A number of Romani families are still living in unsanitary and degrading conditions a full year after being forcibly evicted from their Belgrade settlement. Praxis and the European Roma Rights Centre are highlighting the situation of many of the Roma evicted from Belvil, who do not have adequate housing and do not have any support in the process of integration. The NGOs are also calling on Serbian authorities to halt forced evictions and to find positive and sustainable solutions for all those evicted to date.

One year ago, approximately 1000 Roma were forcibly evicted from the Belgrade settlement near Belvil, Roma with an address registered in Belgrade, approximately half of those evicted, were resettled in metal containers in the city. The other half (133 Romani families) were forced to return to their previous places of permanent residence. Most families returned to small, impoverished municipalities in the south of Serbia.

In Nis, local authorities provided three families with accommodation in an abandoned warehouse, where they faced three months without water, and eight months without electricity. The families continue to live in very difficult and unhygienic conditions incompatible with international standards on adequate alternative accommodation, as highlighted by the Commissioner for Equality Protection last year. In addition, all of the affected families in Nis lack security of tenure; none of them have received any formal document regulating their stay in the facilities provided by local authorities. This makes them vulnerable to potential new evictions.

Roma resettled in Belgrade have generally fared better than those who were sent to the south, however some have faced attacks. On 1 May 2012, around 15 to 20 masked individuals attacked the settlement in Jabučki Rit, where some Belvil residents were moved to. The masked men shouted racist slogans including "Serbia for Serbs, Roma out of Serbia" and drew a swastika on one of the metal containers where the Roma were living.

Forced evictions continue to take place in Belgrade, contrary to international human rights standards. Since April 2012, at least 27 families (101 Romani men, women and children) have been evicted from informal settlements in Belgrade, including the eviction of residents of the container settlements based on criteria that the Commissioner for Equality Protection found to be discriminatory.

The ERRC and Praxis welcome the efforts of the City of Belgrade and the European Commission to find sustainable and adequate housing solutions for the evicted Roma who were placed in container settlements in Belgrade. Authorities must also act to provide adequate accommodation for Roma who were sent to the south of Serbia.

The government and local authorities should halt forced evictions, adopt the legal framework on evictions in line with international human rights law and, with the assistance of the international community, secure sufficient resources to guarantee fulfillment of the right to adequate housing especially for vulnerable groups, including Roma.

For more information:

Documentary film “Here I Am,” directed by Irena Fabri, will be presented at the BELDOCS International Festival of Documentary Film, within the programme Serbian Panorama.

The film “Here I Am,” which Praxis produced in cooperation with Dokukino with financial support of the European Union, questions existential problems of the residents of informal Roma settlements in Serbia and takes the spectators in a very lively, parallel world of the marginalized who survive by the principle of faith and hope. In the spirit of the marginalized, the hero acquaints the audience with his friends whose destinies often depend on a piece of paper or someone’s good will.

Hoping that the documentary “Here I Am” will remind the authorities that the problems of residents of informal Roma settlements in Serbia should be solved as soon as possible, we invite you to see the film on 27 April at 5 p.m. in Dom omladine.

You can find more information about the programme of the festival and the tickets at the web site of the festival www.beldocs.rs.

Non-governmental organizations Praxis and the Regional Centre for Minorities inform the public that yesterday, on 22 April 2013, and today, on 23 April 2013, Belgrade City Administration, in cooperation with the City Municipality of Cukarica carried out the demolition of a part of informal Roma settlement located next to the OMV Petrol Station in Vidikovac.

The demolition of a part of the settlement was carried out for the purpose of maintaining “communal order” in this part of Belgrade, while the families whose homes have been knocked down have not been provided any alternative accommodation or assistance of competent social services. They have neither been offered any compensation for destroyed or damaged property, while between 30 and 40 housing objects were demolished.

Majority of residents of this informal settlement have moved here following earlier evictions of other settlements in which they lived, when they were deprived of or received insufficient assistance from the competent social and other services.

According to information we collected from the residents of the settlement, during the eviction two residents suffered police violence. The residents also claim that they have not received the decisions on demolition of housing objects they lived in. Many of them have spent the night in the open, on the place where their homes stood only yesterday.

The problems relating to exercise of the right to adequate housing cannot be resolved by forced evictions or sudden actions for maintaining “communal order.” Contrary to this already common practice, it is necessary to urgently undertake measures to stop forced evictions and find a way to regulate this issue legally.

