Some 32 minority rights NGOs from the Council of Europe area have worked together and drafted a Declaration on the impact of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, with the aim to provide a strong NGO perspective on the FCNM’s impact to date, how implementation can be strengthened, ratification expanded and greater impact secured in the future. The Declaration contains specific recommendations for a variety of stakeholders involved with the Framework Convention such as the Advisory Committee, the Council of Ministers, CoE Member States, as well as civil society organizations.

Praxis joined this initiative and supported the Declaration, with the aim to make this document as strong as possible, and thus contribute to strengthening implementation of the Framework Convention across Europe.

Download: NGO Declaration on the Impact of the FCNM

Download: Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities

Coalition against Discrimination, consisting of several non-governmental organizations, issued an Announcement related to the adoption of the Law against Discrimination and organizing meetings of ultra-right organizations whose aim is to promote and spread ideas of hate, violence and discrimination, such as the meeting planned for Saturday 11th October 2008. Since there is an ongoing discussion about this Law in the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia, Praxis joined the organizations that supported this Announcement, in order to put pressure on the State to adopt the suggested Law against Discrimination without delay.

The Announcement of the Coalition against Discrimination can be found at the following addresses: http://www.stopdiskriminaciji.org/ and http://www.cups.rs.

Praxis participated at the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) two-week conference, the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM), organized in the period from 29 September to 10 October 2008 in Warsaw. The conference is organized every year as a forum where OSCE participating States discuss the implementation of human dimension commitments, i.e. norms and activities related to human rights, rule of law and democracy. Civil society plays an essential role in the HDIM, giving NGOs an opportunity to present recommendations directly to OSCE states.

Praxis took active part in the Working Session 11 of the Conference, on 6 October 2008. This Working Session focused on humanitarian issues and other commitments including: migrant workers, the integration of legal migrants; refugees and displaced persons; treatment of citizens of other participating States. During the Working Session, Praxis Executive Director Ms Ivanka Kostic gave a statement on “Hostages of the Kosovo Conflict”, in relation to two major obstacles that IDPs in Serbia are facing in accessing their basic human rights and reaching a durable solution, access to documentation, both in Serbia and Kosovo, and access to property in Kosovo. Ms Kostic gave a brief overview of the background of the problems, their consequences for IDPs and difficulties they are facing in accessing their rights, as well as Praxis advocacy efforts to remedy the situation and offer systemic changes.

More on the Conference you can find here.

See the List of Participants here.

Praxis Executive Director, Ivanka Kostic, gave an interview for Balkan Refugee Voice, a publication of the Pokret za slobodu – Freedom Fight informs readers about the living conditions of refugees living in Serbia, about the Readmission Agreement signed by Serbia and the EU, about Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Kosovo and the Erased from Slovenia.

Ivanka Kostic drew attention to the burning issue of existence of a great number of legally invisible persons, i.e.  persons who are not registered into birth registry books and, thus, unable to enjoy their basic human rights. On that occasion, Ms Kostic spoke about the unequal practice of courts and administrative bodies in procedures of subsequent registration into birth registry books, and stated that those procedures lasted long and were complex, often with uncertain outcome. Ms Kostic pointed out the necessity of finding the systemic solution to this issue, that is, the need to legally regulate the procedure for recognition of persons before the law in a simple and efficient manner. In addition, she spoke about the basic problems that internally displaced persons from Kosovo and returnees upon readmission agreements from Western Europe face in accessing documents.

Download: The Interview with Ivanka Kostic

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) launched a new international campaign to fight human trafficking.

The international Blue Heart Campaign aims to raise awareness and bring people together to fight human trafficking. The Campaign uses the Blue Heart to symbolize the sadness of those who are trafficked, while reminding us of the cold-heartedness of those who buy and sell fellow human beings. The use of the blue UN colour also demonstrates the commitment of the United Nations to combating this crime against human dignity.

Materials and more information on the Blue Heart campaign can be found at www.unodc.org/blueheart

Blue Heart leaflet can be downloaded HERE.

Support the Blue Heart Campaign by adding the Blue Heart to your website.

Praxis was among more than 80 organizations who supported the Announcement of the Coalition against Discrimination and Partner Organizations entitled "For Efficient and Legal State".

Download (Serbian only): For Efficient and Legal State

In the period from 21-27 September 2009, summer school entitled “The Roma – Legal and Political Dimension” was held at the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade. The Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade organized the summer school in cooperation with the Faculty of Law and International Institute for Human Rights and Peace (Institut international des droits de l’Homme et de la Paix – 2IDHP) from Caen, France, with the support of the Fund for Open Society and the OSCE. Thus, the Faculty of Law started continuous engagement in the issue of improving the legal position of the Roma.

The Summer school was carried out in form of sessions on different issues: contemporary socio-political position of Roma; international and European standards of protection of the Roma (minorities); legal-political position of Roma / what is discrimination?; State and civil society in combat against discrimination of Roma; national legal and strategic framework for protection of the Roma (fields of education, employment, health care and housing care); discrimination of Roma in practice – abuse of women and children; discrimination of Roma in practice – problems of readmission and internally displaced persons; establishment of the Legal clinic for legal protection of Roma. The summer school also included numerous workshops within the above-mentioned sessions covering the following issues: What shapes me as a citizen?; Roma identity through art – inclusion or exclusion; case studies in Serbia; stereotypes and prejudices – unveiling the discrimination – analyses of newspaper articles about Roma, etc.

