On 26 July 2013, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) adopted Concluding Observations on the combined second and third period report of the Republic of Serbia (CEDAW/C/SRB/2-3). Among others, the Committee recognized some of the key issues and problems to which Praxis and European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) had pointed in the Parallel Report on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The Committee welcomed the adoption, since the consideration of the State party’s previous report, of certain laws and strategic documents aimed at eliminating discrimination against women, as well as the ratification and accession to a number of international and regional instruments.

Furthermore, the Committee also pointed to the principle areas of concern and produced recommendations for overcoming observed problems and gaps, and requested that the State party submit to the Committee, within two years, written information on the steps undertaken to implement the recommendations. The Committee also invited the State party to submit its fourth periodic report in July 2017.

For more information, please see the announcement: Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Produced Recommendations to Serbia in its Concluding Observations

Draft Law on Ratification of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence of the Council of Europe has been included in the agenda of the regular autumn session of the National Assembly of Serbia. On 17 October 2013, the MPs started a public debate about the Draft Law.

The Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence is the most comprehensive international treaty in this field. It calls on states to work on the change of attitudes – changes in social and cultural patterns of behaviour of women and men in order to eradicate harmful gender stereotypes and prejudices. Furthermore, the Convention calls on states to build a more efficient system for the protection of the victims, to strengthen cooperation and active participation of relevant state institutions and civil society organizations and to monitor and report on implementation of all provisions of the Convention in a systemic manner.

In order for the Convention to come into force, it is necessary that at least 10 Council of Europe Member States ratify it. Praxis hereby calls on the MPs to adopt the Draft Law on Ratification of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence of the Council of Europe.

Download - Draft Law on Ratification of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence of the CoE (Serbian only)

On 26 July 2013, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) adopted Concluding Observations on the combined second and third period report of the Republic of Serbia (CEDAW/C/SRB/2-3). Among others, the Committee recognized some of the key issues and problems to which Praxis and European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) had pointed in the Parallel Report on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The Committee welcomed the adoption, since the consideration of the State party’s previous report, of certain laws and strategic documents aimed at eliminating discrimination against women, as well as the ratification and accession to a number of international and regional instruments.

Furthermore, the Committee also pointed to the principle areas of concern and produced recommendations for overcoming observed problems and gaps, and requested that the State party submit to the Committee, within two years, written information on the steps undertaken to implement the recommendations. The Committee also invited the State party to submit its fourth periodic report in July 2017.

It should be recalled that, on 14 September 2012, Praxis, in cooperation with ERRC, submitted Parallel Report on the implementation of the Convention. In order to give a clearer picture of the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Parallel Report contains the data about the problems in the areas regulated by the Convention, primarily the problems faced by women from particularly vulnerable groups – Roma women and refugee and IDP women. The Parallel Report provides information about the implementation of the Convention in the areas of prevention of sexual and gender-based violence, mechanisms for achieving gender equality, as well as about access to rights to personal documents, education, employment and health protection. In addition, the Parallel Report also gives information relating to forced evictions of informal Roma settlements and hindered access to justice.

At the 55th Session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, held on 18th July 2013, the State delegation of the Republic of Serbia presented the Second and Third Periodic Report on the implementation of the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Bearing in mind that the Committee focused on certain issues mentioned in the Parallel Report, on 24 July 2013, following the 55th Session, Praxis and ERRC pointed once again to the given recommendations and submitted relevant information to the Committee that would be useful for formulating recommendations that would be produced to Serbia.

In the Concluding Observations the Committee, among others, expressed concern at the absence of a legal framework on access to free legal aid and assistance which impedes women from claiming their right to non-discrimination and equality. (point 10 c)

The Committee called upon the State party to allocate substantial and sustained resources, both human and financial, to all national strategies, mechanisms and action plans aimed at the elimination of discrimination against women, especially disadvantaged women, and to ensure their effective implementation. (point 17 a)

Recalling its general recommendation No. 19 (1992) on violence against women, the Committee urges the State party:

(a) To review and revise the Criminal Code, the Family Code and other relevant laws with a view to effectively preventing all forms of violence against women and protecting victims;
(b) To encourage women to report incidents of domestic and sexual violence by raising awareness of the criminal nature of such acts;
(c) To ensure effective investigation of cases of violence against women and to prosecute and punish perpetrators of such crimes with sanctions commensurate with the gravity of the crime;
(d) To ensure that all women victims of violence have adequate assistance and unhampered access to effective protection from violence, including by ensuring a sufficient number of shelters funded by the State and improving cooperation with relevant non-governmental organizations in this respect;
(e) To ensure that the relevant authorities are aware of the importance of issuing emergency protection orders for women at risk and of maintaining such orders until the women are no longer at risk;
(f) To enhance the system of data collection by ensuring that the data are disaggregated by type of violence and by relationship between perpetrator and victim, supporting research in this field and ensuring that such information and data are available to the public;
(g) To expeditiously ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. (point 23)