See the video clip on TeVe-novine: Roma Settlement upon Demolition of the Part of the Settlement on 22 and 23 April
See the video clip on TeVe-novine: Ana Martinovic from Praxis about Demolition of the Part of the Settlement in Vidikovac on 22 and 23 April

Praxis submitted the information for the elaboration of the second and the third periodical reports on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which refers to considering the situation in the area of exercise of the rights to personal name and citizenship, prohibition of discrimination, access to health protection and education. With an aim to contribute to the improvement of the general conditions for promotion and protection of the rights of the child, as one of the basic values of contemporary society in the field of human rights, Praxis intended to point at concrete forms of the violation of guaranteed rights of the child in the stated areas and to direct the work on the elaboration of the report on the implementation of the Convention towards the elimination of the possible violation of the stated rights.

See the documents: Praxis Comments on Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child related to the Report of the Republic of Serbia (2008)

Praxis submitted the information for the elaboration of the second and the third periodical reports on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which refers to considering the situation in the area of exercise of the rights to personal name and citizenship, prohibition of discrimination, access to health protection and education. With an aim to contribute to the improvement of the general conditions for promotion and protection of the rights of the child, as one of the basic values of contemporary society in the field of human rights, Praxis intended to point at concrete forms of the violation of guaranteed rights of the child in the stated areas and to direct the work on the elaboration of the report on the implementation of the Convention towards the elimination of the possible violation of the stated rights.

See the documents: Praxis Comments on Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child related to the Report of the Republic of Serbia (2008)e (2008)

Upon the call to submit the comments on the Draft Action Plan for the Implementation of the Strategy for Improvement of the Status of Roma in the Republic of Serbia for the Period 2012-2014, Praxis sent to the Office for Human and Minority Rights the comments and suggestions for changes in some areas important for exercise of the rights of the Roma, but also for achievement of goals defined by the Strategy. Praxis particularly referred to the changes or clarifications of measures, indicators and implementers in the part where they are not in concordance with the current situation both in terms of the legal framework and the implementation in practice.

See:Praxis Comments on Draft Action Plan for Implementation of the Strategy for Improvement of the Status of Roma in the Republic of Serbia for the Period 2012-2014

As part of the Project “Equal Opportunity for Better Perspectives, Strengthening Roma People to Combat Discrimination,” implemented by the Office of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality of the Republic of Serbia, in cooperation with Praxis a public discussion was held for members of the Roma community in Kragujevac on 9 April 2013. The aim of the public discussion was to raise awareness of the Roma community about the concept of discrimination and human rights protection mechanisms, and to empower this socially vulnerable group to combat all forms of discriminatory behaviour. The public discussion was attended by representatives of organizations whose activities are directed at protection of and assistance to the marginalized and socially excluded groups, primarily members of Roma community.

Through their presentation, the representatives of the Office of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality emphasised the facts that point to existence of obvious social distance between the Roma and non-Roma population. They also pointed to manifestation and negative effects of discrimination, as well as the importance of raising awareness about equality, available mechanisms for protection of rights and strengthening the belief that these mechanisms are accessible and useful. It was stated that the number of filed complaints for protection against discrimination by the members of Roma minority was disconcertingly small. The importance of taking an active role in combat against discrimination by the members of this vulnerable group was stressed. It was also pointed out that the procedure upon the complaint was free of charge, that it was expeditious, with minimum requests referring to formality of the complaint and, thus, the present participants were suggested to use this available and simple mechanism as an instrument for protection against discrimination. The representatives of the Commissioner acquainted the participants with basic facts and circumstances of some procedures conducted before this institution that related to discrimination of Roma, as well as with the most significant characteristics of the procedures initiated before a competent court.

Presenting the problems and obstacles encountered in practice in protection of basic human rights against discriminatory behaviour of individuals or groups, representative of Praxis contributed to further explaining the phenomenon of discrimination and incited active discussion of the participants on their observations and experience in this field. Based on the comments and expressed standpoints of the participants, it can be concluded that the awareness of prohibition of discrimination does not exist among the members of Roma community. However, the need for undertaking active measures to further motivate Roma population was noticeable, both in terms of learning about available protection mechanisms and in terms of readiness to take actual steps towards improvement of life of the entire Roma community.

A series of counselling on the issue of amendments to the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure prescribing a new procedure for determination of time and place of birth terminated on 29 March 2013 when a seminar was held for judges deciding in non-contentious procedure in the first and second assistance and for judicial associates in the Basic Court in Nis. The seminar was attended by judges and judicial associates from Vranje, Prokuplje, Pirot, Leskovac and Nis.

Through presentations the representatives of the Technical Group, formed based on the Cooperation Agreement concluded between the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, Ombudsperson and UNHCR, emphasised the importance of standardization of the procedure for determination of time and place of birth in order to eradicate the phenomenon of legally invisible persons in Serbia. PhD Nikola Bodiroga, a professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade, talked about the legal aspects, interpretation and analysis from the viewpoint of practical implementation of newly adopted solutions.

