On the occasion of the World Day against Child Labour, we would like to draw the attention of the public and competent bodies to the problem of child labour exploitation.

Worldwide, more than 168 million boys and girls are engaged in some form of child labour, which deprives them of the right to adequate education, threatens their health and denies the right to play. According to the estimates of the International Labour Organization (ILO), more than 85 million children are exposed to the worst forms of the child exploitation, such as prostitution, pornography and trafficking.

Although the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia prohibits child labour, in line with the international obligations undertaken by signing ILO Convention and UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, according to the research conducted by UNICEF in Serbia, 4% of children aged 5-14 are engaged in some form of child labour. The largest number of these children comes from the poorest families, and particularly vulnerable are Roma children, who are very often engaged in labour from an early age.

As the causes of child labour need to be sought primarily in poverty, solving this problem requires a holistic and multidisciplinary approach. The emphasis should be placed on prevention and thus it is necessary to enable available, compulsory, qualitative and completely free education for every child up to the age of acquisition of working capacity.

Today, on the World Day against Child Labour, we appeal to the public, control and state institutions to address the problem of child labour more seriously so that all children equally enjoy the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia and Convention of the Rights of the Child.

Coalition for Monitoring of Inclusive Education has prepared the "Guide for identifying and reporting discrimination in education", which provides information on how to identify and who to report discrimination at local and national level.

Download: Guide for identifying and reporting discrimination in education

Download: HERE

The Constitutional Court found that the right to the trial within a reasonable time, which is guaranteed by the Article 32, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution, was violated to R. J. who submitted the constitutional appeal in the administrative procedure for subsequent birth registration conducted before the Directorate for Civil Status and General Affairs of the City of Nis. At the same time, the Constitutional Court decided that the just satisfaction shall be achieved by granting the right to compensation for non-material damage to the applicant in the amount of 700 EUR from the budget of the Ministry of Justice.

Reviewing the acting of administrative bodies and the court in this case, the Constitutional Court assessed that their acting primarily led to the long duration of the disputed procedure. The Constitutional Court found that within seven years, five first-instance decisions and six second-instance decisions were reached in this procedure. Also, three administrative disputes were conducted, the last being initiated in 2013 and still pending. The Constitutional Court also found that the Ministry, being the second-instance body, returned the case four times to the first-instance body for reconsideration. According to the European Court of Human Rights referred to by the Constitutional Court in its decision, the fact that reconsideration of one case is ordered for several times before the lower instance body may, by itself, reveal a serious deficiency in the legal system of the country (see Pavlyulynets v. Ukraina and Cvetković v. Serbia).

The Constitutional Court particularly referred to the importance of the case for the applicant, stressing the indisputable interest of the applicant that a decision is reached within a reasonable time. The Court also reminded that procedures relating to status issues are urgent by nature.

Meanwhile, R. J. has been registered in the birth registry based on the decision reached in the non-contentious procedure determining the date and place of birth. This was made possible by the new legal solution provided by the Law on Amendments to the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure. R. J. obtained his first ID card in June 2014, when he was 43. Up to then, R. J. could not enjoy any right, such as the right to work and the right to social protection, or to conclude marriage and acknowledge paternity of his children.

Praxis has been providing free legal aid to R. J. since 2007, which he needed, as an uneducated beneficiary who lives in deep poverty, in order to to get out of the maze of procedures, which prevented him from exercising the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and international conventions.

The Commissioner for Protection of Equality issued the opinion and recommendation related to the complaint filed by the father of a minor girl against the Municipality of Smederevska Palanka. Following the complaint, Praxis got involved in the procedure.

The Municipality of Smederevska Palanka denied the right to transport to school to the girl with severe sight impairment, even though it is the legal obligation of the Municipality according to the Law on the Fundamentals of the Education System. Specifically, the Law envisages that the budget of a local self-government shall provide funds for transport, lodging and food for children and pupils with disabilities, regardless of the distance of the place of living from the school.

Both the father of the girl and the school submitted the request for providing transport, and the President of the Municipality rejected their requests. In its opinion, the Commissioner finds that failing to ensure the right to free transport to the school for the girl, the Municipality of Smederevska Palanka impeded her exercise of the right to education and full inclusion in the education system, thus violating the provisions of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination. The Commissioner recommended that the Municipality of Smederevska Palanka should take all necessary measures within 30 days in order to provide free transport from home to school for the girl, and in the future not to violate the provisions of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination.

The Commissioner also stated that providing transportation for children with disabilities and developmental disorders is the most common service in local communities and representatives of the local self-governments are most informed. Further in the opinion, the Commissioner states that this type of support has been legally regulated for a number of years. Therefore, such acting of the Municipality of Smederevska Palanka is utterly worrying.

It is further stated in the opinion that the school and the Ministry of Education must provide adequate teaching material, such as textbooks in the Braille alphabet and a personal assistant, which have been denied to the girl up to date.

Praxis reminds that pursuant to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Serbia is committed to ensure compulsory education and free education on an equal basis for all and without discrimination. Also, the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, Law on Prohibition of Discrimination, Law on Prevention of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities, and laws and bylaws governing the area of education explicitly forbid discrimination against persons with disabilities in all spheres of life.

