Vuk Raičević, koordinator Program za antidiskriminaciju i rodnu ravnopravnost, i Jelena Petrović, koordinatorka Programa za prava deteta, bili su gosti u ekskluzivnoj i jubilarnoj emisiji "Liceulice FM" na Radio Aparatu. Tom prilikom, govorili su o dečjim, ranim i prinudnim brakovima, segregisanim školama, višestrukoj diskriminaciji, nevidljivosti osoba sa invaliditetom i drugim oblicima diskriminacije Romkinja i Roma. 

Poslušajte emisiju ovde. 

Taken from MODS' website

The Annual Assembly Meeting of the Network of Organisations for Children of Serbia (MODS) was held in Kragujevac on 16 and 17 November 2018. This was another opportunity for the members of the Network to meet, consider and adopt proposals relevant to the MODS's work and to admit new members.

MODS has a new member of the Supervisory Board

The MODS Assembly also elected a new member of the Supervisory Board. The Assembly unanimously elected Nataša Raičević, Programme Director of the Center for Social Preventive Activities GRiG, a new member of the Supervisory Board. The members of the Supervisory Board are now: Radomir Jevtić (A Step Forward, Kruševac), Ana Jovanović (Center for Creative Development Knjaževac) and Nataša Raičević (GRiG, Belgrade).

One of agenda items was voting for the admission of new organisations into the Network. A total of five organisations presented themselves to the Assembly, after which the Assembly unanimously decided to admit all of them into its membership. Presently, MODS has 101 member organisations.

Five new MODS members are:

• Psychosocial Innovation Network (PIN), Belgrade

• NGO Sovice, Belgrade

• Education Development Center “Planet”, Sombor

• Healthy Lifestyle Workshop, Belgrade

• Music Art Project, Belgrade

New governing acts adopted by the Assembly

The Assembly then voted on adopting new governing acts of MODS, which had been drafted at the proposal of the Steering Committee. After a brief discussion and with some amendments, the Assembly unanimously adopted.

1. Act on Detailed Requirements and Procedures for Admission to Membership, Exclusion from Membership and the Rights and Obligations of MODS Members;
2. MODS Guidelines for Child Protection.

Part of the Assembly Meeting dedicated to furthering the work of MODS

An important pillar of MODS action is to develop the capacity of organisations to improve the situation of children and strengthen mutual cooperation. Therefore, holding the Assembly Meeting was also recognised as an opportunity to open a discussion on possibilities for further improvement of the Network's work. The second day of the Assembly Meeting was dedicated to discussions on the ways to improve the MODS activities, so that participants had the opportunity to give their comments and suggestions within the working groups.

The Assembly discussed, among other things, the ways in which MODS could further enhance its capacities and increase the visibility of the work of organisations. There were also some new suggestions that MODS would seek to implement in its work. 

Preuzeto od Save the Children

Četvoro od deset dece izbeglica i migranata kojima je u prvoj polovini 2019. godine pružena pomoć u Beogradu, glavnoj tranzitnoj tački na zapadnobalkanskoj ruti, svedočilo je da su neregularno, bez odgovarajuće zakonske procedure, sama ili sa roditeljima, potisnuta sa granica zemalja u regionu. Svaki treći slučaj potiskivanja dece je, prema svedočenjima, uključivao i nasilne mere koje je primenjivala granična policija.

U periodu od januara do juna 2019. nevladina organizacija Praxis, partner organizacije Save the Children, srela je i obezbedila podršku za 1,842 dece izbeglica i migranata u Beogradu, među kojima su kako deca koja putuju sa porodicama tako i deca koja putuju sama [1]. Čak 40% maloletnika (731) izvestilo je kako su, tokom putovanja, bili potisnuti sa najmanje jedne granice u regionu. Kako su neka od dece svedočila o više potiskivanja, broj zabeleženih slučajeva (795 [2]) je nešto veći od broja dece koja su prijavila potiskivanje.

