In the period 25-27 June 2014, Roma Women’s Centre “Bibija” organized a seminar “I know my rights” in Belgrade, as a part of the UNICEF Project “Breaking the Chain of Exclusion of Roma Children through Early Development and Education.” In addition to representatives of the Ombudsperson, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality and Praxis as the moderator, a total of 18 female representatives of 10 Roma non-governmental organizations from Serbia also took part in the seminar.

On the first day of the seminar, Praxis gave an introduction into the theme of human rights. Praxis also created a workshop “My rights in practice” that was held on the third day of the seminar when the participants had the opportunity to recognize, through simulation, the cases of discrimination or violation of rights which are the result of impermissible different treatment and to file a complaint to the relevant independent body accordingly.

Representatives of the Ombudsperson and the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality gave lectures about the registration in registry books, determination of time and place of birth, registration of permanent residence at the address of the social welfare centre, health protection and health insurance, violence against children, safety and education of children, anti-discrimination, situation testing method, protection mechanisms and filing of complaints.
The aim of the seminar was to put emphasis on the exercise and protection of rights of children aimed at improvement of the early childhood development through empowering the representatives of non-governmental organizations to identify problems in their local communities and to motivate the vulnerable to seek protection of their rights.