Praxis has conducted research aimed at providing information on access to socio-economic rights for Roma women, and the position of women compared to men in the Roma community. The research has been prepared as part of the project entitled Legal Aid and Advocacy – Access to Rights and Combating Discrimination against the Roma, implemented by Praxis, in cooperation with the Civil Rights Defenders and with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. The research was conducted I the period from February to August 2015. A total of 100 Roma women and 100 Roma men were interviewed in ten municipalities in southern Serbia: Aleksinac, Prokuplje, Bojnik, Bor, Kuršumlija, Lebane, Leskovac, Bela Palanka, Kruševac and Knjaževac.

The average age of male and female respondents was 37 years, and 78% of them were either married or lived in a common-law marriage. The average age for concluding the first marriage or entering a common-law marriage varies significantly between women and men. The surveyed Roma women experience their first marriage or common-law marriage as early as at the age of 14.7 years on average, but it should be noted that the youngest female respondents who entered the marriage or common-law marriage were 13 years old and such was the case in four of ten municipalities.

The research results show that 79% of Roma women possess health booklets, only 40% exercise the right to social protection, 35% earn income by doing seasonal jobs, while only 30% of interviewed Roma women finished primary school. As for living conditions, 92% of interviewed Roma women confirmed that they lived in dilapidated facilities made of brick, while 45% live in the facilities that are not connected to the sewage network.

For more information, see: Praxis Conducted Research on Access to Socio-economic Rights for Roma Women in Serbia

Praxis has conducted the analysis of the situation of gender equality in Smederevo within the project “Sexual and Gender Based Violence – Activities in Serbia”, which aimed to prevent and combat gender based violence in the territory of the Republic of Serbia, and was funded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
 
The goals of the analysis were presenting gender specific positions and roles the citizens of Smederevo play in the area of public and private life, determining the attitudes of male and female citizens of Smederevo towards gender roles, and the level of general knowledge they have about gender equality policies, both at the national and the local level; conducting a gender analysis of local policies in the City of Smederevo in the area of improvement of the position of refugees and internally displaced persons, Roma, youth, social protection, employment and improvement of the position of persons with disabilities; defining the recommendations for development of the active policy of equal opportunities for men and women in all areas of social life and achievement of gender equality in all areas of public and private life at the level of the City of Smederevo.

The analysis also provides the recommendations which, in addition to the monitoring of the current legal regulations in the area of gender equality, refer also to promotion of positive and non-stereotypical image of women and men in the media, development of programs of support to self-employment of women and educational programmes on the protection of general health of women, with an emphasis of the reproductive health, improvement of the protection of women survivors of domestic violence, promotion of the role of men and boys in achieving gender equality, as well as the affirmation of the use of gender sensitive language in legal and political act of competent institutions.     

For more information, see: Praxis Conducted Analysis of the Situation of Gender Equality in Smederevo

Praxis supports the adoption of the Proposal of the Law on Equality of Women and Men at the session held on 2 February 2016 by the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

However, we suggest the legislator should consider the solution proposed by the Article 13, Paragraph 1, Item 2, which establishes the obligation of the public authorities performing the works in the area of health and social protection to “organize and implement programmes for overcoming the problems of early pregnancies and intimate cohabitation where at least one person is younger than 16 years of age”.

Specifically, the proposed solution is disputable both in terms of terminology and concept. By opting for the terms “early pregnancy” and “intimate cohabitation” and by setting the age limit below 16 years of age, the Republic of Serbia, deviates, to some extent, from the ratified international standards and undermines the internal consistency of the legal and political framework of the regulation of all specific life situations. Therefore, in order to comply with the defined international standards and ensuring of uniformity and consistency in the internal legal order, it would be advisable to replace the proposed terms "early pregnancy" and "intimate cohabitation" by the terms "teen pregnancy" and "early and child marriages" and set the age of their defining at 18 years. In addition, it would be advisable within the considered Article 13 to add a new paragraph  that would explicitly indicate that culture, customs, religion, tradition or so-called “honour” could not be considered as  justification of these practices.

Also, we express concern over the failure of the submitter of the motion in the Article 26, Item 2, to recognize women and men of different sexual orientation and gender identity as especially vulnerable categories of survivors of domestic violence. 

For more information, see: Praxis Points at Deficiencies of the Proposal of Law on Equality of Women and Men

On International Women's Day, we celebrate the boldness and determination of women who with their resignation and courage essentially changed the course of history of their countries and local communities. It is the day, which is an expression of the struggle for women's economic, political and social equality. At the same time, although the position and rights of women are the issues we should think about every day, 8 March was established as a day of reflection and critical analysis of the progress of women, the day during which the problems faced by women around the world are particularly stressed, and calls on social and political action, which would improve their situation, become more visible both on social networks, and global media scene.

