Praxis participated at the National Conference on Struggle to Eradicate Violence against Women, held on 25th October 2007 in Belgrade. The National Conference was organized by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy as part of the Campaign of the Council of Europe for combating all forms of violence against women. The aim of the National Conference was to provide insight into state of affairs in this field in the Republic of Serbia, as well as to initiate a multidisciplinary approach for preventing and combating violence against women and to provide adequate protection of the victims.  The National Conference on Struggle to Eradicate Violence against Women gathered participants from numerous institutions dealing with this issue. Considerable experience was gained and recommendations made, so the Conference could be considered as the beginning of the national campaign on combating all forms of violence against women.

Download: Conclusions from the National Conference on Struggle to Eradicate Violence against Women in Serbia

Praxis Report “Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection”, made with the support of UNHCR, was presented at a press conference organized on 11th February 2009 in Media Center, Belgrade. The report is a review of Praxis observations and experience gained over the three year period working on the implementation of the Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons in Serbia – Prevention and Response Project, implemented by Praxis as the UNHCR implementing partner.

Domestic violence is a serious violation of basic human rights. Even though men can also be victims of this kind of violence, the statistics show that most often the victims are women and children, girls and boys. Unfortunately, there is no country or culture in the world that does not face this phenomenon. The countries only differ in the extent to which they have recognized this problem, as well as in what they have done to combat it.

By introducing the criminal act of domestic violence, as well as other legislative changes, the Republic of Serbia has clearly expressed its standpoint that domestic violence is unacceptable and socially dangerous behaviour. However, the existing legal framework does not provide adequate protection to the victims of domestic violence. Even if the criminal and family law were amended, the domestic legal system would not be suitable to systematically deal with the domestic violence. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an integrated law on the prevention of domestic violence, in line with the most advanced common law experiences, and particularly those of the Western European Countries. That law should contain efficient family law and criminal law provisions, as well as the provisions on the misdemeanour responsibilities for domestic violence which are currently lacking from the positive legal environment in the country, then the procedure that should be followed by the police when dealing with domestic violence and the provisions on the measures for improvement of work of the public authorities in various spheres.

In addition, it is necessary to work on raising awareness of the entire society, breaking down prejudices and achieving gender equality in every respect, because only thus can we efficiently combat this phenomenon.

Speakers at the conference were Svetozar Ciplic, Minister of Human and Minority Rights, Natalija Micunovic, Director of the Gender Equality Department and President of the Council for Gender Equality of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Lennart Kotsalainen, Representative of UNHCR in Serbia, Ivanka Kostic, Praxis Executive Director, Sasa Gajin from the Faculty of Law, Union University, Belgrade, Marija Krivacic, psychologist and Vesna Mitic, lawyer.

 Download: Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Report

See information about presenting the report published on:

Media Center

Ministry of Human and Minority Rights web site

B92

Blic online

E-novine

 Download (Serbian only): Pravi odgovor, br. 129

Incest Trauma Center – Belgrade (ITC), which provides psychosocial assistance to children and women survivors of sexual violence and training for relevant stakeholders who work on protection of women and children from domestic violence and sexual assault, launched a Petition addressed at the Ministry of Education and the government of the Republic of Serbia for introducing gender-based violence sensitive national school curriculum, as part of its ten-month campaign against domestic violence “The Me Nobody Knows”. The idea behind the Petition is to educate and sensitise children in schools about the issue of gender-based violence and train professionals on how to deal with the issue if it occurs. Therefore, ITC invited relevant institutions and organizations to support the Petition.

Praxis joined the group of institutions/organizations who signed the Petition, hoping for it to be accepted by the Ministry of Education and the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

Download (Serbian only): List of Institutions and Organizations which Supported Incest Trauma Centre

Within this year’s campaign on raising awareness about gender-based violence, in cooperation with UNHCR, IOM and Roma Association Bibija, Praxis will organize six performances of a play entitled “Say STOP to Violence”, which is aimed at prevention of violence against women and human trafficking, and at informing and engaging Roma community.

