On this year’s International Roma Day, celebrated all over the world on 8 April, the Roma in Serbia continue to be one of the most marginalised and discriminated social groups. Low educational level, unemployment, inadequate living conditions, difficult financial situation, hindered access to personal documents, health care and social welfare remain to be the challenges often faced by the Roma in Serbia. 

Despite some progress achieved over the past several years in the field of exercising and protecting certain rights, Roma continue to face obstacles that hinder or completely prevent their access to certain rights on a daily basis. Thus, there are still children who cannot be registered at birth due to inadequate regulations and who therefore remain excluded from the system of health care and social welfare in the most vulnerable period of their lives. The situation of Roma children is particularly worrying because they are at a much higher risk of early dropout and/or becoming victims of child, early and forced marriages. Social exclusion, discrimination, segregation, intolerance and prejudice are negative phenomena that are too often associated with the Roma community.

A society in which one of the largest national minorities lives in the situation that is by far worse than the situation of the majority population can in no case be considered successful. Therefore, Praxis urges all institutions to pay more attention to the numerous problems faced by Roma, and to invest more efforts to change inadequate regulations and eradicate poor practices and discrimination because otherwise the situation of Roma cannot be improved.

On 29 March 2018, Praxis held a conference to present the results of the project Contributing to Public Administration Reform in Kraljevo, within the framework of the Western Balkans Enabling Project for Civil Society Monitoring of Public Administration Reform (WeBER), financed by the European Union and co-financed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The conference was attended by representatives of local administrative bodies, civil society organisations and the media. 

Marija Dražović from Praxis presented the project activities implemented in the period 1 June 2017 - 31 March 2018 and aimed at achieving the transparency of data on public administration reform at the local level, improving the service role of local administrative bodies and public awareness about it, improving the mechanisms of cooperation of the local self-government with citizens and civil society organisations and contributing to better embed the principles of public administration in local decisions and manner of providing services.

Based on the conducted research of the transparency of local self-government and the efficiency of local administrative bodies in Kraljevo, as well as monitoring of the application of the Law on General Administrative Procedure, Praxis has established that there is a significant  space for improving the work of local administrative bodies in all areas, as presented in the report Contributing to Public Administration Reform in Kraljevo. Despite the efforts made in recent years in the field of public administration reform, both at the national and local level, there is no visible progress in some areas. The most serious gaps have been identified in the area of transparency of the work of administrative bodies, in particular regarding public participation in decision- and policy-making processes, since the participation of citizens and civil society organisations in such processes is almost non-existent. Consequently, there is no proactive approach in terms of improving the conditions and creating a conducive environment for the development of civil society at the local level. 

The conference reiterated the role of civil society organisations and the media in raising awareness and knowledge of citizens about the progress of reforms and their significance for the European integration process through responsible and informed monitoring and reporting. On the other hand, the role of the local media in Kraljevo, as drivers of public debate, is not sufficiently developed in the area of public administration reform, due to both financial instability and insufficiently encouraging environment for the research of specific topics.

In the end, Praxis invited representatives of local self-government to invest additional efforts to ensure the respect for the principle of good governance. It was also stressed that the civil sector at the local level was a very important resource that should be used for achieving progress in the process of reform.

Media coverage:  RTVKV
                         RTV Melos
                         Info Plus
                         Kraljevo Online
                         WeBER par-monitor

As part of the project "Legal Assistance to Persons at Risk of Statelessness", financed by UNHCR, Praxis published a report entitled "Determining the Date and Place of Birth, Right to Citizenship and Permanent Residence Registration - Analysis of Remaining Obstacles". The report analyses the regulations and practice of the competent authorities in the procedures for the registration of the facts of birth and citizenship into civil registry books, and the procedures of permanent residence registration and ID card issuance. 

The report assesses that the progress achieved over the past several years has been followed by stagnation in exercising the right to registration into birth registry books and preventing statelessness. It highlights that there are still legal obstacles that lead to the emergence of new legally invisible persons and there are still problems in practice that make the procedures of birth registration, citizenship acquisition and permanent residence registration much longer and much more complicated than they should be. The report particularly stresses that Serbia has still not fulfilled its obligations undertaken by ratifying international conventions, and consequently, children whose mothers do not possess personal documents cannot be registered at birth. Moreover, the fact that mothers do not possess personal documents is often an obstacle in other procedures for exercising the children’s status rights, which significantly impedes or completely prevents the conducting of procedures.

