On 10 May 2013, the training on registration in birth registry book was held for registrars and deputy registrars administering the registry books for the areas in the territory of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, as well as for the administrative officers working on issues related to citizenship, registration of permanent and temporary residence and issuance of ID cards within the organizational units of the Ministry of Interior and employees of social welfare centres in Vojvodina. The training for approximately 170 participants was organized by the Technical Group, formed based on the Memorandum of Understanding concluded between the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, Ombudsperson and UNHCR, in accordance with the Activity Plan the aim of which is eradication of the phenomenon of legally invisible persons in Serbia by 2015.

Representatives of the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, Ombudsperson, UNHCR, Praxis, Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy drew attention of the present participants to the importance of possession of documentation and consequences of life without documentation. They also presented the most frequent problems in practice which are of significance for realization of goals specified in the aforementioned Memorandum of Understanding.  The stated issues were analysed with reference to the changes in the domestic legislation which occurred as a part of the process of European integrations. New solutions contained in the Law on Permanent and Temporary Residence of Citizens (primarily the envisaged possibility to register permanent residence at the address of a social welfare centre for persons who do not have other option to regulate this issue), the Law on ID Card, the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure (new procedure for determination of time and place of birth which is a basis for registration in birth registry book) reflect the general tendency to facilitate the access to basic status rights. Representatives of the aforementioned state bodies and institutions presented to the participants of the training available mechanisms and means they should rely on in their work, in order to conduct the procedures of subsequent birth registration, registration of the fact of citizenship in citizenship registry books and the procedures before the social welfare centres in as simple and efficient manner as possible.

In the final part of the training, the participants discussed the insufficiently clear aspects in the concerned field. The dilemmas the present participants pointed to mainly referred to the possibility of registration of residence at the address of the social welfare centre. What remains unclear is whether only persons who do not have permanent residence registered in the territory of Serbia will be able to register permanent residence at the address of a social welfare centre, or this new legal solution will also be applicable to internally displaced persons who have permanent residence registered in Kosovo. Even though there has still not been any progress in terms of precisely defining disputable provisions of the by-laws which stand in the way of consistent implementation of newly adopted solutions, representatives of relevant ministries said that this problem would soon be overcome through a joint agreement. The achievement of the proclaimed goals will depend on efforts of all competent bodies and services, both at the normative level and the level of application of adopted solutions in practice.