The play “Say STOP to Violence” is made in a form of interactive theatre, so called the “theatre of the oppressed”, which has been officially labelled by the United Nations as a tool for achieving social changes. It consists of a series of theatre workshops and interactive plays which incite people to act and take over the control of their life situations.

Vera Erac and Mirela Pavlovic, authors of the play, together with 12 Roma actors, will try to point to different forms of violence against Roma women and to motivate the audience to discern available possibilities and choices that women, victims of this type of violence, have. With the assistance of a lawyer and a social worker, they will share with the audience information about existing resources and mechanisms of institutional protection and emphasise the need for changing attitude of the society towards violence against women and the necessity of giving a united response to it.

The play “Say STOP to Violence” follows life and events within a Roma family displaced from Kosovo. The family have a difficult life and are faced with numerous forms of violence, such as ethnic discrimination, alcoholism, family violence, human trafficking, prostitution and beggary, work exploitation. The actor, amateurs, will try to present specific characteristics of Roma population, traditional and cultural elements reflected in the phenomenon of gender based violence, and numerous forms of discrimination they face every day as a marginalized group of population.

After the scenes have been played, the audience will have the possibility to create the play again. They will be invited to take the role of actors and to express their opinion on the stage, to point to the problems they are facing and suggest potential solutions to overcome them.

During 2010, a total of six performances of the play “Say STOP to Violence” will be organized in Kragujevac, Krusevac, Nis, Subotica and Belgrade.
 

Emergency Travel Document ("Putni list")

As a returnee upon readmission agreement, you will receive an emergency travel document. Emergency travel document is used for only one entry to Serbia and is valid up to three months from the day of issuance.

You should keep the emergency travel document with you because, if you do not have other documents, it is used for:

• personal identification
• access to health care
• access to social welfare
• enrolment of children in school

If you lose the emergency travel document, you should report it to the nearest local police station in order to obtain a certificate which replaces the emergency travel document.

Permanent Residence

As soon as you arrive in Serbia, register permanent residence and try to obtain personal documents. If your emergency travel document expires and you do not have personal documents – you lose rights to health care, social welfare and education.

You should register permanent residence personally in a local police station. When registering residence, you should submit:

1. filled-in form for registration of permanent residence (form No. 1)
2. evidence on legal basis of using a housing unit at the address at which you are registering (contract on usage of the apartment, ownership certificate or contract on lease)
3. valid ID card or other identity paper, and for minors birth certificate
4. evidence on payment of administrative fee  

Personal Documents

A citizen of the Republic of Serbia over 16 years of age is obliged to possess an ID card and carry it with him/her.

In order to obtain ID card in the local police station, you should submit:

1. request for issuance of ID card (can be obtained in the local police station)
2. birth certificate (in case the birth certificate is issued abroad, it should be issued on an international form, while a birth certificate from Sweden or Finland should be verified by notary public) 
3. citizenship certificate (not older than six months)
4. certificate on permanent residence (obtained in the police station)
5. evidence on payment of administrative fee

Registry books from Kosovo have been displaced to Serbia proper and are administered by the municipal administration bodies in the following towns:

KRUSEVAC: Prizren, Orahovac, Suva Reka, Gora
LESKOVAC: Urosevac, Kacanik, Stimlje, Strpce
KRALJEVO: Kosovska Mitrovica, Srbica, Zubin Potok, Vucitrn, Zvecan, Leposavic
NIS: Pristina, Podujevo, Glogovac, Obilic, Lipljan, Kosovo Polje
VRANJE: Gnjilane, Vitina, Kosovska Kamenica, Novo Brdo
KRAGUJEVAC: Pec, Istok, Klina
JAGODINA: Djakovica, Decani

If the registry books are destroyed or missing, a request should be submitted for re-registration into registry books. With the request, you should enclose all available documents (birth certificate, marriage certificate, citizenship certificate, identification document).