The report also presents other systemic deficiencies that aggravate the situation of persons at risk of statelessness, such as the fact that the law on free legal aid has not been passed yet and that in many cases the administrative authorities still fail to respect the obligation of obtaining evidence ex officio. 

 Download the report here.

Blog by Milan Radojev, Praxis' Status and Socioeconomic Rights Programme Coordinator, published on ENS website Is my country party to international conventions dealing with statelessness? Is there any data on the stateless population? Is there a procedure to grant protection to stateless people? Are there measures to prevent arbitrary detention? What does my country do to prevent statelessness? Are there any barriers to birth registration?

It is now possible to find answers to all these and many other questions related to the problem of statelessness, in one place. The Statelessness Index, launched by ENS last week, allows you to quickly check what European countries are doing to protect stateless people and prevent and reduce statelessness. The information presented in the Index is comprehensive and detailed, but also concise and easily accessible. The comparison feature allows you not only to find out how a specific issue is regulated in different countries but to find solutions for specific problems to inform advocacy.

Serbia is one of 12 European countries currently covered by the Index. The Index data shows how despite a positive record on accession to international treaties, when it comes to fulfilling these obligations, the picture in Serbia is not always so positive. For example, on access to birth registration and measures to prevent statelessness, Serbia’s performance is mixed; and the lack of a procedure in Serbian law to identify and determine statelessness gets a negative assessment.

Praxis has provided free legal aid to people at risk of statelessness in Serbia for many years and advocated for systemic barriers to civil registration and citizenship to be removed. Despite significant progress made in recent years, the Index shines a light on what we see every day in our work: Serbia is still not fully meeting its obligations under the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The children of undocumented parents still cannot be registered at birth without undergoing lengthy and uncertain legal procedures. And children born in Serbia who would otherwise be stateless must initiate a special procedure to get their citizenship recognised before they turn 18, without guarantees they will ever succeed in practice.

Amendments to the Serbian Law on Registry Books have been announced, and Praxis intends to use the Index to advocate for a new provision to guarantee every child’s right to immediate birth registration. The examples of positive law and practice on birth registration from other countries in the Index will be particularly useful in this work. We will be able to show the Serbian Government that there is a way to guarantee this right to every child in Serbia, and that there are solutions to this problem.

We are also planning other ways to use the Index, for example, to draft a country briefing in Serbian that we can submit to the authorities when other regulations, policies, and practice come up for review; as well as for our awareness-raising, campaigning and educational programmes. In our work at Praxis, we also focus on other issues closely linked to statelessness, such as the prevention of discrimination and early and forced marriage. The Index will serve to highlight gaps in law and policy that not only increase the risk of statelessness, but also the risk of violence and exploitation, particularly affecting Roma women and girls who face barriers to regulating their legal status.

The Statelessness Index is an invaluable tool that will be highly beneficial to our ongoing work at Praxis towards achieving universal and immediate birth registration for every child born in Serbia, preventing new cases of statelessness arising, and establishing a procedure to grant protection to stateless people in Serbia.

On 1st March, the Children’s Rights Council of the Government of the Republic of Serbia held its third regular meeting. In addition to its regular members, the children activists of the Friends of Children Serbia actively participated in this meeting by presenting their views and experiences of violence to which children were exposed in society and suggestions of possible solutions. These children were part of a participatory group set up for the full participation of children in the adoption of a new national strategic framework for the protection of children against violence. Jasmina Miković from Praxis, President of the Steering Committee, also participated in the meeting.   

Slavica Đukić Dejanović, President of the Children’s Rights Council, pointed out that the participation of children in the work of the Council was valuable, that their insights and suggestions were extremely important, and that children's participation should become a regular practice in the process of making decisions about children. 

Ministers Zoran Lončar, Mladen Šarčević and Zoran Đorđević and Michel Saint-Lo, UNICEF Representative in Serbia, also participated in the work of the Children’s Rights Council. On that occasion, the Ministers signed the Call to Action to promote support for early childhood development, from pregnancy to the first 1,000 days. It was especially emphasised that the first thousand days of development of the nervous system was actually a framework for the psychological, cognitive, physical and emotional component of future adults, and that, therefore, the entire society had a task to deepen the knowledge and improve the conditions for meeting the needs of all these segments in the best possible way.