Significant questions raised in the final part of the seminar within the discussion of participants about the newly adopted regulation referred to the possibility of initiation of a procedure for determination of time and place of birth for persons who did not manage to conduct procedures related to reconstruction of registry books that were missing or destroyed in Kosovo, as well as to the treatment of evidence that might come up in these procedures – primarily identification documents issued by competent bodies of international community (UNMIK) and by Kosovo authorities. Specifically, it was pointed at a procedure for determination of time and place of birth initiated in Nis for a person who submitted an ID document issued by UNMIK. This posed a dilemma for the proceeding judge about whether the concerned procedure can be conducted for a person who possesses a document the contents of which unambiguously suggest that the facts related to time and place of birth had been precisely determined. Representative of the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration tried to explain the problem of (non) recognition of Kosovo identification documents and emphasised that there would soon be changes of the relevant by-laws, on the basis of which the procedure for determination of time and place of birth will be an alternative solution for those who cannot conduct the procedure of re-registration in registry books due to lack of evidence. Until that happens, the judges were counselled to prove the facts in these procedures primarily by hearing the witnesses.

In addition, another question raised during the seminar related to the possibility of conducting the procedure in the absence of the person the procedure refers to, with hearing of the witnesses in the prescribed way and per the envisaged procedure. The standpoint adopted in this seminar, just like in the previously held seminars in Belgrade, Kragujevac and Novi Sad, suggests to the proceeding judges to refer flexibly to the evidence in the procedure for determination of time and place of birth, to bear in mind the interest of the State in eradicating the phenomenon of legally invisible persons and the significance of registration in birth registry book and thus to refer to the evidence in this context. PhD Bodiroga expressed the opinion that the physical absence of the person should not pose an obstacle for deriving evidence and conducting the procedure as legally prescribed, especially bearing in mind that this procedure can also be initiated for determining the time and place of birth of a deceased person, upon the motion of a person with proven legal interest for conducting such procedure.

The discussion ended with the conclusion of the participants that the interpretations and suggestions given at the seminar are clear enough and extremely useful for future proceeding of judges, but that the new issues arise upon establishment of court practice in this field. In that respect, a new series of seminars has been announced on the same topic for the next year.

One-month old E.C., whose mother did not possess ID card, which often represents a problem, was successfully registered in the birth registry book in the Registry Office Savski Venac.

The mother of the child is an internally displaced person from Kosovo who, in addition to IDP card, also possesses birth and citizenship certificates, while the father of the child has all necessary documentation. Two weeks before the registration of E.C. in the birth registry book, the parents tried to conduct the birth registration procedure but the lack of the mother’s ID card represented an obstacle to the birth registration.

After the consultation of Praxis lawyers and employees of the Registry Office Savski Venac, successful solution was achieved. Upon checking with the Commissariat for Refugees, the mother’s IDP card served as the identification document, and parents of E.C. were referred to give statement on the birth registration of the child and recognition of paternity before the competent municipal services, with Praxis lawyer also present. In that way, the procedure of registration in birth registry book was successfully conducted within the legal deadline of 30 days upon the birth of the child. The good will of acting officials to eliminate formal legal flaws, aimed at protection of prevailing interest, the child’s interest, which usually is not a case when the mother lacks ID card, is utterly commendable.

With reference to the complaint for discrimination, i.e. segregation of Roma children in the Primary School “Petar Tasic” in Leskovac that Praxis filed against the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, the Department for Social Affairs of the Leskovac City Administration and the stated school, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality gave her opinion including a recommendation on 11 March 2013. The Commissioner did not conclude that the act of discrimination occurred. However, in the recommendation the Commissioner ordered the responsible parties to jointly and in cooperation with representatives of civil society undertake all the measures and activities within their competences without delay, with the aim to solve the problem of segregation, i.e. high number of Roma pupils in comparison to pupils of other nationalities in the Primary School “Petar Tasic” in Leskovac. The Commissioner also ordered the responsible parties to inform this institution within 30 days about the undertaken and planned measures for proceeding upon the recommendation.

The discrimination act at which Praxis pointed in the complaint is a consequence of the fact that since 2011 exclusively Roma children have been enrolled in the Primary School “Petar Tasic.” During the implementation of so-called “territorial principle,” i.e. the obligation of parents to enrol children in the nearest school to their place of residence, the school was attended by pupils of different nationalities. However, the abolition of this principle lead to creation of a purely Roma educational institution.