Social Welfare

Address the social welfare centre in place of your permanent residence or the place where you find yourself upon return and ask for:

• free counselling, information and assistance in exercising rights
• immediate cash assistance
• free one-way ticket to place of future permanent or temporary residence (address the City Centre for Social Welfare in Belgrade)

Health Care

During the validity period of your emergency travel document, you have the right to primary health protection in the health centre, without having to pay participation fee.

Upon expiry of your emergency travel document, you exercise right to health insurance on the grounds of a health booklet. Health booklet is issued by the competent branch of the Republic Institute for Health Insurance according to your place of permanent or temporary residence.

For obtaining a health booklet, you need to possess and identification document (ID card, passport, birth certificate or internally displaced persons’ (IDP) card) and a certificate on registered permanent or temporary residence.

Education

Primary education is compulsory.

Documents needed for enrolment in primary school:

1. birth certificate
2. certificate on permanent residence
3. medical certificate
4. validated certificates on previously acquired primary school education, except for enrolment in first grade of primary school

If you do not possess some of the above-mentioned documents, ask the competent body to enrol your child in primary school on condition that you obtain the documents later.

Documents needed for enrolment in secondary school:

1. birth certificate
2. validated certificates on previously acquired primary school education

A child who completed VII and VIII grade of primary school abroad, does not need to take entry exam for enrolment in secondary school (except for secondary school departments specialising in philology, mathematics and arts).

Documents needed for enrolment in University:

1. birth certificate
2. validated secondary school diploma and certificates

Documents referring to education acquired abroad must be translated in Serbian by a court interpreter.

Documents translated by a court interpreter, a request for validation and evidence on paid republic administrative fee for bringing a decision on validation should be submitted to the Ministry of Education and Sports (22 Nemajina Street, Belgrade, window No. 1); if you have registered residence on the territory of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, these documents should be submitted to the Provincial Secretariat for Education and Culture (16 Bulevar Mihajla Pupina Street, Novi Sad).

The fee for bringing a decision on validation of primary school documents is 1,750.00 RSD.

The fee for bringing a decision on validation of secondary school documents is 3,490.00 RSD.

You can request exemption from paying the fee provided that you submit a certificate from the National Employment Service proving that you are registered as unemployed, or a certificate issued by the competent social welfare centre proving that you are beneficiary of the social welfare, or a certificate from the Republic Administration of Public Income proving that you do not possess property.

If you do not possess the documentation on education acquired abroad, you can obtain it through the Directorate of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia (24-26 Kneza Milosa Street, Belgrade).

Employment

Working Booklet

A request for issuance of a working booklet is submitted for verification to the municipal administration in the municipality according to one’s place of permanent residence or according to one’s place of employment in case the employer issues a certificate confirming future employment. With the request you should enclose:

1. a form and a blank working booklet (can be bought in the town hall or bookstore)
2. ID card
3. a diploma on acquired degree of education (domestic or validated foreign diploma)
4. citizenship certificate

Registration with the National Employment Service

Registration is conducted in the competent branch of the National Employment Service according to one’s place of permanent residence, with verified working booklet, ID card and diploma (domestic or validated foreign diploma).

Accommodation

Centres for emergency readmission of returnees have been opened in four towns in Serbia – Obrenovac, Sabac, Bela Palanka and Zajecar – where the returnees are accommodated on the grounds of an order issued by the Commissariat for Refugees of the Republic of Serbia. The centres provide accommodation for returnees and their families for not longer than 14 days.

After the period prescribed for accommodation in the centres for emergency readmission, you will be referred to go to the place of your permanent residence before leaving Serbia, to the place of your temporary residence in which you stayed longest or to some other place where you plan to reside either permanently or temporarily. Commissariat for Refugees provides and organizes the transport to your future place of residence.

LEGAL ASSISTANCE

If you need free legal assistance in obtaining documents or if you seek legal advice in accessing health care and social welfare, education, right to work and employment, pension and invalidity insurance –address the non-governmental organization Praxis.