Invited by the Faculty of Law, Praxis took an active part in this summer school. Within the workshop “Case studies in Serbia”, Praxis’ legal advisors Ivana Dimic and Jelena Milonjic presented the organization’s experience in relation to the issues “Legally invisible persons” and “The right to citizenship, permanent and temporary residence”.

Opening speeches were held by Ph.D. Mirko Vasiljevic, the Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade, Ph.D. Neda Bokan, Vice Rector for Study Affairs at the University of Belgrade, Sanja Jasarevic-Kuzic, Assistant Minister of Human and Minority Rights, Daiana Serafina Falloni, Head of the Democratization Department at the OSCE Mission to Serbia and Ph.D. Jadranka Jelincic, Executive Director at the Fund for an Open Society Serbia.

As a contribution to the summer school, the lectures were given by the professors of the University of Belgrade – from The Faculty of Law, The Faculty of Philosophy, The Faculty of Political Sciences, the representatives of the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Ministry of Education, Ministry for Kosovo-Metohija, representatives of the Faculty of Law from Caen, France, representatives of the Serbian Academy of  Sciences and Arts, representatives of Serbian judiciary, the Society for Improving the Roma Settlements, Ombudsperson office, Academy of Criminalistic and Police Studies, Readmission Office at the Airport Nikola Tesla, UNHCR, etc.

Organizing the summer school is of significant importance to the fulfilment of goals defined by the Strategy for Improvement of the Position of Roma and Action Plan for implementation of the Strategy. The goals refer to establishing human resources to be engaged in improving the position of Roma, acquainting and sensitizing the professional public about the position of Roma in Serbia, raising the issues of discrimination among the experts, etc.

The students involved in the school also had the opportunity to work practically on the protection of the rights of Roma and, thus, to become acquainted with the position of Roma, obstacles impeding the fulfilment of their human and minority rights, and also to exchange experience and knowledge with the colleagues from countries in the region and France.

On the occasion of marking its fifth anniversary, Praxis organized a reception for colleagues and friends from non-governmental organization, international organizations, state institutions and embassies. The event took place at the "Aeroklub" in Belgrade. Present guests were addressed by Ivanka Kostic, Praxis Executive Director, H.E. Haakon Blankenborg, Norwegian Ambassador to Serbia, and Mr Eduardo Arboleda, UNHCR Representative in Serbia. On that occasion, a short film about Praxis was presented, as well as Praxis new publications: "Legally Invisible Persons in Serbia – the State Must Take over the Responsibility" and "Problems of Internally Displaced Persons in Accessing Property Rights in Kosovo – in 7 stories".

During five years of its work, Praxis implemented 26 legal projects; provided legal protection to refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, internally displaced persons from Kosovo, returnees in the process of readmission from Western Europe, members of minorities (Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian) and victims of family violence; performed over 500 legal team field visit throughout Serbia in order to reach out to the most vulnerable beneficiaries accommodated in collective centres, illegal Roma settlements and private accommodation; provided legal protection, information and counselling to 80,000 beneficiaries in relation to accessing status, property, social, economic and other rights; obtained over 40,000 personal documents for its beneficiaries, both in the country of origin and country of displacement; lobbied and advocated for changes of inadequate legal regulations; published nine thematic reports; organized over 150 educational seminars, workshops, roundtables and conferences for over 6,000 participants; signed memorandums of understanding with non-governmental and international organizations at national and regional level, as well as with the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights of the Republic of Serbia aimed at promoting cooperation; became a member of Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), Balkan Asylum Network (BAN), Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations of Serbia and European Roma Information Office (ERIO); prepared and distributed 70,000 information leaflets, brochures and posters, etc.

Praxis activities have been funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway, UNHCR Serbia,Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration of the US Government, OSCE Mission to Serbia, European Union through European Agency for Reconstruction, Danish Refugee Council and UNHCR, UNICEF, Catholic Relief Services and the Swedish Migration Board.

The 5th Anniversary of Praxis – Part I

FThe 5th Anniversary of Praxis – Part II

Download: Legally Invisible Persons in Serbia - the State Must Take over the Responsibility
Download: Problems of Internally Displaced Persons in Accessing Property Rights in Kosovo - in 7 Stories

The Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and the OSCE organized the roundtable entitled "Sustainable Solutions for Displaced Kosovo Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians and Policies to Improve the Reintegration of Repatriated Roma", in which Praxis took an active part and gave a presentation on challenges to access to rights faced by displaced Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians.

You can see the news about the roundtable at the web site of the Ministry and the web site of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Serbia.

As of 1 September 2010, Praxis will be implementing a project entitled "Strengthening Capacity for Inclusive Local Development (SCILD) in South Serbia", which is being jointly implemented by UNICEF, International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNDP. It will be implemented until 31 August 2012.

The Project aims at raising awareness of and sensitising local stakeholders (local authorities and service providers) to the difficult position of the Roma population and empowering them to deal with specific needs of this population in a professional manner; informing and raising awareness of the Roma community about their rights and obligations, in particular emphasising the importance of birth registration and possession of documentation, in the process of social inclusion.

The Project also includes provision of free legal assistance in conducting civil registration procedures for children/adults who are not registered in birth registry books.

The Project will be implemented in 13 municipalities in the region of Southern Serbia - Presevo, Medvedja, Bosilegrad, Vlasotince, Trgoviste, Bujanovac, Lebane, Vladicin Han, Surdulica, Bojnik, Leskovac, Crna Trava and Vranje.