As part of the Project “Equal Opportunity for Better Perspectives, Strengthening Roma People to Combat Discrimination,” implemented by the Office of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality of the Republic of Serbia, in cooperation with Praxis the second public discussion was held for the members of Roma community in Prokuplje. Organization of the discussion is a part of the information and education campaign of the Commissioner aimed at raising awareness and strengthening vulnerable social groups to combat discrimination.

The public discussion gathered Roma activists and representatives of organizations the activities of which are directed at protection and assistance to marginalized and excluded social groups, primarily members of Roma community.

At the beginning, representatives of the Office of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality presented the institution and its competence, as well as the procedure upon filing the complaint for discrimination. They also attempted to bring closer to the participants the general notion of discrimination. Stating that “discrimination is unequal treatment of persons who are in equal position or equal treatment of those who are in unequal position,” they tended to simplify complicated legal formulation of the notion of discrimination. Furthermore, through numerous examples they pointed to the participants that not every making of difference is prohibited, thus clearly drawing a line between treatment and acts that are discriminatory and those that are not. In this part of the presentation, the participants were acquainted with numerous forms of discriminatory behaviour and, at the same time, with certain personal features that most often represent basis and reason for discrimination.

Acquainting participants with the aim of the public discussion, representatives of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality particularly emphasised a worrying fact that, among the filed complaints, a very small number was submitted by the members of Roma community or the associations working on the protection of the rights of Roma, especially bearing in mind that the Roma are one of the most discriminated social groups. They, thus, invited the participants to respond to occurrences of violation of the right to equality by filing complaints to the Commissioner, pointing out that the procedure is free and that the complaint can be filed by mail. Besides, the significance and the effect of the Commissioner’s decisions were pointed out, more precisely the discrediting effect that the decisions establishing discrimination have on individuals, a body or a group practising discrimination. Individual cases in which the discrimination was established and the measures undertaken in order to combat such behaviour in the future were also presented. Representative of the Commissioner also distributed the printed edition of the 2011 Regular Annual Report of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality to the participants, as well as the complaint form in the Romani language.

Representative of Praxis spoke about the mechanisms for access to and protection of basic human rights, but also about the most frequent problems and obstacles in the access to certain rights. She particularly pointed to new legal solutions that prescribe a simplified or facilitated procedures. At the same time, she emphasised the significance of citizens insisting on implementation of the new solutions so that their effect can be felt in practice. In a part of the presentation related to access to rights, Praxis representative also referred to the role and significance of the Ombudsperson of the Republic of Serbia, its competence and authorities.

After the presentation, participants of the discussion had the opportunity to actively participate by giving their observations and experience in relation to exercise of rights. Thus, they pointed to the difficulty and often the impossibility to access the rights at all, which leads to their social exclusion and, to a certain extent, deprivation of rights. As they were not familiar with the institution of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, its role, competence and authorities, the discussion contributed to raising awareness of the members of the Roma ethnic minority about their right to equal treatment and the need to use instruments for protection of the right aimed at combating discrimination.

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Law on Permanent and Temporary Residence of Citizens that came into force on 29 November 2011 offers a more advanced solution with regard to determination of permanent residence for persons who do not have legal basis of residence. If a citizen cannot register permanent residence on one of the legal bases (ownership right over the apartment, contract on lease of the apartment or other legal bases), competent body will bring a decision determining permanent residence at the address of the institution where the citizen is permanently accommodated or the social welfare centre in the territory of which the citizen is located. The citizen should address the institution or the centre with a request so that his/her address can be registered at the address of the institution/centre. Adoption of a by-law is expected in the upcoming period that should ensure implementation of the newly adopted solution.

Besides, the Law simplifies the procedure for registration of new permanent residence, because a citizen will no longer be obliged to deregister residence in the earlier place of permanent residence, which ensures faster registration of residence and simplified record keeping.

As part of the Project “Equal Opportunity for Better Perspectives, Strengthening Roma People to Combat Discrimination,” implemented by the Office of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality of the Republic of Serbia, in cooperation with Praxis a public discussion was held for members of the Roma community in Novi Pazar. Organization of the discussion is a part of the information and education campaign of the Commissioner aimed at raising awareness and strengthening vulnerable social groups to combat discrimination.

The discussion gathered Roma activists, local Roma population and representatives of organizations the activities of which are directed at protection and assistance to marginalized and excluded social groups, primarily members of Roma community.

Bearing in mind the extent of discrimination the Roma are exposed to, the number of complaints filed last year by the members of Roma community and the associations working on the protection of the rights of Roma is relatively small. This information was particularly emphasised by the representatives of the Office of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality who used the opportunity to invite the participants to respond to occurrences of violation of the right to equality by filing complaints to the Commissioner, pointing out that the procedure is free and that the complaint can be filed by mail. Furthermore, they distributed the printed edition of the 2011 Regular Annual Report of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality to the participants, as well as the complaint form in the Romani language.

In addition to presenting the work of the institution and its competence, the representatives of the Commissioner strived to bring closer to the participants the general notion of discrimination, to provide detailed information about the manner of filing the complaint and the course of the procedure, as well as the significance and effects of the Commissioner’s decisions on complaints. Representative of Praxis gave an overview of access to basic rights and the most frequent problems and obstacles hindering the exercise of those rights.

