The Appeals Commission of the Press Council has established that Daily Informer and Portal Telegraf have violated the Code of Ethics of Journalists by calling the Albanians “Shiptars”.

During October 2014, Daily Informer and Portal Telegraf published a series of texts in which the Albanians were pejoratively called “Shiptars”. On that occasion, Praxis and 13 other non-governmental organizations filed an appeal to the Press Council, stating that such way of reporting is inadmissible and that pejorative and colloquial naming of certain group in media is not in accordance with the Code of Ethics of  Serbian Journalists.

The Appeals Commission of the Press Council has adopted the appeal and reached the decision that Daily Informer and Portal Telegraf have violated the Code of Ethics of Serbian Journalists, precisely the Item 1 of the Chapter IV, according to which a journalist shall oppose all those who violate human rights or who advocate any kind of discrimination, hate speech or incitement to violence, and Item 4 of the Chapter V according to which a journalist must be aware of the danger of discrimination that can be spread by media and shall do everything to avoid discrimination.

Press Council has established that it is undisputable that Albanians, or at least a part of them, take the word “Shiptar” as an insult, which should be enough for media to avoid using such word. The guidelines from the Code of Ethics of Serbian Journalists specify that it is “inadmissibly colloquial, derogatory and imprecise labelling of certain group”, in this case members of the nation whose official name in Serbia is the Albanians. Also, the Commission assessed that context in which the name was used is very important in this case. The media job is to inform and not to additionally raise tensions, this time caused by the incident that occurred at the football match between Serbia and Albania and comments related to that event, and thus insisting on the use of disputed term while reporting on that event is particularly unacceptable.

Praxis welcomes the decision of the Press Council and draws the attention of media that the use of term “Shiptar”, but all other pejorative and derogatory labels for certain social groups, is not in accordance with the Code of Ethics of Serbian Journalists and that they should not be used.

The appeal has been filed by:

Humanitarian Law Centre
Foundation for New Communications Dokukino
Civic Initiatives
Indigo, Nis
Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights - YUCOM
The Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia - CHRIS
Novi Sad Humanitarian Centre
Human Rights Committee Leskovac
Praxis
Regional Centre for Minorities
Sanzak Committee for Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms
Association "Eco Family", Novi Pazar
Association of Professionals for Children and Family Support “FICE Serbia”
Western Balkans Institute, Belgrade
 
More information about the procedure can be found at the website of Press Council.
Download the documents (Serbian only):
Appeal to the Press Council
Decision of the Press Council_Informer
Decision of the Press Councilu_Telegraf

See the media coverage at N1.

Sabine Llewellyn, a French journalist, wrote an article about two of Praxis' actions after talking to Cerim Gasi, a representative of internally displaced persons from Kosovo, and Bojana Balevic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence Coordinator in Praxis.

Read the whole article here.

Download: HERE

 Download: HERE

Download: HERE 

Download: HERE

On the occasion of 18 December, the International Migrants Day, Praxis wants to draw attention at difficult position of asylum seekers and irregular migrants in Serbia.

During 2014, more than 10,000 persons with intention to seek asylum crossed over Serbia, running away from armed conflicts and harsh violations of human rights, without being able to exercise their rights in our country either. Non-functional asylum system, postponement of adoption of amendments to the Law on Asylum, insufficient accommodation capacities, impeded access to socioeconomic rights are just some of systemic problems that reflect the lack of political will to find a durable solution. In addition to these problems, there is also widespread xenophobia expressed not only by citizens but also by the representatives of public authorities.

The International Migrants Day is the last change to ask ourselves why, as a society, we are not moved when people in our neighborhood sleep in woods and abandoned factories, exhausted by hunger and thirst, with frostbite, in fear of an uncertain future. We are calling on authorities to fulfil their obligations with an aim of establishing the efficient asylum system, but also on citizens to show understanding for all those who are forced to leave their homes and seek asylum somewhere else.

On the occasion of the eviction of refugees and internally displaced persons from the unrecognized Collective Center "Pioneer City", Jasmina Mikovic, Praxis Deputy Executive Director, made a statement for Vecernje novosti Daily.

Read the news here.

On the occasion of the eviction of refugees and internally displaced persons from the unrecognized Collective Center "Pioneer City", Jasmina Mikovic, Praxis Deputy Executive Director, made a statement for Vecernje novosti Daily.

Read the news here.

In November, Praxis organized five trainings on anti-discrimination law in Belgrade, Novi Pazar, Novi Sad and Nis. The trainings were held together with the partner organization Equal Rights Trust (ERT) from London, with the support of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, within the project Empowering Civil Society to Improve the Implementation of Anti-discrimination Laws in Serbia, supported by the European Union.

The first training was organized in Belgrade on 17-18 November 2014 in the premises of the National Assembly. It was primarily dedicated to lawyers dealing with anti-discrimination law. The goal of the training was to provide the participants with the knowledge about the national and international law, and strategic litigation for determination of discrimination. The training was led by Ivana Krstic (Faculty of Law of the University in Belgrade), Joanna Whiteman (ERT), Milica   Pavicevic (The Commissioner for Protection of Equality), lawyers Aleksandar Olenik and Violeta Kocic-Mitacek. The training was attended by the representatives of the persecution, public attorney’s office, the Ombudsperson, the Commissioner for Protection of Officer, Delegation of the European Union in Serbia and non-governmental organizations. The training consisted of the lecture about the legal framework on anti-discrimination, through illustrative examples from practice and exercises, aimed at practical application of knowledge and opening of a discussion. The participants had an opportunity to listen about anti-discrimination and strategic litigations from different perspectives: academic, non-governmental and that of independent institutions and lawyers.

This training was followed by trainings organized in Novi Pazar (20-21 November), Novi Sad (24-25 November) and Nis (27-28 November). These trainings were intended for activists of non-governmental organizations dealing with anti-discrimination and were led by Joanna Whiteman and Jim Fitzgerald (Equal Rights Trust), Ivana Stjelja (Praxis) and Rejhana Corovic, Lazar Rodic and Relja Pantic from the Office of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality.

In addition to the above stated trainings, on 26 November 2015 one more training was organized in Belgrade intended for media representatives. The training referred to the role of media in promotion of equality and was led by Vladimir Curgus (EBART),  Jim  Fitzgerald (Equal Rights Trust) and Danica Balaban (EBART). The participants talked about the principles of ethical reporting, different media reporting on children from different social groups and on discrimination in media based on national affiliation.

The trainings showed that discrimination is still an insufficiently explored issue, that term discrimination is often widely interpreted and often not recognized or wrongly understood in practice. The participants of trainings showed a great interest in this topic, especially in cases from practice. The conclusion of all trainings was that civil society needs to be more seriously empowered and informed about this subject and that such trainings are necessary.