In the period from 22 to 24 April, the training on migration, discrimination and international human rights law was held within the project “PROACTION - Protection Against Discrimination of Asylum-Seekers and Unaccompanied Child Migrants”, implemented by Group 484 in cooperation with Praxis and International Commission of Jurists.

The goal of the training was that representatives of relevant institutions and non-governmental organizations shall be introduced into the right to adequate housing, health care and education of asylum seekers, unaccompanied child migrants and migrants in detention, and also protection from discrimination of all targeted groups, in accordance with EU law and international human rights law. The lectures at the training were Roisin Pillay and Massimo Frigo from the International Commission of Jurists.

During the first day of the training, the most important provisions of EU acts and international treaties were presented, which were followed by the presentation of the cases from court practice. On the second and the third day of the training, the representatives of civil society organizations divided into working groups were working on the development of indicators for tracking the extent to which the rights of asylum seekers, irregular migrants and unaccompanied child migrants are exercised in the area of housing, health care and education in Serbia. The intention is that the list of indicators helps civil society to assess the current situation and advocate for the highest international standards in the respective areas.

The training contributed to better insight into difficulties we will face while developing a functional system that may respond to all challenges of mixed migrations.

Download: Guide for the training

The Appeals Commission of the Press Council has established that Vecernje novosti Daily has violated the Code of Ethics of Journalists of Serbia by publishing the article entitled “Horror in Smederevo: Roma in Sexual Relation with a Girl”. This article was published on 17 March 2015 in the printed edition in the section “Local News” and on 18 March 2015 in online edition.
NGO Praxis and Standing Conference of Roma Associations of Citizens SKRUG – The League of Roma lodged a complaint to the Appeals Commission of the Press Council, stating that national affiliation of the suspected for a criminal act must not be mentioned, unless it is in direct relation with the type and nature of committed crime. The complainants are of the opinion that the stated article incites discrimination, hatred and violence towards the members of Roma national minority. 

The Appeals Commission adopted the appeal and reached a decision that Vecernje novosti Daily violated the Code of Ethics of Journalists of Serbia, precisely Item 1 of the chapter IV according to which a journalist shall oppose all those who violate human rights or who advocate any kind of discrimination, hate speech or incitement to violence, and Item 4 of the Chapter V according to which a journalist must be aware of the danger of discrimination that can be spread by media and shall do everything to avoid discrimination.

The members of the Appeals Commission pointed at the guidelines of the Code of Ethics of Journalists of Serbia which clearly specify that in reports on criminal acts, national, racial, religious, ideological and political affiliation, as well as sexual orientation, social and marital status of suspected persons or victims, are mentioned only if it is in direct relation to the nature of a criminal act. Also, it was pointed out that in this case the national affiliation of the possible perpetrator is not connected to the nature of that criminal act and therefore there was no reason to note that it was a Roma.

Vecernje novosti Daily was ordered to publish this decision in the third issue from the day of delivery of decision at latest, and within seven days in online edition.

Praxis welcomes the decision of the Appeals Commission and draws attention of the media that stating personal characteristics of the suspected persons or victims is not in line with ethical standard of professional acting of journalists and must not be stated, unless it is in direct connection with the nature of the committed crime.

Complaint lodged by:
Praxis
SKRUG – The League of Roma

More information about the procedure may be found at website of the Press Council.
Download: Decision of the Press Council

On 23-24 April 2015 in Brussels the General Assembly meeting of the European child rights network - Eurochild and the meeting of Policy Forum took place. The Network of Organisations for the Children of Serbia (MODS) was represented by Jasmina Miković from Praxis, member of the MODS Steering Committee.

At the General Assembly meeting, activity reports were presented including the Eurochild Annual Report 2014, after which financial operations were discussed, as well as Eurochild membership of individual organisations and networks (admission and exclusion).

The General Assembly meeting was followed by the meeting of Policy Forum, which provided an opportunity for the members to discuss and debate the achievement of the main goal of Eurochild, which is putting the child’s rights and welfare of children at the heart of policy-making. On that occasion, a number of organisations dealing with the child’s rights had the opportunity to discuss in which direction it was necessary to advocate jointly at the European level in order to improve the situation of children. One of the main topics of discussion was the need to develop a dynamic partnership with other organisations dealing with children’s rights, such as the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children and the Council of Europe.

At the same time, more than 130 organisations dealing with children’s rights expressed their concern about the lack of political will in Europe to place children at the centre of policy-making, especially taking into account the challenges that affect the lives of children across Europe, starting with the austerity measures in the fields of education, health and social protection, increasing discrimination and failure to protect children migrants and refugees.

One year after the elections to the European Parliament and six months after the establishment of the new European Commission, it is discouraging that the new European Commission lacks the will to invest in children, as evidenced by the absence of children on the list of 10 priorities of the European Commission. It is particularly alarming that there is a weak commitment to poverty reduction and social inclusion, as well as the lack of implementation of the Recommendation on investment in children from the European Commission, which is the best possible compilation of actions for EU Member States in the fight against poverty and exclusion of children and promotion of the welfare of children.