Download (Serbian only): Information Bulletin for Returnees upon Readmission

Download (Serbian only): Leaflet for Returnees upon Readmission

Download (Serbian only): Information Bulletin for the Returnees upon Readmission

In 2009, Praxis provided direct legal assistance to 119 returnees upon readmission agreements from Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Norway and the Netherlands. The returnees submitted 251 requests for the issuance of birth certificates (through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, administration authorities and consulates in Serbia) and citizenship certificates, requests for admission to citizenship, registration into birth registry books and re-registration into civil registry books. Praxis filed reports and complaints with the competent authorities against the misconduct of certain bodies. In addition, Praxis covered the returnees’ costs of paying fees for the issuance of identity documents, application for the citizenship of the Republic of Serbia, as well as their travel expenses incurred in order to obtain ID cards. The returnees were provided with legal counselling in over 300 cases related to education, employment, social protection and health care and other areas.

Although it may seem that the current regulations provide protection to returnees upon readmission agreements, the practice has shown that unreasonable requirements are often set for accessing personal documents, which is a precondition for exercising the status rights. Inefficient, complicated and expensive procedures are sometimes insurmountable barriers for returnees in obtaining their personal documents.

Praxis’ experience to date indicates that the returnees originating from Kosovo are particularly at risk of having their rights violated, since a part of civil registry books was destroyed or went missing during the conflict in Kosovo. The procedure of re-registration into civil registry books before the administration authorities in Serbia (in 7 municipalities) administering the registry books from Kosovo may last even longer than six months. The practice of these bodies in handling requests for re-registration into registry books is uneven, as a consequence of different interpretations of laws and different application of regulations, but also the lack of regulations to address the specific needs of this category of population.

As regards to obtaining documents from BiH and Macedonia, the situation is also unsatisfactory. The process of obtaining documents through the Consulate of Macedonia in the Republic of Serbia lasts even longer than two months, while the documents from BiH can be obtained only personally or through a proxy (if the person can appoint a proxy).

The duration of the procedure for obtaining documents from other countries through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia varies. The administrative fees range from 20 to 30 euros per document.

In practice, it often happens that returnees from Sweden do not have notarised certificates, which incurs additional costs for them, although the Hague Convention is in effect between Serbia and Sweden and it envisages that a notary public in Sweden should put an Apostille stamp on these certificates.

Upon the expiry of single-entry travel documents, returnees are subject to the rules regarding the identification and proof of one’s status, applicable to all citizens of the Republic of Serbia. The impossibility of registering permanent residence in Serbia, for the reason of not possessing property in Serbia or not being allowed to register residence at some other address, makes it impossible for returnees to obtain an ID card and access basic human rights.

The certificates of acquired education in the countries from which the returnees were deported must be translated in Serbian language by a sworn court interpreter, in order to be validated. The fee for issuing a decision on the validation of primary school certificates equals 1,750.00 dinars, while the fee for issuing a decision on the validation of high school certificates amounts to 3,490.00 dinars. A returnee may be exempted from the payment of fees in accordance with the Law on Republic Administrative Fees, if the request for validation is supported with the proof of his/her unemployment or the certificate on being the beneficiary of social allowance, provided that his/her status in Serbia has been regulated.

It often happens that the authorities, in particular the social welfare centres, advise the returnees to address Praxis for assistance in obtaining documents, due to their own insufficient capacity. Moreover, the centres point out that some individuals are not able to submit all the necessary documents, due to a great number of supporting documents required to be submitted in order to prove that a particular person is in the state of social need. In addition, during Praxis visits to social welfare centres throughout Serbia, it has been noticed that the employees of certain centres do not have proper or any knowledge of their obligations related to returnees upon readmission agreements.

Taking into consideration the extensive experience of some non-governmental organisations in working with returnees upon readmission agreements in the field of obtaining personal documents and accessing basic rights, we believe that it would be very useful and necessary to establish better cooperation between the non-governmental and governmental sectors, for the purpose of better coordination of certain activities and efficient protection of the rights of returnees upon readmission agreements.

