The Paperless People Podcast follows the stories of two Roma families, exploring how policies in Serbia are perpetuating their legal invisibility. Through these stories and expert analysis, it is explored how the UN Sustainable Development Goals may struggle to achieve what they set out to do if the approach to implementation and monitoring does not account for structural discrimination that is too often leaving certain people behind: in this case the Roma in Serbia. 

This podcast series, produced by the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, with the support of the Knowledge Platform for Security and the Rule of Law (Knowledge Management Fund), explores how the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals need to be re-thought in order to effectively address statelessness challenges. 

This episode was created in close partnership with Praxis, a human rights organization based in Serbia. With thanks to Ivanka Kostic and her team.

Music from Blue Dot Sessions and Podington Bear under Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution License. 

Listen to this episode here.

The report Contributing to Public Administration Reform in Kraljevo  was prepared as the result of the research conducted by Praxis within the project "Contributing to public administration reform in Kraljevo" in the period from 1 June 2017 - 31 March 2018, as part of  the project 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 Netherlands.

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. 

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, discriminatory decisions have been made in several cases indicating the failure of local self-government to respond to the needs of vulnerable groups. Active citizen participation in the decision-making and policy-making process can undoubtedly prevent the adoption of discriminatory and inappropriate decisions and make the work of administration accountable and efficient.  

In addition, it has been established that 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 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 reporting on specific topics.

Download the report here.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government believes that there are no reasons to amend the by-laws that hinder birth registration immediately after birth of children whose parents do not possess personal documents. Such an opinion stems from the response which the Ministry sent to Praxis upon the recently submitted appeal to amend the provisions of two by-laws (Instruction on administering registry books and forms of registry books and Rulebook on the procedure for the issuance of birth notification and form of the issuance of birth notification in a health care). Praxis stated in the appeal that these by-laws were in contradiction with the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, Family Law and ratified international conventions, since many children are left without birth registration immediately after birth.

The Ministry disregarded these arguments in its response, stating that the normative framework enabled every person to be registered in the birth registry books. It also stated that the problems in birth registration were overcome. However, the Ministry did not take into consideration the fact that not only would the children whose parents do not possess documents not be able to get registered in the birth registry book immediately after birth, but also that additional, often lengthy procedures would have to be conducted for them.

In this way, the Ministry disregarded the opinions of many international organizations and treaty bodies which emphasised in their recommendations to Serbia that the children whose parents do not possess documents must be enabled to register in the birth registry books immediately after birth. Furthermore, the Ministry also neglected its obligation stemming from the Operational conclusions from the seminar “Social Inclusion of Roma in the Republic of Serbia 2017”  to ensure the fulfilment of the right to report and register births of children whose parent do not possess personal documents. 

Government of the Republic of Serbia, in cooperation with the European Commission, organized the fourth seminar “Social Inclusion of Roma in the Republic of Serbia” in October 2017. The seminar is a biennial meeting, first organized in 2011, dedicated to the status of Roma in the region organised by the European Commission. Roma seminars are the main channel of communication between the European Commission/EU Delegation and Serbian authorities dealing with these issues. The Seminar discussed actions to improve the status of Roma in education, implemented activities and observed problems at the national and local level in the field of employment of Roma, social and health protection of Roma, housing and legalisation of Roma settlements as well as challenges and possible solutions to the issue of personal documents and the status of IDPs and returnees under the Readmission Agreement.

At the seminar held in October 2017, priorities were defined for the next period in the form of Operational conclusions that represent undertaken obligations by Serbia for the period 2017-2019. Operational conclusions, together with the Action Plan for chapter 23 are the key elements of the legislative framework for Roma inclusion in Serbia.

Ivanka Kostic, Praxis’ Executive Director, once again pointed at the problem faced by undocumented parents when registering the birth of their children, and advocated for the systemic solution of the problem through the amendments of relevant regulations/bylaws.

The Operational conclusions recently published prescribe that the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government will continue to monitor the situation in the field of exercising the right to register in the birth register in accordance with the relevant laws. 

It is particularly important that in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government will ensure the fulfilment of the right to report and register births of children born in health institutions whose parents do not have personal documents, as well as of children born outside health institutions. 

By achieving this goal, new cases of statelessness would be prevented. Children whose parents do not possess personal documents could be registered in the birth registry immediately after birth and exercise their other basic rights.

You can download the Operational conclusions HERE.

In August, the number of refugees/migrants met and interviewed by Praxis’ mobile team did not exceed 300 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, Bosnian or Romanian border. During this period, Praxis provided assistance to a total of 2073 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. During this reporting period, up to 74 refugees/migrants were seen sleeping rough in the parks near the Belgrade Bus Station every morning.

