On 23 March 2018, a conference “Youth Engagement in the Danube Region” was organized in Stuttgart, gathering partners and associates of the foundation Agapedia, as a part of the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region. The conference gathered the Minister for Education of the Baden-Württemberg region, Germany, as well as the representatives of organizations and institutions from the countries in the Danube Region. Network of Organizations for Children of Serbia - MODS was represented by Sasa Stefanovic, Director of MODS, Jasmina Mikovic from Praxis who is the President of the Steering Committee of MODS and Aleksandra Grubin, Project Manager from SOS Children’s Villages in Serbia.

Since the beginning of the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR), there have been many efforts to deepen cross-border youth cooperation between the Black Forest and the Black Sea.

A multitude of initiatives and networks have for many years successfully brought together young people across all 14 countries of the Danube region; enabling cross-cultural exchange on issues as diverse as environmental protection, language learning, the future of the European Union or the challenges posed by digitalization. Yet, many initiatives are project-based and have only limited awareness of other undertakings. The Danube Strategy in itself provides only limited support in this particular field.

In the past, there have been several attempts to create more stable framework conditions and networks. The emergence of the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) as part of the so-called Berlin Process to improve cooperation among Western Balkan countries and the European Union marks an important milestone in this regard.

The first part of the programme provided an overview of the existing structures and networks, mapping the field of youth cooperation in the Danube Region. For the second part of the dialogue, stakeholders, experts and project practitioners from civil society, national and regional administration as well as academia were invited to share their experiences and identify joint challenges. Various thematic roundtables enabled a structured debate on issues to be targeted in youth cooperation, such as: Common European values, Employability, Migration and Brain drain, (Social) Entrepreneurship, New Media and Digitalization, Intercultural Cooperation and Environmental issues.

In the third part of the dialogue, working groups reflected on support mechanisms and networks in place to support youth cooperation in the Danube Region.

On 22 May 2018, the report entitled The Wall of Anti-Gypsysm - Roma in Serbia, prepared by the Civil Rights Defenders, was presented in the Media Centre in Belgrade.

On that occasion, Marija Dražović, Antidiscrimination and Gender Equality Programme Coordinator in Praxis, highlighted that decisions relevant to Roma were often made without participation of their community, due to which they were ineffective. She said that there was no awareness, at the national level, about the real problems of Roma, and consequently there was no progress n solving them.

See the article in Danas daily.

On 22 May 2018, the report entitled The Wall of Anti-Gypsysm - Roma in Serbia, prepared by the Civil Rights Defenders, was presented in the Media Centre in Belgrade. The report includes the information about the situation of Roma in Serbia in different areas of life, including employment, education, housing, access to justice, personal documents, health, security and freedom from torture, asylum and forced return.   

On that occasion, Marija Dražović, Antidiscrimination and Gender Equality Programme Coordinator in Praxis, said that the problem of discrimination against Roma should be seen from the perspective of good public administration. 

"The basic problem is how our judiciary provides access to justice, because if citizens are not aware of their rights, they do not exist", said Marija, adding that institutions must begin to formulate regulations to address the situation of the most vulnerable groups of population.

See EurActiv.rs statement here.

On 22 May 2018, the report entitled The Wall of Anti-Gypsysm - Roma in Serbia, prepared by the Civil Rights Defenders, was presented in the Media Centre in Belgrade. The report includes the information about the situation of Roma in Serbia in different areas of life, including employment, education, housing, access to justice, personal documents, health, security and freedom from torture, asylum and forced return.

On that occasion, Marija Dražović, Antidiscrimination and Gender Equality Programme Coordinator in Praxis, said that despite progress, Roma continued to encounter problems in exercising their fundamental rights.

“Most often they need free legal aid; however, the problem lies in the fact that the Law on Free Legal Aid has not been adopted in our country due to which Roma have to rely on the civil sector”, said Ms. Dražović.  Marija stressed the necessity of including Roma into decision-making processes regarding the improvement of their situation, but also a great importance of improving the existing laws and regulations regarding the exercise of the right to citizenship, possession of personal documents, receiving a child allowance.

“Roma mothers, due to scarcity of financial resources, are not able to pay fees for the issuance of ID cards. Thus, they are prevented from exercising the right to child allowance, as they do not possess a valid personal document. Given their social position, this is a serious problem for them, and therefore, it is our recommendation to find a solution as soon as possible in order to overcome such situations", Ms. Dražović concluded.

See the statement of Media Centre here.

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 non-governmental organisation Praxis examined the process of public administration reform in Kraljevo and gave proposals for the improvement of that process. One of the proposals was that the City of Kraljevo should ensure public participation in the process of decision making and adoption of general acts.

Read the full text here.

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 non-governmental organisation Praxis examined the process of public administration reform in Kraljevo and gave proposals for the improvement of that process. One of the proposals was that the City of Kraljevo should ensure public participation in the process of decision making and adoption of general acts.

Read the full text here.

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 non-governmental organisation Praxis examined the process of public administration reform in Kraljevo and gave proposals for the improvement of that process. One of the proposals was that the City of Kraljevo should ensure public participation in the process of decision making and adoption of general acts.

Read the full text here.

The Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), set up by the Council of Europe, launched the second round of evaluation of the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings in respect of Serbia to examine the impact of legislative, policy and practical measures on the prevention of trafficking, the protection of the rights of victims of trafficking, and the prosecution of traffickers. In preparation of the report, GRETA used the reply to the questionnaire for the second round sent to the Serbian authorities, the report submitted by the Serbian authorities to the Committee of the Parties, as well as information received from civil society.

The final Report concerning the implementation of the CoE Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings by Serbia was adopted at GRETA’s 30th meeting (20-24 November 2017). The Report deals with the main developments in the implementation of the Convention, emerging trends in trafficking in human beings, developments in legal and institutional framework, national strategy and action plans, prevention measures, measures to prevent and protect the rights of victims, etc.

Briefly, in 2013-2016, a total of 296 trafficking victims were officially identified in Serbia, the majority of them (130) were men trafficked for labour exploitation; 72 women were trafficked for sexual exploitation, and 94 children, including 78 girls, trafficked primarily for the purpose of sexual exploitation, followed by forced begging and forced marriage. Most of the identified victims were Serbian nationals.

During GRETA’s evaluation visit to Serbia that took place from 6 to 10 March 2017, Praxis took part in their meeting along with other civil society organizations and presented the present situation in relation to birth registration, statelessness and child, early and forced marriages among the Roma population in Serbia.

You can see Council of Europe’s press release here.

You can download GRETA Report here.

On 29 March 2018, Praxis held a conference to present the results of the 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 conference was attended by representatives of local administrative authorities, civil society organisations and the media.
See the footage here.