The Committee recommends that the State party raise awareness of the importance of education as a human right and as the basis for the empowerment of women and girls. To this end, it urges the State party:

(a) To promote the enrolment and attendance of Roma children, especially girls, at the primary and secondary levels of education in regular schools and to eliminate all barriers, including financial barriers, to their access to education;
(b) To review and revise materials and textbooks used for secondary education to eliminate patriarchal gender stereotypes;
(c) To introduce age-appropriate sexual and reproductive health and rights education, including issues of gender relations and responsible sexual behaviour, in the curricula at all levels. (point 29)

While noting the adoption of a revised National Strategy on the situation of refugees and internally displaced persons for the period 2011-2014, the Committee is concerned about the lack of State monitoring of the conditions of women refugees, women asylum seekers and internally displaced women and the lack of sex-disaggregated data, in particular with regard to violence against women. (point 36)

The Committee calls upon the State party to establish mechanisms to monitor the situation of women refugees, women asylum seekers and internally displaced women in order to better protect their rights, including by protecting them against violence, and to provide relevant data thereon. It also recommends that the State party ensure that court decisions on birth registration and citizenship of undocumented persons are effectively implemented and cannot be reversed by any executive body. (point 37)

Download: Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Parallel Report of Praxis and ERRC submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Praxis and ERRC Recommendations submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

See the news: Parallel Report to the Committee on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women Submitted

On 14 October 2013, Praxis organized a roundtable “Contribution to Social Inclusion and Combat against Discrimination of Marginalized Population in Serbia” in Belgrade, as a part of the activities within the project of the same name funded by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In addition to the representatives of Praxis and partners in the project from organizations Roma Educational Centre, Subotica, and Association of Roma Women Osvit, Nis, in the introductory part of the roundtable the speakers were also Davor Rako, Associate Protection Officer at UNHCR, Jasmina Benmansur, Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, Zorica Loncar Kasalica, Head of the Department of Administrative Affairs of the Ministry of Interior, Goran Basic, Deputy Ombudsman for Minority Issues, Zarko Sunderic, Team Manager of the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit, and Marija Zaric from the Office of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality.

Within three sessions that referred to birth registration, acquisition of citizenship, registration of permanent residence and access to personal documents, access to socio-economic rights and protection against discrimination, results and changes achieved in the three previous years of project implementation were presented. These refer to normative framework and practice of competent bodies and institutions in proceeding in cases for exercise of these rights. At the same time, the roundtable provided for an opportunity to present the most significant problems in exercise of the above rights. In the discussion that ensued, some of the possibilities for facilitating access to rights for the socially vulnerable and marginalized population were also proposed.

The roundtable gathered 48 participants, representatives of local bodies and institutions, relevant ministries, as well as non-governmental and international organizations.

Download: Agenda (Serbian only)
Download: Presentation on Protection of Roma against Discrimination

Draft Law on Ratification of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence of the Council of Europe has been included in the agenda of the regular autumn session of the National Assembly of Serbia. On 17 October 2013, the MPs started a public debate about the Draft Law.

The Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence is the most comprehensive international treaty in this field. It calls on states to work on the change of attitudes – changes in social and cultural patterns of behaviour of women and men in order to eradicate harmful gender stereotypes and prejudices. Furthermore, the Convention calls on states to build a more efficient system for the protection of the victims, to strengthen cooperation and active participation of relevant state institutions and civil society organizations and to monitor and report on implementation of all provisions of the Convention in a systemic manner.

In order for the Convention to come into force, it is necessary that at least 10 Council of Europe Member States ratify it. Praxis hereby calls on the MPs to adopt the Draft Law on Ratification of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence of the Council of Europe.

Download - Draft Law on Ratification of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence of the CoE (Serbian only)

On 3 October 2013, Praxis participated in the roundtable organized in Nis within the campaign News in the Field of Birth of Registration and Obtaining of Personal Documents. The roundtable was organized as a part of activities carried out on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Ombudsman of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self-Government of the Republic of Serbia. On that occasion, the news in the field of birth registration, registration of residence at the address of social welfare centre and obtaining of personal documents were presented to the representatives of Roma associations and civil society organizations, Roma activists, health mediators, pedagogical assistants and Roma coordinators from Nis, Prokuplje, Bujanovac, Vranje, Zajecar and other cities of Serbia.