Praxis continued its field work and provided a total of 1794 newly arrived refugees and migrants (1296 adults - 1153 men and 143 women and 498 children - 446 boys and 52 girls, including 390 potential UAMs - 386 boys and 4 girls) with information and/or referred them to other organisations/institutions.

The refugees/migrants of other nationalities were from India (18), China (1), Bangladesh (74), Eritrea (5), Yemen (2), Libya (12) Myanmar (1), Nepal (4), Palestine (7), Somalia (14, Sri Lanka (1) and Turkey (1). Refugees/migrants arrived to Serbia via Macedonia (801 or 44.6%), Bulgaria (466 or 26.0%), Albania (65 or 3.6%), Montenegro (8 or 0.4%), Hungary (5 or 0.3%), BiH (8 or 0.4%) while 38 of them did not specify where they had entered Serbia and 403 refugees/migrants, mostly from Iran, arrived by plane.

The families and UASC waiting for registration or transport to one of the asylum or reception centres they had been referred to still had the option of spending the night in the aid hub Refugee Aid Miksalište, in the proximity of Belgrade Bus and Train Station. Info Park continued to provide one meal a day for newly arrived refugees/migrants, and occasionally covered the costs of transport to the reception and asylum centres. Beside Praxis and Info Park, SCRM organised transportation to asylum and reception centres several times during this reporting period. The MSF clinic continued to provide medical support. In this reporting period, there was no organised distribution of clothing and footwear in the field in Belgrade.

Download the whole Protection Monitoring Report here.

Why do some children leave school, what are marital obligations, what is your future occupation and why should we say STOP to child marriages – are some of the questions we asked children of higher grades in four primary schools in Serbia (Primary School “Jovan Cvijic” in Kostolac, Primary School “Bosko Palkovljevic Pinkic, Primary School “Sutjeska” in Belgrade and Primary School “Aleksandar Stojanovic – Leso” in Novi Pazar).

Within the activities performed on the project “Legal Assistance to Persons at Risk of Statelessness in Serbia”, funded by UNHCR, during 2017 and 2018 we talked to more than 200 boys and girls about the importance of education, causes and consequences of school leaving, future professions, gender roles and marital obligations, causes and consequences of child marriages, and how important it is to prevent them.

Child marriages are a gross violation of the rights of children.  They harm the mental and physical health of girls and expose them to the risk of statelessness, domestic violence and trafficking in human beings. The research shows that child marriages are one of the key reasons why Roma girls drop out of school, leaving them thus in the vicious circle of poverty and leading to their economic dependence. The practice indicates the lack of sensitivity among professionals and the presence of discriminatory attitudes and prejudices against Roma population. 

Children say that child marriages need to be stopped because girls are immature to be mothers, they do not manage to finish schools, have no chance to find a job, and because they do not seize their youth.

In order to eradicate this serious social problem, a holistic and coordinated approach of relevant stakeholders, both on national and local levels, is a necessity. It is extremely important that a state has consistent laws which prescribe 18 years as the minimum age for marriage, because if the law does not recognize children as children, they cannot enjoy full protection. It is equally important to empower the children and respect their opinion, because they are one of the key drivers of change in the prevention and elimination of child marriages.
 

See what children say:

Choose Education, Say „NO“ to Child Marriage - Why Some Children Leave School

Choose Education, Say „NO“ to Child Marriage – Marital Obligations

Choose Education, Say „NO“ to Child Marriage - My Future Occupation

Choose Education, Say "NO" to Child Marriage - STOP to Child Marriages 

The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) and the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI) has launched a new report – Statelessness, Discrimination and Marginalisation of Roma in the Western Balkans and Ukraine. The report synthesises the findings of the #RomaBelong project, which set out to explore the nexus between statelessness, discrimination and marginalisation of Roma in the Western Balkans and Ukraine.

The report calls on governments in the region to focus attention on statelessness among Roma and to reform complex civil registration procedures which hinder access to crucial documents needed to prove their identity and nationality. It highlights that leaving Romani children without a birth certificate means that they are growing up without a nationality. Because of this, thousands of Roma are left struggling to access key services such as education, healthcare and housing.

It examines the issue from a regional perspective, and outlines key recommendations targeted at civil society, funders, national governments and regional stakeholders such as the OSCE, EU and Council of Europe, who can influence and facilitate action to address the issues.

The report was produced in collaboration with country project partners Tirana Legal Aid Society (TLAS – Albania), Vaša prava BiH Association (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Macedonian Young Lawyers Association (MYLA – Macedonia), Mladi Romi (Montenegro), Praxis (Serbia) and Desyate Kvitnya (Ukraine).

Download the report here.