In the meeting, the Draft Strategy for the Prevention and Protection of Children against Violence was presented, followed by a conclusion on the adoption of the final text of the Draft Strategy. In addition, the newly formed Working Group for the preparation of the National Action Plan for Children was presented, in which Jasmina Miković will take part as a MODS representative. The importance of creating a comprehensive document that would clearly define the state’s policy towards children was highlighted as an important precondition for the advancement of children’s rights and the improvement of living and growing conditions for children in Serbia.

The European Network on Statelessness has published today the Statelessness Index, which assesses how countries in Europe protect stateless people and what they are doing to prevent and reduce statelessness.

The Index allows for a simple and quick overview of positive solutions in the legislation and practice of individual countries, along with the regulations and practices that should be changed or improved in order to fulfil their international obligations and ensure the necessary protection to stateless people. The special feature provided by the Statelessness Index is the option of simultaneously reviewing and comparing the situation with regard to specific statelessness-related themes across different countries.

Serbia is one of the 12 European countries covered by the Index, and therefore it is possible to see to what extent Serbia has been successful in preventing statelessness and protecting stateless people, both in relation to relevant international standards and in comparison with other countries. As regards the ratification of relevant international treaties, the situation in Serbia has been assessed as very positive, but when it comes to the fulfilment of undertaken obligations, the situation has not always been assessed as positive. For example, the situation regarding the timely registration of children in registry books and the prevention of statelessness among persons born in Serbia has been assessed as poor.

The Index is expected to be a valuable tool for the organisations dealing with the problem of statelessness and advocating for the improvement of the situation in this area, as well as for the state officials who are looking for the examples of good solutions in the process of drafting new regulations and strategies. In addition, this tool could benefit all those who are conducting research in this area as well as stateless persons who seek information about their rights.

In February, the number of refugees/migrants met and interviewed by Praxis’ mobile team did not exceed 125 on a daily basis, including the newly arrived ones, the refugees/migrants accommodated in the Asylum Centre Krnjača and the Reception Centre Obrenovac and those who returned to Belgrade after unsuccessful attempts to cross the Croatian, Hungarian or Romanian border. In this period, Praxis provided assistance to a total of 828 refugees/migrants, through information, referrals to the targeted assistance provided by various organisations/institutions or covering the costs of transport to the asylum and reception centres.

Praxis continued its field work and provided a total of 425 newly arrived refugees and migrants (325 adults - 276 men and 49 women, and 100 children - 79 boys and 21 girls, including 56 potential unaccompanied and separated children (UASC), all boys) with relevant information. Out of the total of 425 newly arrived refugees/ migrants, 61 persons or 14.4% of them were from Afghanistan. 23 newly arrived refugees/migrants were from Syria, which accounts for 5.4% of the total number. 75 refugees and migrants came from Iraq (17.6%). 100 refugees/migrants (23.5%) came from Pakistan. 136 refugees/migrants (32.0% of the total number) came from Iran. The refugees/migrants from Iran continue arriving by plane: 115 of them in February. 7 refugees/migrants (1.6%) came from Algeria. A total of 23 (5.4%) refugees/migrants came from other countries - Libya (12), India (3), Sri Lanka (1), Nigeria (1), Kuwait (3), Bangladesh (1), Sudan (1) and Ukraine (1).

Download the whole Protection Monitoring Report here.

The European Network on Statelessness has published today the Statelessness Index, which assesses how countries in Europe protect stateless people and what they are doing to prevent and reduce statelessness.

The Index allows for a simple and quick overview of positive solutions in the legislation and practice of individual countries, along with the regulations and practices that should be changed or improved in order to fulfil their international obligations and ensure the necessary protection to stateless people. The special feature provided by the Statelessness Index is the option of simultaneously reviewing and comparing the situation with regard to specific statelessness-related themes across different countries.

Serbia is one of the 12 European countries covered by the Index, and therefore it is possible to see to what extent Serbia has been successful in preventing statelessness and protecting stateless people, both in relation to relevant international standards and in comparison with other countries. As regards the ratification of relevant international treaties, the situation in Serbia has been assessed as very positive, but when it comes to the fulfilment of undertaken obligations, the situation has not always been assessed as positive. For example, the situation regarding the timely registration of children in registry books and the prevention of statelessness among persons born in Serbia has been assessed as poor.

The Index is expected to be a valuable tool for the organisations dealing with the problem of statelessness and advocating for the improvement of the situation in this area, as well as for the state officials who are looking for the examples of good solutions in the process of drafting new regulations and strategies. In addition, this tool could benefit all those who are conducting research in this area as well as stateless persons who seek information about their rights.