On the last day of the event, the Eurochild members announced a joint position, urging the European institutions and governments to make sustainable efforts in balancing the economic and social objectives. It was pointed out that the only way to develop an inclusive, secure and prosperous society was by giving priority to investment in children and families, taking into consideration all aspects of child development.

In the end, the Eurochild Secretariat presented its new visual identity, which captures a diversity of Eurochild members, and the goal to develop a society in which children grow up as healthy, happy, safe and respected individuals.

See the news on the MODS website.

Praxis and its partner organization Equal Rights Trust (ERT) from London, with the support of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, held a roundtable Antidiscrimination Legal and Strategic Framework – Defining Priorities and Challenges of the civil Society in Belgrade on 27 April 2015.

The goal of the roundtable was to define join priorities and key challenges of civil society organizations related to the implementation of antidiscrimination legal and strategic framework. The roundtable was organized within the project Empowering Civil Society to Improve the Implementation of Anti-discrimination Laws in Serbia, supported by the European Union.

The roundtable was opened by Ivanka Kostic from Praxis and Ana Milenic from EU Delegation in the Republic of Serbia. Afterwards, Dimitrina Petrova from ERT spoke about the current international trends and the right to equality with reference to theory and practice. She pointed out that important steps were shifting the focus from an individual to the collective, and extension of personal characteristics that are the basis of discrimination. Afterwards, the members of the working group, formed within the stated project, presented the priorities and the main challenges in their areas of competence. The working group consists of: Tamara Lukšić-Orlandić, child rights; Jovanka Todorović Savović, Labris, LGBT rights; Vanja Macanović, Autonomous Women’s Centre, gender equality; Osman Balić, SKRUG – The League of Roma, Roma rights; Dragana Ćirić Milovanović, MDRI, righst of persons with disabilities, and Vladimir Petronijević, Group 484, rights of migrants.

The roundtable was attended by more than 50 representatives of civil society organizations and media from whole Serbia, international organizations, local self-governments and independent institutions. Following the above stated presentations, the participants divided in small groups defined priorities and key challenges for the improvement of the implementation of antidiscrimination legal and strategic framework. Then they discussed about the results of the work with other participants gathered in small groups.

The roundtable showed that cooperation of actors dealing with the rights of vulnerable groups is of great importance for the improvement of antidiscrimination legal and strategic framework. Such gathering enabled a better insight into the challenges we are facing and opened new opportunities for cooperation. Often, overlapping of different areas and identical challenges faced by different vulnerable groups is a good basis for future cooperation. The extension of such cooperation and stronger connection is of extreme importance in regard to the phenomenon of multiple discrimination, which is present on a daily basis. The participants of the roundtable said that multiple discrimination is very dangerous and has serious consequences for the vulnerable groups, and therefore more attention should be paid to the problem of multiple discrimination in the future.

Dear Members of Parliament,

Civil society organisations and networks, signatories to this letter, request that the procedure of establishing the proposal of candidates for the position of Commissioner for Protection of Equality be repeated. We express our deep dissatisfaction with the way of establishing the proposal of candidate for the position of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, who is in charge of the implementation of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination. Therefore, we request that you do not adopt the proposal submitted to you by the Committee for Constitutional Issues and Legislation that, to find - in collaboration with the civil society - the candidates who meet the requirements stipulated by the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination and to make their biographies publicly available.

Following the media coverage, it seems that not only the civil society and the public, but also the members of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Issues and Legislation, were placed before a fait accompli when the proposal of candidate was established:

• without previous consultation with civil society organisations that over 20 years have been working on establishing the mechanisms for human rights protection and elimination of discrimination;
• in violation of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly of RS (agenda or written materials were not submitted three days before the meeting of the Committee, as required by the Rules of Procedure), and
• the proposed candidate does not fulfil the requirements prescribed under the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination.

Although the candidate that was proposed by the Committee on Constitutional Issues and Legislation, Brankica Janković, undoubtedly has significant qualifications, we believe that they are not essential for the field of activity of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality and cannot be described as "legal experience in the field of human rights". One of the main requirements is a 10-year experience of working on legal issues in the field of human rights. The candidate’s CV reveals that the proposed candidate has never dealt with their field of protection against discrimination, either through direct assistance and support to persons who have suffered discrimination or through scientific and educational activity. Furthermore, the proposed candidate is a high official of a political party, which brings into question her independence and neutrality.

Civil society organisations and networks propose and support the candidacy of Slavoljupka Pavlović for the position of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, who fully meets all the criteria set forth by the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination since she has a ten-year experience in the field of human rights, acquired through direct work and systematic advocacy for the rights of marginalised social groups. As a non-partisan personality committed to protect human rights, she will guarantee conscientious and professional discharge of this office. Her biography has been distributed to all parliamentary groups.

We urge the Members of Parliament, all political groups, to contribute to the credibility of the institution of Commissioner for Protection of Equality by accepting this initiative, and to propose and select the best candidate in accordance with clearly defined standards and criteria for selection.

Download letter here.