede the access to it. Container settlements established as a temporary solution for the Roma evicted from informal settlement, have been in the same place for years. More than 50% of Roma girls get married before their 18th birthday, and problem of child, early and forced marriage almost exclusively affects the Roma community.  Many Roma still do not have all valid personal documents and do not have access to basic rights. There is no effective free legal aid system, and for many Roma it is one of preconditions to access their rights. According to the annual report of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, more than 40% of the total number of discrimination complaints on the basis of national affiliation and ethnic origin refer to discrimination against Roma. The precise data on the extent of unemployment do not even exist.

We appeal to competent institutions to accelerate the process of solving of the remaining problems, to responsibly, efficiently and systematically approach to improving of the position of Roma men and women. Also, we call for respect and promotion of human rights, intercultural values, dialogue, solidarity and human dignity.