On the other hand, the participants of the discussion were provided with an opportunity to present their observations and experience with regard to exercise of rights. Thus, they pointed to the difficulty and often the impossibility to access the rights at all. Besides, they stated that they often felt socially excluded, giving examples from everyday life that testified of the extent of deprivation of rights of the members of Roma community.

With an aim to achieve factual equality of rights, it was concluded that it was necessary to create social, political, economic and other prerequisites to secure effective enjoyment of rights and freedoms for the members of the vulnerable and marginalized social groups. The fact is that it is necessary to build a tolerant environment and work on reduction of social distance to minority groups if we are to successfully combat discrimination. Until the above-mentioned has been secured, the procedure upon complaints filed for discrimination, which is conducted by the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, undoubtedly represents important contribution to combat against discrimination. For this reason, it is essential to make this institution more available to citizens and to enable them to protect their right to equality through the procedure before the Commissioner for Protection of Equality.

Ivana Stankovic, Praxis Programme Coordinator, told for Daily Danas that legally invisible persons cannot obtain health booklets because they are not registered in birth registry books, which prevents them from enclosing evidence to the request for issuance of a health booklet.

Read more in Danas

Every person in Europe should benefit from the rights provided for by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the European Convention on Human Rights. However, despite living in a region that enjoys an advanced human rights framework, hundreds of thousands of stateless persons in Europe continue to have little or no access to many fundamental human rights.  These “legal ghosts” are left voiceless and experience daily exclusion as a result. This brings into stark perspective the importance of human rights which guarantee our ability to be heard, to associate with others and to participate in democratic processes.

In Serbia today, thousands of individuals are deprived of exercising their basic human rights due to unregulated citizenship status. This number includes those who are not registered in birth registries and are consequently left without citizenship. Moreover, some were registered in citizens’ books that were later destroyed or went missing, while some were left without the citizenship after the dissolution of the former Yugoslav Republic or acquired the citizenship of the republic they were not living in anymore. Most of these persons are members of the Roma national minority, one of the most vulnerable and marginalized population groups in Serbia, which have being living through generations without any evidence on their identity, birth or origin due to poverty and social exclusion, inadequate regulations and long-lasting ignorance of their problem. They are not just voiceless but are also invisible to the system. Being deprived of the citizenship means being deprived of the possibility to exercise the right to health care, social protection, employment and the right to participate in the political life.

We believe that all human beings have a right to a nationality and that those who lack nationality altogether are entitled to adequate protection - including the freedom to speak and be heard, to associate with others and to partake in democratic processes. 

In light of strong pledges made by many European countries to end statelessness, and to identify and protect stateless populations to ensure their enjoyment of human rights, the European Network on Statelessness marks international human rights day by drawing attention to hundreds of thousands of stateless persons in Europe, whose voices should count as much as our own, but do not.

The position of the stateless is the focus of a public statement released today by the European Network on Statelessness, a civil society alliance with NGO Praxis as its member, committed to address statelessness in Europe.

See: Statement of the European Statelessness Network

Within the project "Fighting discrimination and building a culture of tolerance through dialogue, legal reform and active monitoring of discriminatory practice" realized by the Center for Advanced Legal Studies in cooperation with members of the Coalition against Discrimination, which consists of the Center for Advanced Legal Studies, Civil Rights Defenders, Labris - Organization for Lesbian Rights, CHRIS Network, Association of Disabled Students, Gayten LGBT, Praxis and Regional Centre for Minorities and AIRE Centre from London, a series of roundtables have been organized throughout Serbia with the basic aim of considering the problem of discrimination in local communities.

Discussions transmitted to readers of this publication point to some of paradigmatic cases of discriminatory practice and participants' attutudes towards them.

Download (only in Serbian): Discrimination in Serbia in 2012 - roundtables

Praxis held today a roundtable in the Media Centre in Belgrade within the project funded by UNHCR, directed at the prevention of statelessness in Serbia, with an aim of presenting the adopted legal solutions that enable facilitated procedures for proving the date and place of persons not registered in birth registries and determination of permanent residence at the address of Social Welfare Centre and their implementation.

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The representatives of Praxis held a guest lecture at the School of Romology 9 at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad. The School of Romology is an interdisciplinary programme where attendants study Romany history, culture and language, and the goal of the programme is acquainting the attendants with the basic knowledge of Romology and sensitizing the wider public to the needs of the Roma community.

At the guest lecture, the attendants  were acquainted with the most significant problems faced by the Roma community in Serbia in exercising the basic human rights. In that regard, the problems faced by legally invisible persons, i.e. persons not registered in birth registries, the consequences of forced evictions of informal Roma settlements and systemic discrimination in the respective areas were also presented. In addition, the attendants saw the documentary film “Here I Am”.

The lecture was followed by a discussion when concrete measures for the improvement of exercise of the rights of legally invisible and forcibly evicted Roma were proposed and the continuation of the cooperation in future cycles of School of Romology announced.