Praxis published the “Analysis of the late birth registration procedures” prepared within the Project “We are Here Together – European Support for Roma Inclusion” funded by the European Union and implemented by the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

The report provides an overview of the procedures for late birth registration that Praxis conducted within the stated project in the period from September 2013 to June 2015, as well as of the implementation of relevant regulations and practice of the proceeding bodies. Furthermore, the report also contains the recommendations for improvement of policies and procedures in order to resolve the problem of the legally invisible persons.

The adoption of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure undoubtedly represented a significant progress in resolving the problem of the legally invisible. However, the responsibility for the final resolution of the problem still lies on the state since the regulations still prevent every child to be registered immediately after birth and to have his/her personal name determined.

In order to enable all unregistered persons to register in the birth registry and prevent the appearance of new such cases, it is necessary to create the conditions to register every child in the birth registry immediately after birth, regardless of whether the parents possess documents or not. It is also necessary to ensure lawful, consistent and equal proceeding of the bodies implementing the procedures and to secure that legally invisible persons are provided with free legal assistance without which they will not be able to register in the birth registry.

Download the report: Analysis of the late birth registration procedures