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.

In July, the number of refugees/migrants met and interviewed by Praxis’ mobile team did not exceed 200 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 1883 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 44 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 1541 newly arrived refugees and migrants (1159 adults - 1034 men and 125 women, and 382 children - 313 boys and 69 girls, including 252 potential unaccompanied and separated children (UASC), 249 boys and 3 girls) with relevant information.

The refugees/migrants of other nationalities were from Bangladesh (61), Eritrea (10), India (23), Libya (3), Somalia (16), Tunisia (3), Egypt (1), Nepal (10), Nigeria (1), Russia (1), Sri Lanka (6) and Turkey (3). Refugees/migrants arrived to Serbia via Macedonia (873 or 56.7%), Bulgaria (270 or 17.5%), Albania (5 or 0.3%), BiH (3 or 0.2%), while 41 of them did not specify where they had entered Serbia and 349 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.

Due to inadequate regulations on the procedure of birth notification and registration into birth registry books, legally invisible children are still being born in Serbia. In cases where mothers do not possess personal documents, their children cannot be registered in birth registry books immediately after birth. Consequently, children remain excluded from the system of health care and social protection; their permanent residence cannot be registered and they cannot acquire citizenship.

In its work, Praxis continually encounters undocumented women who have given birth and who cannot register their children in birth registry books. In some cases, due to not possessing documents, mothers and their children not only lose the opportunity of receiving parental and child allowances and exercising their right to social assistance, but are also brought to the situation of being asked to pay for expenses, which does not happen to persons who possess personal documents. Moreover, sometimes they are asked to pay even for the expenses that they are not legally obliged to pay. It should be noted that in Serbia the problem of not possessing documents almost always affects members of the Roma national minority, who are among the poorest and most marginalised citizens.

Praxis was addressed by S.Z. seeking free legal aid. She did not have personal documents because the birth register book in which she had been registered remained unavailable to the authorities of the Republic of Serbia after the 1999 Kosovo conflict. She gave birth in late July, but - unlike mothers with an ID card - she was unable to determine her child's name in the maternity hospital, register the child’s permanent residence and register the child to health insurance. Moreover, she and her newborn were not allowed to leave the maternity hospital until she took the hospital bill in the amount of RSD 234,000. On that occasion, the mother and her cohabiting partner were told that they had to pay the bill within one month or to register to health insurance, otherwise they would be sued.

This conduct of a health care institution is contrary to the Law on Health Care, which prescribes that emergency funds (including childbirth) shall be provided from the budget of the Republic of Serbia for persons who do not exercise the right to urgent medical assistance otherwise. In addition, denying the mother the possibility to determine the child’s name in the maternity hospital is contrary to the instruction given within the framework of the project Baby, Welcome to the World, which simplified the birth registration process and allowed mothers who did not possess personal documents to register children in birth registry books.

N.A. faced a similar problem. She does not have documents because her mother did not have an ID card at the time of child delivery, and therefore she was not able to register her child into birth registry books. Consequently, N.A., who gave birth about a month ago, could not register her newborn child into birth registry books either. In her case, the maternity hospital did not ask for the payment of child delivery costs, but the child had to be hospitalised soon after birth where it was treated for seven days. Upon completion of treatment, the mother was asked to pay RSD 44,000.  In both cases, Praxis has pointed out to health care institutions that these cases should be treated as urgent and that patients should not be asked to pay the costs, but it remains to be seen whether the hospital will give up the intention to collect the payment.

Such situations would be avoided by registering every child into birth registry books immediately after birth, because it would allow the child to obtain a health card immediately as well as to access other rights. This would also ensure adherence to the principle according to which the best interest of the child must always be in the first place, as well as compliance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia and ratified international conventions guaranteeing to every child the right to birth registration and to a personal name immediately after birth.
Therefore, it is necessary to change, without delay, the provisions of the Instruction on administering civil registry books and forms of registry books and the Rulebook on the procedure for the issuance of birth notification and form of the issuance of birth notification in a health care institution, which prevent the birth registration of children whose mothers do not possess personal documents. This would prevent the generation of new legally invisible persons, and give an opportunity to a considerable number of children, who would otherwise be without documents, to get the necessary protection in the most vulnerable period of their lives. Therefore, in mid-July Praxis sent an appeal to the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-government, which is responsible for these regulations, to urgently amend the controversial provisions.

