The Coalition against Discrimination presented its 2010 Annual Report on Discrimination in Serbia and awarded prizes for combating discrimination in 2010. Sasa Gajin, Coordinator of the Coalition against Discrimination and Ljupka Mihajlovska from the Association of Students with Disabilities spoke about the report.

The Coalition against Discrimination established the annual Award for Combating Discrimination in recognition of individuals, organisations, institutions, companies and the media who have invested the greatest efforts, in the course of one year, to combat discrimination against minority and marginalised groups and contributed to the promotion of equality of all citizens in Serbia. The Coalition against Discrimination decides on the award winners on the basis of the proposals submitted by individuals and organisations by the end of 2010. The members of the Coalition against Discrimination are: Center for Advanced Legal Studies, Civil Rights Defenders, CHRIS – Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia, Gayten LGBT, Labris - Lesbian Human Rights Organisation, Praxis, Regional Center for Minorities, Association of Students with Disabilities.

This year’s winners of the Award for Combating Discrimination for the outstanding contribution to the fight against discrimination in 2010 are:

Public authorities:  Residential Institution for Adults Male pcelice
Civil society organisations: NGO IZ Kruga, Organisation for the Protection of Rights and Support of Women and Children with Disabilities in Serbia
Media: Film Festival Slobodna zona
Business sector: Metro Cash & Carry d.o.o. Belgrade
Public figures: Dragoljub Rasa Todosijevic, artist

Mr. Björn Mossberg, Head of Development and Cooperation Department of the Swedish Embassy in Belgrade, handed the awards to the winners.

The sixth generation of students of the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade, have successfully completed their practice in Praxis within the Refugee Legal Clinic, initiated by UNHCR.

During practice, the students had the opportunity to visit the Praxis office, to meet with its employees and get acquainted with their work, and to attend the lectures on the right to access documents, property rights in Kosovo, access to rights for refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and protection of victims of sexual and gender-based violence.

In addition to visiting the office, the students joined Praxis mobile teams in their field work, where they were introduced to the life stories and legal problems of the Roma, refugees and IDPs living in collective centres and informal settlements.

At the final seminar held on 15 June 2011, the students shared their impressions gained from the completed practice, emphasising that it helped them a great deal to recognise the widespread prejudice about the target groups for whose rights Praxis advocates. During the final seminar, the students were awarded certificates.

Download: UNHCR Report Observations on the Situation of Asylum Seekers and Beneficiaries of International Protection in Serbia

On the occasion of the 53rd Session of the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which will review the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in the Republic of Serbia, Praxis submitted a Parallel Report in cooperation with the European Roma Rights Centre. In order to give a clearer picture about the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Parallel Report contains information about the problems in the fields regulated by the Convention, primarily problems faced by women from particularly vulnerable groups – refugee, internally displaced and Roma women.

The Report gives information on implementation of the Convention in the fields of prevention of sexual and gender based violence, information on mechanisms for achievement of gender equality, access to right to personal documents, education, employment and health protection. The report further provides information relating to forced evictions from informal Roma settlements, as well as impeded access to justice.

At the end of the report, Praxis and the ERRC have suggested to the CEDAW recommendations the adoption of which would enable improvement of implementation of the Convention.

Review of the implementation of the Convention in Serbia was scheduled for October 2012, but, according to unofficial information, it will be postponed for mid-2013.

Download: Parallel Report to the Committee on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
 

Law on Amendments to the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure, adopted by the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia on 31st August 2012, prescribes a procedure for determination of date and place of birth of persons not registered in birth registry books. Thus, the first step was made towards solving the problem of several thousands of legally invisible persons in Serbia. Through the aforementioned procedure, the persons who do not fulfil conditions for registration in birth registry book in an administrative procedure will be able to exercise their rights through a separate court procedure which recognizes the particulars of the problems they are facing.

What preceded the amendments to the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure were many years of non-governmental organizations requesting adoption of a systemic solution, as well as efforts to draw attention of the state to the difficult position of persons who failed to subsequently register in birth registry book on the grounds of the existing regulations. Namely, it is estimated that at least 6,500 legally invisible persons live in Serbia, who are, almost exclusively, members of Roma national minority. Due to the administrative obstacles, generations-long social exclusion, poverty and lack of legal solutions which would enable them to prove their identity and obtain a birth certificate, those persons cannot enjoy any of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and ratified international documents – they cannot find employment, enjoy rights from social welfare and health care, receive education without impediments, to be registered as parents of their children or enjoy a series of other rights available to other citizens of the Republic of Serbia.

Coalition against Discrimination and Coalition for Access to Justice welcome the adoption of the Law that eliminates the first obstacle in exercise of the right to recognition as a person before the law and that forms basis for registration in birth registry books for those persons who have not been able to prove their fact of birth so far. At the same time, we would like to point out that full respect of rights of the above category of persons will be achieved only when the efficient implementation of the adopted solutions is provided, as well as the implementation of the supporting regulations relating to acquisition and determination of citizenship, registration of permanent and temporary residence and obtaining of ID card.

Signatory organizations:

Coalition against Discrimination
Coalition for Access to Justice

Coalition against Discrimination: Center for Advance Legal Studies, Civil Rights Defenders, CHRIS – Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia, Gayten LGBT, Labris, Praxis, Regional Centre for Minorities, Association of Students with Disabilities

Coalition for Access to Justice: Center for Advance Legal Studies, Civil Rights Defenders, CHRIS – Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia, Humanitarian Law Center, Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina, Praxis, Sandžak Committee for Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms

Hereyou can listen to the report on evictions of large settlements of Roma people prepared by Daniel Bishton.

- The Ombudsperson: "Why was the City Administration uneconomically solving the problem of accommodation?"

- Praxis: According to international human rights  standards, the public authorities are obliged to find an adequate accommodation and not the residents who have suffered the forced eviction.

See the whole text here.

Four Roma families evicted from Belgrade had to leave the hostel in Leskovac where they had been temporary accommodated. The whole text can be read here.

Non-governmental organization Praxis warned on Tuesday that Roma evicted from the informal settlement Belvil in Belgrade and then accommodated in Leskovac would be homeless starting from tomorrow. The whole text can be downloaded here.

Non-governmental organization Praxis warned on Tuesday that Roma evicted from the informal settlement Belvil in Belgrade and then accommodated in Leskovac would be homeless starting from tomorrow. The whole text can be downloaded here.