Svako treće dete (35%) reklo je kako je bilo žrtva nasilja ili je svedočilo nasilju koje je, tokom potiskivanja, koristila granična policija.

Deca bez pratnje i razdvojena deca, koja su činila skoro 90% broja dece korisnika usluga terenskih timova koji rade u Beogradu u prvoj polovini godine, prijavila su 83% slučajeva potiskivanja (664). Svi su bili dečaci. Većinu potiskivanja uz korišćenje nasilja takođe su prijavili dečaci koji putuju sami (91%). Kada su u pitanju deca koja putuju sa porodicama, svaki peti prijavljeni slučaj potiskivanja uključivao je nasilje, a 42% ovih slučajeva prijavile su devojčice.

Prema svedočenjima, policija i granični službenici ponižavajuće su se odnosili prema izbeglicama i migrantima, koristeći različite oblike verbalnog i fizičkog nasilja, preteći i ismevajući odrasle I decu, oduzimajući im lične i vredne predmete, uništavajući telephone i ignorišući zahteve za azilom. Maloletnici su svedočili da ih u mnogo slučajeva službenici nisu pitali za godine, tretirajući ih kao odrasle, iako je svako peto dete koje kaže da je bilo vraćeno sa neke od granica imalo 13 ili manje godina (18%), dok je u 12% slučajeva koji su uključivali decu ovog uzrasta bilo primenjeno nasilje.

Svedočenja prikupljena od dece

Tri maloletnika iz Avganistana ispričala su da ih je hrvatska policija pretukla i opljačkala pre nego što ih je vratila u Bosnu I Hercegovinu.

Petnaestogodišnji dečak iz Avganistana prijavio je da je proveo mesec dana u pritvoru u Hrvatskoj pre nego što je vraćen u Srbiju.

Dvanaestogodišnji dečak iz Pakistana rekao je kako ga je srpska policija pretukla pre nego što ga je vratila u Makedoniju.

Dve iranske porodice sa ženama i decom prijavile su da su ih brutalno pretukli rumunski granični službenici.

Porodica iz Iraka svedočila je da je rumunska policija tukla muškarce i naredila ženama iz njhove grupe da svuku odeću.

Sirijska porodica koja putuje sa osmomesečnom bebom napustila je Grčku i putovala preko Albanije, Crne Gore i Bosne i Hercegovine kako bi stigla u Hrvatsku. Prema navodima, hrvatska policija vratila ih je u Bosnu i Hercegovinu da bi ih zatim bosanska policija neregularno deportovala u Srbiju.

Kako dečaci iz Avganistana čine najveći deo maloletnika koji prolaze kroz Srbiju, najveći broj prijava o potiskivanjima takođe se odnosi na decu iz Avganistana (78%), a slede Pakistan (7%), Irak (5%), Iran (5%) i Sirija (2%).

Najveći broj prijavljenih potiskivanja dece sa granica desio se na hrvatskoj (222), severnomakedonskoj (124), bugarskoj (103) i mađarskoj granici (93). Najveća učestalost primene nasilja prijavljena je na bugarskoj granici, gde je 8 od 10 vraćanja navodno bilo nasilno. Sledi Grčka (61% prijavljenih potiskivanja navodno su uključivala nasilno postupanje), Rumunija (61%) i Severna Makedonija (59%).

Organizacije Save the Children i Praxis od 2016. godine podržavaju izbeglice i migrante u Srbiji, obezbeđujući informacije, pomoć pri registraciji, upućujući na druge usluge podrške, prikupljajući uz to podatke o dolascima i prateći trendove u mešovitim migracijama na zapadnobalkanskoj ruti. Na osnovu podataka koje prikupljaju terenski timovi ove organizacije izdaju redovne publikacije, istraživanja i izveštaje namenjene medijima ili u svrhu zagovaranja, tražeći bolju zaštitu i bolju podršku za decu migrante i izbeglice koji nastavljaju da putuju zapadnobalkanskom rutom.