In addition to Praxis’ representatives, the keynote speakers were also UNHCR representatives, Office of the Ombudsman of Serbia and Department for Administrative Affairs of the Ministry of Interior. The inspector working of the issues of ID cards and residence also participated in the discussion.

During the discussion, the participants of the roundtable presented the information they had about the problems faced by the members of Roma population in accessing personal documents and social welfare benefits. Specifically, a number of participants pointed to the problem of socially vulnerable citizens who need to file lawsuits for support against their relatives in order to exercise the right to cash social assistance. In addition, it was explained that citizens from cities or municipalities which do not have free legal aid services are particularly vulnerable as they have no one to provide them assistance in the court procedure.

Some participants emphasised that Roma from their local communities are facing the problem of payment of administrative fees for obtaining ID cards, which is the reason why they do not have valid ID cards.

Some participants presented individual problems and cases from the field in which the citizens of Roma nationality needed Praxis’ legal assistance, specifically in procedures of acquiring of citizenship, obtaining of birth certificates from abroad in the international form, determination of personal name of children whose personal name has not been determined even though they have been attending the primary school for five years already and obtaining the court judgment on dissolution of marriage from Croatia.

Seevideo clip.
See: Closing the Cycle of Legal Invisibility.

On 10 October 2013, a roundtable was held within the campaign News in the Field of Birth Registration and Obtaining of Personal Documents, as a part of activities implemented on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by UNHCR, Ombudsman of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration. The roundtable gathered 37 participants, including Roma activists, representatives of Roma associations, Roma coordinators, pedagogical assistants and health mediators from Kragujevac, Veliko Gradiste, Kraljevo, Smederevo, Smederevska Palanka and other cities.

The keynote speakers Davor Rako from UNHCR Belgrade, Dragana Vujkov from Ombudsperson’s Office, Suzana Stanic Carevic form the Department for Administrative Affairs of the Serbian MoI, Dragana Kralj from the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy and Jasmina Mikovic from Praxis acquainted the participants with the novelties in legal framework related to registration of permanent residence at the address of the social welfare centre and determination of time and place of birth in a non-contentious procedure. On that occasion, the participants were also informed about the role of each of the abovementioned institutions/organizations in contributing to achievement of the common goal – elimination of the phenomenon of the legally invisible persons by 2015

During the discussion, the participants expressed their concern because of the lack of conditions for the consistent application of the new legal solution, which refers to the possibility of registration of permanent residence at the address of social welfare centre. They also pointed to the problem of impossibility to register permanent residence at the address of social welfare centre for internally displaced persons from Kosovo who have permanent residence registered in Kosovo and live in informal settlements in Serbia. Due to impossibility to register the permanent residence in Serbia, those persons are out of the system of health care and social protection. The special reference was made to inefficient and lengthy procedures of acquisition of citizenships conducted before the Ministry of Interior. In addition, the participants also pointed to some discriminatory acting of employees deciding on requests of illiterate and uneducated persons of Roma nationality in regard to personal status of citizens. 

See: Closing the Cycle of Legal Invisibility

Over the last two years there has been a welcome shift towards greater recognition of the need for more concerted action to tackle statelessness at a global, regional and national level. Since December 2011, 17 states have acceded to either or both the UN Statelessness Conventions. In October 2012, the European Union pledged that all those Member States yet to do so (Estonia, Cyprus, Malta and Poland)would accede to the 1954 Statelessness Convention – the international instrument setting out obligations owing to stateless persons on a State Party’s territory.

This near universal ratification by European Union states ostensibly indicates the existence of a strong regional statelessness protection regime. But scratch a little deeper, and the disturbing realityis that only a handful of European states have in place functioning statelessness determination procedures in order to implement their obligations in practice. This calls into question any notion that Europe can claim to be setting an example to the rest of the world.Ratifying conventions is an essential first step but must be followed by the introduction of determination procedures which are critical to helping stateless persons. Thecurrent absence of such procedures, for example,contrasts sharply with the existence of dedicated asylum determination procedures in almost all those European states who have acceded to the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Recent research reveals thatthe absence of a route by which stateless persons can regularise their status leaves these individuals at risk of a range of human rights abuses. Many stateless personsfind themselves destitute or forced to sleep rough on the streets. Others are subjected to long term immigration detention despite there being no prospect of return. Often stateless persons must endureyears separated from their families abroad. Feware in a position to break this cycle, and as a consequence are left in legal limbo for years.