Achieving these goals requires the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, ending any form of violence against women and girls (including human trafficking, sexual and any other exploitation of women and girls), as well as the elimination of many other unacceptable practices such as child, early and forced marriages and female genital mutilation.

During 2016, Praxis contributes to the achievement of these objectives through the implementation of a number of activities aimed at the prevention and elimination of child, early and forced marriages, and protection of children and women refugees, bearing in mind that their specific situation requires a significant number of gender-sensitive services and protection mechanisms.

For more information, see: Praxis' Announcement on the Occassion of the International Women's Day

What is hate crime? Why is it important to make clear distinction between hate crime and other crimes? What is the role of the local community in fight against hate crime? 

In the period from 22 December 2015 to 26 February 2016, Praxis visited Valjevo, Nis, Kraljevo, Sabac and Pancevo and organized a series of trainings named Hate crime in Serbia. 

The trainings gathered 40 participants – representatives of NGO sector, social welfare centres, police and courts – and opened a number of discussions about the problems faced by victims of hate crime, criminal procedures conducted for hate oriented attacks, role of local community in fight against hate crime and importance of registering such cases. 

What should we know?

• hate crime is a criminal act 
• hate crime was introduced in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia in 2012
• hate crime is not caused by acting of a victim, but its innate qualities, or personal characteristics, such as national or ethnic origin, colour of skin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity
• psychological and physical violence occurs as a result of intolerance and hatred
• any of us may be a victim of hate crime and we all have traits that make us different from others

 Why is it important to talk about hate crime?

• hate crime is a crime of high social risk, also called a message crime by some
• responsibilities of state institutions, but also the responsibilities of the society and individuals are to encourage tolerance, instead of hate messages to send messages of understanding and support, through exploring and understanding the other and different to say NO to stereotypes and prejudices and thus prevent the occurrence of hate crimes
• the task of state institutions is that if such criminal act occurs, there is an appropriate reaction meaning that the criminal act is adequately processed and registered and perpetrator properly punished

For more information, see: How We Fight against Racism, Discrimination and Intolerance: How We Fight against Hate Crime

How easily or how carelessly do we access our rights? How much and in what way do we become aware of our rights or the lack of them? What is multiple discrimination and how it affects the exercise of human rights? How easy is it to access „rights guaranteed by birth“ at the crossroad of gender, racial and structural discrimination?

Even though “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights“, the credibility of the words from the Universal Declaration or legal acts of the Republic of Serbia guaranteeing equal rights to all citizens, may be best assessed by those to whom these rights, though guaranteed and universal in the paper, are inaccessible, denied and often unknown in everyday life.

We exercise the rights within the state system, as members of a political community, as political subjects. However, the persons who do not have evidence on their birth, citizenship and do not possess personal documents, are legally invisible. In Serbia, those are mostly Roma, who daily encounter numerous impediments to exercise of the rights.

We exercise rights or are deprived of them, in a daily interaction with the other members of society. 

We gain awareness about the rights through education and the availability of information. Without the information and awareness about their rights, Roma women are in an extremely vulnerable position. 

For more information, see: How We Fight against Racism, Discrimination and Intolerance: How Easily We Access Our Rights

Belgrade, February, 2016

- Where am I from? I’m from planet Earth. A human being from planet Earth. But I guess I should have said that I am from Syria. It would be more useful, wouldn’t it? (Young man, YOB 1994, Pakistan)

- “Get in line. Here you are. Your clothes are right there. Signature here. Thank you. Next”. And so from one country to another. Sorry I am crying. People help us, of course. Just, it has been a long time ago since anyone asked me “How are you?”. (Man, YOB 1960, Syria)

During the public discussion on the Regulation on detailed criteria for the recognition of discrimination by an employee, child, student, or third party in the educational institution (“The Official Gazette of RS, no. 22/2016), Praxis suggested that migration status should be entered as a ground of discrimination. Specifically, prior to the adoption, the Regulation was part of the public discussion, and civil society organizations, as well as other relevant authorities, had an opportunity to comment on the draft.  

The submitted comment was accepted, and the Regulation, which was finally adopted after seven years in March 2016, became thus the first legal act in Serbia that explicitly recognizes the migration status as the ground of discrimination. Bearing in mind the current migrant crisis, identifying migrant status as a ground of discrimination is of great importance, and its inclusion in other relevant documents is the essential precondition for the creation of a responsible and just society.