Mapa puta koju su napravili tinejdžeri iz Avganistana u Centru za pomoć izbeglicama Miksalište u Beogradu.

[1] Svi podaci korišćeni u tekstu odnose se na svedočenja naših korisnika i korisnica.

[2] Sve reference u tekstu odnose se na celokupni broj prijavljenih potiskivanja osim ako nije drugačije naglašeno.

In July 2019, Praxis continued providing assistance to refugees/migrants, through information, psychosocial support, referrals to the targeted assistance provided by various organisations/institutions or covering the costs of transport to the asylum and reception centres.

A total of 1432 newly arrived refugees/migrants were informed about current situation in Serbia and the region, legal status and available legal options (seeking asylum in Serbia, assisted voluntary return to the country of origin, possibilities of family reunification abroad or resettlement to a third country when possible), accommodation in asylum centres (AC) or transit-reception centres in Serbia, means of transportation to the assigned centres, other rights and available services (medical care, psychosocial support, food, NFIs, various workshops for refugees/ migrants etc).

Download the whole Protection Monitoring Report for July 2019 here.

On 5 December 2018, Terre des hommes Regional Office for Central and Southeast Europe and partner NGO Center for Children's Rights of Montenegro organised an event on the occasion of the beginning of the Child Protection Hub project in Montenegro, in Podgorica. The main goal of the project is to strengthen and connect the community of professionals in the field of child protection. Special attention within the project is given to the prevention and ending violence against children. Thanks to the support of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, the Child Protection Hub has the opportunity to extend its activities to Montenegro in partnership with the Center for Children's Rights of Montenegro.

As a ChildHub resource person from Serbia, Jasmina Miković from Praxis participated at the event which brought together over 50 professionals from various sectors dealing with prevention  of violence and protection of children. On this occasion, the Head of the World Health Organization Office in Montenegro, Mina Brajović, presented the INSPIRE package of strategies for the prevention and protection of children from violence. Representatives of the UNICEF Office in Montenegro presented the ways in which four of the seven INSPIRE strategies are implemented, as well as  various forms of support provided by UNICEF to national partners in protecting children from violence, abuse and neglect.

On 6 and 7 December, fifteen Resource Persons from the South East Europe gathered in Bečići, Montenegro, to improve their leadership and coaching skills, in preparation of ChildHub's new activity "peer-to-peer support". Experienced executive and business coach Srđan Vukčević, Founder and CEO of Blue Coach helped participants review their own leadership styles, and work through their strong traits and those they needed to improve. During the training, participants also discussed how the ChildHub team/community could become stronger and more efficient, and fulfill its objectives better. After a lecture on the latest neuroscience of learning new habits, participants also had a short session on mindfulness, a practice that helps both children and adults to reduce stress, and which can facilitate learning in a very effective way.

After a discussion on how the peer-to-peer activity could be put in place, agreement was reached that each country team of Resource Persons would discuss and develop their own system, keeping in mind the overall aim and philosophy of voluntarism.

In June 2019, Praxis participated in a series of training courses delivered as part of the project "Support to Local Integration of Extremely Vulnerable IDPs, Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Serbia", implemented by Amity in partnership with UNHCR and the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs. The training courses were held in Leskovac, Smederevo, Niš and Kraljevo for social welfare centre professionals and trustees of the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, with the aim of expanding their knowledge of anti-discrimination regulations relevant for work with refugees, internally displaced persons and asylum seekers in Serbia.

The training concept, prepared and implemented by Marija Dražović from Praxis, included information about the legal and institutional framework, including the sources of international law and good practice, as well as domestic legislation. Given the complexity of the notion of discrimination, as well as the richness and diversity of the norms governing the protection of the right to equality, the presentation is based on a comprehensive approach to the problem of discrimination, with particular reference to the protection of refugees, internally displaced persons and asylum seekers. In addition, the participants were informed about the mechanisms available to protect the rights to equality and the shortcomings identified through the analysis of the compliance of domestic framework with international obligations and good practice as well as the shortcomings emerging in practice. However, the presentation focused mainly on the problems regarding the implementation of the existing framework and the possibilities and recommendations for improving the implementation. One part of the training was dedicated to the problem of non-transparent and non-inclusive approach in the process of policy development and adoption, with a particular focus on local policies and the consequences of this approach in their later implementation.

