On the occasion of the upcoming review of the Second and Third Periodic Report on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child of the Republic of Serbia, Praxis, in cooperation with the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion and European Network on Statelessness, delivered Submission of Civil Society Organizations on the Implementation of the Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Even though Praxis had an opportunity to participate in the process of preparation of the state report, some of crucial comments and notes were not included in the report. Therefore, in addition to recognizing all the efforts in exercise of the right to citizenship, the submission of CSOs focuses also on the analysis of remaining problems important for complete understanding of the situation of child’s rights. An additional reason for submitting a special report was the importance of exercising the right to citizenship and impact which the exercise of this right has on the set of other status and socioeconomic rights, especially having in mind the permeating principles of the prohibition of discrimination and the best interest of the child.

The submission provides a general overview of the issues related to the problem of statelessness in Serbia, and in that respect also to the remaining challenges in the implementation of the Article 7 of the Convention which guarantees that every child will be registered immediately after birth and have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents. The problems in exercise of the rights are primarily related to impossibility of children to be registered immediately after birth, discrimination on that basis and the need for additional improvement of the legal framework and practice of competent bodies. The report is structured in a way to provide the delegation of the Republic of Serbia, which will present the report, with a proposed set of questions related to each problem. Finally, the report includes the recommendations as additional guidelines for the Committee on the direction and possibilities for improvement of the exercise of the rights from the Article 7 of the Convention.