In May and June 2017, Praxis held three consultative meetings on the topic of prevention and elimination of child, early and forced marriages and early dropouts of Roma pupils from the education system, in the primary schools "Jovan Cvijić" in Kostolac, "Boško Palkovljevic Pinki" in Batajnica, and "Aleksandar Stojanović - Leso" in Novi Pazar. Over 60 school education staff members, including pedagogical assistants, pedagogues and psychologists, attended these meetings.

The meetings are part of activities aimed at preventing and eliminating child, early and forced marriages, which have been implemented for the third consecutive year within the framework of the project Legal Assistance to Persons at Risk of Statelessness, financed by UNHCR. In addition to considering the legal framework regulating the field of child, early and forced marriages, the meetings specifically addressed the competences of educational institutions and the obligation of schools to react immediately by filing a report to the competent authority upon becoming aware of any signs of violence, abuse or neglect of pupils. The cooperation of all relevant institutions, primarily social welfare centres, schools and police, was once again emphasised as crucial in the fight against child, early and forced marriages. Through the discussion we presented the examples of good practice in Serbia and in the world, and then we jointly defined the problems/causes leading to this harmful practice and the strategies/mechanisms that would lead to prevention and elimination.

The meeting participants showed an obvious interest in the topic, especially in concrete proposals. They presented the situations they were facing and asked for advice. They pointed out that one of the most important problems was the irregularity of attendance by children due to moving with their families to other places in Serbia or abroad to perform seasonal jobs. In addition, they stressed poor cooperation with Roma parents who were not interested in the achievement of their children. The education staff often felt a lot of pressure from the non-Roma parents who insisted that Roma children were moved to other classes or schools. The lack of efficient and timely response by the competent institutions to the cases of child, early and forced marriages, primarily by social welfare centres, was emphasised as a special problem. They stressed that the education system in Serbia was regulated in a way that every child was allowed to complete the first four grades of primary school, regardless of the regularity of attendance. Thus, it happened that some children almost never attended classes, but only appeared towards the end of the fourth grade, after which they passed to the fifth grade. However, they were unable to follow the classes and often abandoned further schooling. In such cases, the teachers knew that marriage was often the next step. In addition to the major deficiencies in the system, the school education staff members were insufficiently informed and interested, and they were prone to prejudice. Therefore, it was necessary, as confirmed by the participants, to hold as many such or similar meetings as possible with the representatives of competent institutions and with the Roma community, in order to prevent this harmful traditional practice in the future.

Praxis will continue to implement the activities that address the issue of child, early and forced marriages through further work with school education staff, and especially through workshops with children in primary schools.

“I've been traveling for two years now. I have crossed the borders of Iran, Turkey and Bulgaria with the smugglers. I stayed in Bulgaria for a year and a month. After being caught, I was in prison for four months. I was given food every second or third day and was beaten regularly. Once the guards took us to the field and shot at us with an air rifle. I was hit in the ankle. We were hosed with ice water. They would beat us so much that the whole cell was bloody: we, the beds and bedding, the walls and the floor. It was awful. After that we were in a closed-type centre and then we were transferred to an open-type centre”, says A.M. - an unaccompanied minor.

The World Refugee Day - A day when we must not forget the thousands of people who had to leave their homes and embark on a journey to the unknown. 

Today, on the World Refugee Day, fear and uncertainty are accompanying the thousands of children on their path to a brighter future. These children do not choose hunger, anxiety and insecurity. They, like all other children, dream of carefree childhood and children’s play. These children have not chosen to be refugees and hostages of the decisions made by others. These children want to be children. "I don’t know what it looks like to be in prison, but this looks very much like the prisons that can be seen in movies," says B.B. (16) about a refugee centre in Hungary.

Today, when there are more than 6,000 refugees in Serbia, including a large number of children, we recall that children refugees are at a greater risk of violence, physical and sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking in human beings. On the road of uncertainty, they often lose their closest people and become even more vulnerable. Therefore, we must take into account the best interest of the child and treat refugee children primarily as children.

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.

Marija Dražović, Praxis Legal Advisor, talked about the beginning of the implementation of the ten-month project Contributing to Public Administration Reform in Kraljevo. The project will be implemented in the period 1 June 2017 - 31 March 2018, 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.