Handling the complaints lodged by Praxis, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality issued an opinion establishing discrimination in five decisions of the Kraljevo City Assembly that denied the rights to the internally displaced persons with temporary residence registered in the City of Kraljevo. More precisely, in the Decision on Free Bus Transportation in the City of Kraljevo, the Decision on the Right to One-off Financial Assistance for the First-born Child, the Decision on Financial Assistance to Unemployed New Mothers and the Decision on Scholarships for Students of the City of Kraljevo, the Kraljevo City Assembly imposed the condition of permanent residence in the city, thus preventing internally displaced persons from exercising the rights granted by these decisions. Although the decision maker had a clear intention to use funds from the local budget for improving the position of the most vulnerable citizens, the imposed condition of permanent residence excluded all internally displaced persons and refugees residing in the City of Kraljevo over 20 years and fulfilling all other requirements set forth in these decisions. 

Responding to the allegations of complaints, the President of the Kraljevo City Assembly did not deny that the concerned decisions had violated the right of citizens to exercise the rights under equal conditions and stated that the City Assembly would undertake necessary measures to alter the disputed decisions.

The Commissioner established that the entire group of people in the City of Kraljevo was excluded in that way, violating Article 7 of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination, and therefore recommended to the Kraljevo City Assembly to undertake all measures within its purview to make the said decisions applicable also to the internally displaced persons residing in the city.

The Commissioner also issued an opinion concerning the Decision on Financial Assistance to Multi-child Families in the City of Kraljevo, according to which parents must have the citizenship of the Republic of Serbia, children must be 7 - 15 years old, while the parents who exercised the right to social assistance from the social welfare centre were not eligible, and established that Articles 6 and 8 of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination were violated. For that reason, she recommended to the Kraljevo City Assembly to undertake measures within its purview to align the said decision with anti-discrimination regulations. 

We remind that Praxis withdrew the complaints related to the Decision on Free Bus Transportation in the City of Kraljevo, the Decision on the Right to One-off Financial Assistance for the First-born Child and the Decision on Financial Assistance to Unemployed New Mothers after the President of the Kraljevo City Assembly had accepted our objections and expressed readiness to alter the disputed provisions. Praxis will certainly continue to monitor further actions of the competent authorities in terms of aligning the disputed decisions with anti-discrimination legislation.

On this occasion, we once again appeal to public authorities, both at the local and national level, to pay attention to the importance of respecting human rights, adherence to the principles of non-discrimination and needs of the most vulnerable citizens in the policy-making process. Active citizen participation in the decision-making and policy-making process can prevent the adoption of discriminatory and inappropriate decisions and make the work of administration accountable and efficient.  

The Third Meeting of the National Working Group (NWG) on Public Administration Reform (PAR) in Serbia, was held on 13 June in Belgrade attended by the representatives of the SIGMA/OECD, who presented the results of SIGMA 2017 Assessment for Serbia during the first part of the meeting.

The meeting was opened by Brian Finn, Senior Adviser for Public Financial Management, saying that the results of the Monitoring Report showed that Serbia made significant improvements in comparison the previous assessment period, highlighting that in some PAR Areas Serbia is above the regional average, but it is still necessary to increase the implementation rate and fulfilment of obligations, to show dedication to reforms, realistically plan costs and carefully monitor achieved results. In the second session, Annika Uudelepp, SIGMA Senior Adviser for Strategy and Reform, and Primož Vehar, Senior Adviser for Service Delivery, focused on the state in civil service in Serbia and reflected on the international standards and good practice in achieving professional senior civil service. Moreover, they highlighted that the senior civil servants:  are highly important for the good administration in every country. yet in Serbia they are often not selected in the open competition in Serbia, which weakens their role. leaves them in the state of insecurity for their position and therefore threatens  to  politicise their work... Finally, Vehar presented SIGMA's recommendations for getting more citizen-friendly service delivery, including less bureaucracy, more e-government and digitalisation.

Miloš Đinđić, WeBER Lead Researcher, presented PAR Monitor results from Serbia to the NWG members at the second part of the meeting.

Milena Lazarević, WeBER Project Manager and CEP Programme Director presented the results of the survey of civil servants, implemented  within the PAR Monitor. The questionnaire was widely distributed and filled in by 1199 civil servants working in the central administration.

By gathering inputs and comments from participants for the WeBER Platform Meeting which will be held on 19 June 2018, the meeting of the NWG was concluded. On that occasion, Jasmina Mikovic presented the main findings of the research on transparency of the local self-government and implementation of the new Law on General Administrative Procedure, which Praxis conducted within the project Contributing to Public Administration Reform in Kraljevo. She also emphasized the importance of respecting and applying human rights principles in the creation of local policies, with particular reference to the importance of the participation of all groups in society, including children, women, minorities and certain vulnerable groups in decision making, so that the local self-government is ready to respond to the needs of vulnerable social groups. Thereby, it is necessary to constantly take care of preserving the non-discrimination principle in all local policies, and particularly when making decisions and providing services.  

See the statement at WeBER platform. 
See the video on the activities implemented within the WeBER project.