After the training, it was concluded that the level of awareness about anti-discrimination regulations was very low among employees in the concerned institutions, which was certainly due to the complexity of the Serbian legal framework for equality but also the insufficient commitment of the state to creating and implementing public awareness campaigns on this issue. This also involves that the state should assume the responsibility for enhancing institutional knowledge about anti-discrimination and preserving the acquired knowledge among service providers employed by the institutions. Most participants who attended the workshops pointed out that they had never undergone similar training or received any other form of anti-discrimination education. Considering that the participants were actually the officials who conducted the procedures concerning the rights of the most vulnerable citizens, it can be assumed that the risk of misapplication of regulations and violation of citizens' rights is very high. Some participants did not refrain from presenting discriminatory attitudes towards the members of certain vulnerable groups, especially Roma. They believed that the affirmative action system had provided Roma with more opportunities in terms of accessing rights. Some of them also believed that Roma were prone to abuse their rights and that little could be done to improve their situation because their lifestyle was directly influenced by their tradition and habits. In addition to this, numerous other highly biased opinions and views were expressed. The expression of such views was a reason for opening a discussion to present appropriate and generally accepted arguments about the dangers and harmfulness of stereotypes and to point out, through the most common examples of practice, that stereotypes were the basis of discrimination and led to serious violations of rights, especially when this was done by civil servants.

The participants were reminded that it was first necessary to recognise discrimination as a social problem in order to combat it effectively. In fact, discrimination is the responsibility of every individual and of the whole society, and therefore, it is extremely important that everyone should direct efforts to eradicate or supress this harmful phenomenon.

The training courses were very useful as they raised the issue of knowledge of the concept, framework and practice in this area and indicated that there was considerable room for improvement of the situation of vulnerable groups exposed to discrimination on an almost daily basis. The role of employees in the institutions that provided services to citizens on a daily basis in eradicating and combating discrimination was particularly discussed. This is especially important taking into account that citizens are highly exposed to discrimination in the area of service delivery in procedures before public administration bodies, which is a particularly difficult form of discrimination, defined by law. 

In June 2019, Praxis continued providing assistance to refugees/migrants, through information, psychosocial support, referrals to the targeted assistance provided by various organisations/institutions or covering the costs of transport to the asylum and reception centres.

A total of 1434 newly arrived refugees/migrants were informed about current situation in Serbia and the region, legal status and available legal options (seeking asylum in Serbia, assisted voluntary return to the country of origin, possibilities of family reunification abroad or resettlement to a third country when possible), accommodation in asylum centres (AC) or transit-reception centres in Serbia, means of transportation to the assigned centres, other rights and available services (medical care, psychosocial support, food, NFIs, various workshops for refugees/ migrants etc).

Download the whole Protection Monitoring Report for June 2019 here.

In May 2019, Praxis continued providing assistance to refugees/migrants, through information, psycho-social support, referrals to the targeted assistance provided by various organisations/institutions or covering the costs of transport to the asylum and reception centres.

A total of 1208 newly arrived refugees/migrants were informed about current situation in Serbia and the region, legal status and available legal options (seeking asylum in Serbia, assisted voluntary return to the country of origin, possibilities of family reunification abroad or resettlement to a third country when possible), accommodation in asylum centres (AC) or transit-reception centres in Serbia, means of transportation to the assigned centres, other rights and available services (medical care, psycho-social support, food, NFIs, various workshops for refugees/ migrants etc).

Download the whole Protection Monitoring Report for May 2019 here.