In November 2006 a Belgrade-based non-governmental organisation Praxis addressed the European Court for Human Rights with the request for intervention in the case Gajic v. Germany (Application No. 31446/02) on the grounds of the Article 36 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

In August 2002 Mr Gajic submitted an application to the European Court against Germany on the grounds of an unauthorised use of his apartment in Prizren, without compensation, by the German KFOR Contingent. The facts indicate obvious violation of the Article 8 of the European Convention (the right to respect for one's private and family life) and Article 1 of the Protocol I of the European Convention (property protection). In November 2006 German Government delivered the requested reply to the Court. Among other things, it is stated that the afore-mentioned violation of property rights cannot be attributed to Germany, on the grounds of the same arguments previously presented in the ongoing case Saramati v. France, Germany and Norway (Application No.78166/01). German Government claims that the German Contingent had been acting under a supreme command of KFOR, as an executive body of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, and that, therefore, solely the United Nations bear responsibility for the violation of the property rights.

Taking into consideration that Praxis has proven experience in 34 compensation claims submitted to the German KFOR Contingent with the same request directed to the responsible German state authorities, Praxis’ intervention in this case would help clarify important facts, decisive for the just solution of the dispute.

Download: Praxis' Request for Intervention in the Case Gajic v. Germany

On 15 January 2007, Praxis submitted written comments to the European Court of Human Rights as an intervening third party in the Court’s proceedings in the case of Gajic v. Germany (App. No. 31446/02) pursuant to Article 36 (2) of the Convention and Rule 44 (2) of the Rules of the Court. The case concerns allegations of deprivation of property-related benefits stemming from the use of the applicant’s immovable property from June 1999 until July 2004 by German contingent of KFOR as a constituent element of the KFOR Multi-National Task Force South-West, stationed in Prizren, Kosovo.

In its submission, Praxis addressed general principles in respect to admissibility of the application, most notably the disputed issue of whether the case falls under the jurisdiction of Germany within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention. Respondent Government argued lack of jurisdiction of the state and attributed the responsibility to the United Nations and NATO. Praxis challenged this standpoint by arguments indicating the responsibility of Germany for the mentioned violations of rights.

It should be noted that the Court’s decision in the case will determine the outcome of more than thirty cases related to German contingent of KFOR pending before the Ministry of Defence of the Federal Republic of Germany, which raise similar factual and legal issues as this case. Praxis will closely follow developments in the case.

Download: Praxis' Written Comments to the ECHR

In January of the current year, Praxis submitted written comments to the European Court of Human Rights as an intervening third party in the Court’s proceedings in the case of Gajic v. Germany (Application No. 31446/02). The case concerns allegations of deprivation of property-related benefits stemming from the use of the applicant’s apartment in the period June 1999 - July 2004 by German contingent of KFOR as a constituent element of the KFOR Multi-National Task Force South-West, stationed in Prizren, Kosovo. 

On August 28, 2007, the European Court of Human Rights declared inadmissible the application in this case. Calling upon its reasoning in Behrami and Behrami v. France and Saramati v. France, Germany and Norway (Application No. 7412/01 and 78166/01), the Court reiterated that the actions or inactions of KFOR are, in principle, attributable to the UN and declared itself incompetent ratione personae to review the acts of Germany carried out on behalf of the UN. In any event, the Court further considered the complaint premature and inadmissible due to non-exhaustion of domestic remedies (before German administrative courts).

Previously, on August 16, 2007, in a decision upon a filed objection, the German Federal Ministry of Defence finally rejected Gajic’s request for rental compensation on the grounds of alleged doubts regarding validity of the submitted evidence on ownership and instructed the complainant to appeal before the Administrative Court in Cologne. The Ministry wrongly estimated the new evidence supporting the objection. By the same token, the Ministry brought the first negative decisions in other 26 cases with similar factual and legal background. Praxis will continue to monitor development of the cases before the competent bodies in Germany and provide necessary legal aid to the affected IDPs.

Download:  Final Decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the Gajic vs. Germany Case