The European Network on Statelessness (ENS) is a civil society alliance with 50 member organisations in over 30 countries committed to address statelessness in Europe. We believe that all human beings have a right to a nationality and that those who lack nationality altogether are entitled to adequate protection – including the right to regularise their status and enjoy their fundamental civil, economic, social and cultural rights owing under international human rights law.

Today on the 14 October, the anniversary of Hannah Arendt’s birthday, ENS is launching a pan-European campaign to improve the protection of stateless persons in Europe. Timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the 1954 Statelessness Convention, this campaign will bring together civil society organisations across Europe in calling for:

1) All EuropeanUnion states to accede to the 1954 Statelessness Conventionby the end 2014.

2) All European states without a functioning statelessness determination procedure to make a clear commitment during 2014 to take necessary steps to introduce oneby the end 2016.

ENS aims to achieve these objectives through a combination of awareness-raising activities, online advocacy and political lobbying at the national and European Union level. It will seek to mobilise a broad spectrum of actors and to put a human face on the statelessness issue by gathering individual stories and testimonies. The campaign will culminate in a concerted day of action against statelessness across Europe on 14 October 2014.

With your support we can bring Europe’s legal ghosts out of the shadows and ensure that stateless persons are treated with the respect and dignity which has been lacking since the philosopher Hannah Arendt famously identified  their plight in her seminal text The Origins of Totalitarianism.back in 1951. The fact that there remain an estimated 600,000 stateless persons living in Europe today shows that action is long overdue.The time for action is now.

For further information about this campaign or to get involved visit www.statelessness.eu or email ENS Coordinator Chris Nash at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

On 26 September 2013, Praxis participated in the roundtable organized in Subotica within the campaign News in the Field of Birth of Registration and Obtaining of Personal Documents. The roundtable was organized as a part of activities carried out on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Ombudsman of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self-Government of the Republic of Serbia. On that occasion, the news in the field of birth registration, registration of residence at the address of social welfare centre and obtaining of personal documents were presented to the representatives of civil society organizations, Roma activists, health mediators, pedagogical assistants and Roma coordinators from the municipalities of Backa District.

In addition to Praxis’ representatives, the keynote speakers were also UNHCR representatives, Office of the Ombudsman of Serbia and Department for Administrative Affairs of the Ministry of Interior. The inspector working of the issues of ID cards and residence also participated in the discussion.

During the discussion, the participants of the roundtable presented the information they had about the problems faced by the members of Roma population in accessing personal documents. Almost all participants emphasised that Roma from their local communities are facing the problem of payment of administrative fees for obtaining ID cards, which is the reason why they do not have valid ID cards and are consequently without the access to rights. They were advocating for the changes so that obtaining of ID cards would be free for the poorest.

Also, the participants of the roundtable presented their remarks to the requests of state bodies to enclose the birth certificates to the request for issuance of ID card or the application for cash social assistance and other social welfare benefits, since the poorest citizens are thus exposed to unnecessary costs.

Some participants presented individual problems and cases from the field in which the citizens of Roma nationality needed Praxis’ legal assistance.

See the video clip.
See:Closing the Cycle of Legal Invisibility

In the procedure initiated upon Praxis complaint, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality has established that M.P., an employee of the Social Welfare Centre of the City of Novi Sad, discriminated against five Roma women from informal settlement Veliki Rit, on the grounds of their gender and Roma ethnicity.

At the end of 2012, during a visit to the informal settlement Veliki Rit, it came to Praxis knowledge that M.P. was discriminating against Roma women who were addressing him for exercise of the right to social welfare benefits. According to the statements given by the potential beneficiaries of social welfare, the employee had been insulting them, threatening them, sexually harassing them, intimidating them by saying that they might be physically attacked, and even physically attacked one of them.

In its issued opinion, the Commissioner has given a recommendation to M.P. to send a written apology to the Roma women he discriminated against on the grounds of gender and Roma ethnicity, and to restrain himself in the future from disturbing and humiliating acting and from statements insulting the dignity of the members of national minorities and creating a hostile, humiliating and insulting environment.

At the same time, the Commissioner recommended to the Social Welfare Centre of the City of Novi Sad to post the opinion and recommendation of the Commissioner, along with the written apology of M.P. on the notice board or other noticeable place in the premises of the Social Welfare Centre, and to keep them posted for at least 8 days.

For more information, see the announcement: Employee of Social Welfare Centre Discriminated against Roma Women
Download: Interview of Jelena Milonjic, Praxis Legal Advisor, for Radio Beograd 1