See the footage here.

At the beginning of May, according to the estimate of Praxis’ mobile team, the number of people staying in the abandoned warehouses behind the Bus Station in Belgrade, outside of reception and asylum centres, was around 1300. On May 4, the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration announced the relocation of refugees/migrants to the asylum and reception centres, and requested support from the organisations working in the territory of Belgrade, in order to complete the relocation without incidents and as soon as possible. According to the information received from the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, after completed relocation, there were 6,558 refugees/migrants in the reception and asylum centres in Serbia.  After relocation, Praxis’ mobile team every day met and talked to 50-300 refugees/migrants, including the newly arrived ones, the refugees/migrants accommodated in the Asylum Centre Krnjača and the Reception Centre Obrenovac and those who returned to Belgrade after an unsuccessful attempt to cross the Croatian, Hungarian or Romanian border.  The abandoned warehouses, in which a large number of refugees/migrants had been staying, were demolished after completed relocation.  

Praxis continued its field work and provided a total of 269 newly arrived refugees and migrants (162 adults and 107 children) in Belgrade with relevant information, which is fewer than in the previous month. Out of the total number of newly arrived refugees and migrants, 124 persons or 46.1% of them were from Afghanistan.  Nineteen (19) newly arrived refugees and migrants were from Syria, which accounts for 7.1% of the total number. Twenty-eight (28) refugees and migrants came from Iraq (10.4%), mainly families. 62 refugees and migrants (23%) were from Pakistan, mainly single men and unaccompanied and separated children (UASC), like in the previous period. A total of 17 refugees/migrants (6.3%) came from other countries, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Eritrea and India. 

In order to avoid sleeping rough in Belgrade after relocation, the newly arrived refugees/migrants waiting for registration in the police station or organised transport to asylum and reception centres, could spend a night in Miksalište.   Between 15 i 60 persons used this opportunity every evening. Since the situation in Belgrade has changed, some of the organisations that were present in the filed in Belgrade reorganised their work so that now some of their activities are carried out in the asylum and reception centres and some in Belgrade.   

Download the Protection Monitoring Report HERE.

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. 

Media coverage: Ibarske novosti

                        RTV KV 

In April, according to the estimate of Praxis’ mobile team, the number of people staying outside of reception and asylum centres was 1000-1500. Most people stayed in the abandoned warehouses behind the Bus Station in Belgrade. A significant number of people also stayed in the tents erected in the parking lot near the Bus Station. Their number reached over 150 by the end of the month. Between 40 and 60 unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) had the opportunity to sleep in the MSF tents, while up to 80 people slept in Miksalište. The overall number of refugees/migrants present in Belgrade every day varied depending of the number of newly arrived refugees/migrants, those who arrived in Belgrade from the Asylum Centre Krnjača, and those who returned to Belgrade after an unsuccessful attempt to cross the Croatian, Hungarian or Romanian border.

An important event in this reporting period took place on April 12th, when the European Commission published its first comprehensive framework for the protection of children in migration. The Communications envisage a set of principles and recommendations aimed at protecting migrant children, regardless of whether they are arriving with their families or unaccompanied:

1.    Swift identification and protection upon arrival
2.    Adequate reception conditions for children
3.    Swift status determination and effective guardianship
4.    Durable solutions and early integration measures
5.    Addressing root causes and protecting children along migrant’s routes outside the EU

The integral text of the Communication from the Commission to European parliament and the Council – The protection of children in migration is available at this link.

Praxis continued its field work in April and provided a total of 445 newly arrived refugees and migrants (307 adults and 138 children) in Belgrade with relevant information, which is fewer than in the previous month. Out of the total number of newly arrived refugees and migrants, 202 persons or 45.4% of them were from Afghanistan.  Four (4) newly arrived refugees and migrants were from Syria, which accounts for 0.9% of the total number. Thirty (30) refugees and migrants came from Iraq (6.7%), mainly families. 107 refugees and migrants (24%) were from Pakistan, mainly single men and UASC, like in the previous period. A total of 85 refugees and migrants (19.1%) arriver from Sri Lanka, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Bangladesh, Somalia, Tunisia, Eritrea, India, Tajikistan and Ukraine.

Download the Protection Monitoring Report HERE.