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.