On 10 October 2013, a roundtable was held within the campaign News in the Field of Birth Registration and Obtaining of Personal Documents, as a part of activities implemented on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by UNHCR, Ombudsman of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration. The roundtable gathered 37 participants, including Roma activists, representatives of Roma associations, Roma coordinators, pedagogical assistants and health mediators from Kragujevac, Veliko Gradiste, Kraljevo, Smederevo, Smederevska Palanka and other cities.

The keynote speakers Davor Rako from UNHCR Belgrade, Dragana Vujkov from Ombudsperson’s Office, Suzana Stanic Carevic form the Department for Administrative Affairs of the Serbian MoI, Dragana Kralj from the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy and Jasmina Mikovic from Praxis acquainted the participants with the novelties in legal framework related to registration of permanent residence at the address of the social welfare centre and determination of time and place of birth in a non-contentious procedure. On that occasion, the participants were also informed about the role of each of the abovementioned institutions/organizations in contributing to achievement of the common goal – elimination of the phenomenon of the legally invisible persons by 2015

During the discussion, the participants expressed their concern because of the lack of conditions for the consistent application of the new legal solution, which refers to the possibility of registration of permanent residence at the address of social welfare centre. They also pointed to the problem of impossibility to register permanent residence at the address of social welfare centre for internally displaced persons from Kosovo who have permanent residence registered in Kosovo and live in informal settlements in Serbia. Due to impossibility to register the permanent residence in Serbia, those persons are out of the system of health care and social protection. The special reference was made to inefficient and lengthy procedures of acquisition of citizenships conducted before the Ministry of Interior. In addition, the participants also pointed to some discriminatory acting of employees deciding on requests of illiterate and uneducated persons of Roma nationality in regard to personal status of citizens. 

See: Closing the Cycle of Legal Invisibility