Since 2009, eighteen forced evictions of informal Roma settlements have been identified in Serbia and affected more than 2,700 Roma. None of them have been conducted in compliance with human rights standards binding on the Republic of Serbia and national legal framework is inadequate in relation to protection of human rights and respect for dignity of the inhabitants of informal settlements.

Danilo Curcic, a legal analyst in NGO Praxis, talked about this in his interview to e-Novine.

Curcic said that human rights organizations had formed the Platform for the Right to Adequate Housing. The Platform is a place where civil society organizations exchange experience for the purpose of establishment of the system where human rights of the inhabitants of informal settlements will be fully respected. Within the Platform, civil society organizations have elaborated the document on the obligations of the Republic of Serbia in the area of the right to housing, which is the starting point for the regulation of the eviction procedure.

Read in Elektronske Novine

ADALAH PRESS RELEASE

(East Jerusalem) On 26 and 27 November 2012, Adalah convened an international legal workshop on “Citizenship and Residency in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory”. The workshop provided a forum for the participants to appraise the available legal and other means of challenging Israeli policies that limit Palestinians’ rights to citizenship and residency. The workshop, which was supported by the United Nations Development Programme, brought together local and international practitioners who are working to protect the residency and citizenship status of Palestinians and members of other vulnerable populations around the world. Over 30 individuals representing a dozen local and international organizations joined the workshop.

The first session, which addressed the use of litigation strategies to defend Palestinian citizenship and residency rights, featured Adalah Attorney and General Director Hassan Jabareen, Attorney Yossi Wolfson, Attorney Manal Hassan-Abu Sinni of the Society of St. Yves, and Attorney Sanaa Duweik of the Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC). The speakers described the various laws and policies through which Israel exercises control over Palestinian residency rights, and their devastating impact, particularly on women and children. Attorney Padraig Hughes of London-based international legal human rights organization Interights drew comparative lessons from the approach and case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

The second session, which discussed comparative legislation and policies, was moderated by Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher and included presentations by Eitan Diamond of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Ivanka Kostic, the Executive Director of Praxis, a Serbian human rights organization that defends the rights of the Roma minority. Mr. Diamond set out the rules of the law of occupation as they concern demographics and population transfer.  Attorney Kostic then described the successful legal and advocacy efforts used by Praxis to challenge the discrimination, marginalization and social exclusion of the Roma community in Serbia.

The second day of the workshop focused on international advocacy and public activities as ways of bolstering legal work and raising awareness of violations of residency and citizenship rights. A session on international outreach and advocacy, chaired by Rina Rosenberg (Jabareen) of Adalah, brought together Sebastian Kohn of the Open Society Justice Initiative, Valentina Azarov of Al-Quds Bard College, Martin Clutterbuck of the Norwegian Refugee Council, and Tzvika Besor, an Israeli social media expert.  Nicole Fritz of the Southern African Litigation Center submitted a written description of international advocacy efforts to change citizenship regulations in Apartheid and post-Apartheid South Africa. The speakers emphasized that challenges to discriminatory laws should be discussed in relation to issues that the government already cares about, that target audiences must be chosen and spoken to carefully, and that there have thus far been few successful public campaigns challenging the Israeli government’s discriminatory policies towards Palestinian residency and citizenship rights.

The workshop concluded with a group discussion on lessons learned and the most important issues for the future, including the need for relevant actors within Palestinian and Israeli civil society to work together to address the erosion or total erasure of Palestinians’ citizenship rights. The group identified women and children as the most vulnerable populations, those who tend to be harmed the most by both divided marriages and the loss of residency, and discussed possible local and international advocacy strategies tailored to the needs of these groups.

The concept note and program of the workshop, as well as panelist bios

Photographs of the Workshop

As a result of the need for implementation of coordinated activities that would be directed at provision of assistance to members of Roma community who are not registered in birth registry book and do not possess personal documents, in April 2012 the Agreement of Understanding was signed, thus setting basis for closer cooperation in solving the existing problems between 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 (the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration as of July 2012). In October 2012, in accordance with the Agreement, a Management Board was formed that should suggest necessary measures and activities and review achieved results. At the first meeting of the Management Board, the plan of activities for the upcoming period was adopted and the Technical Group, as the working body of the Board, was formed.

Non-governmental organization Praxis is a member of the Technical Group that also gathers representatives of other relevant institutions – Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Republic Secretariat for Legislation, Office for Cooperation with Civil Society and the Belgrade City Secretariat for Administration, in addition to the parties in the agreement. As an introduction into the upcoming activities, members of the Technical Group visited two informal settlements in the territory of Belgrade with the aim to gain better insight into the living conditions in the settlements, but also to get directly acquainted with the problems of persons who are not registered in birth registry book. During the visit, by presenting actual cases from practice, Praxis legal staff pointed to the impossibility of registration in birth registry books, regulation of the citizenship status, registration of permanent residence and obtaining of ID card, that are all consequences of inadequate legal framework, tardiness of the bodies in proceeding, etc. In that respect, provision of assistance in solving of the above-described problems has been defined as one of the priority tasks of the representatives of the competent institutions. Besides, during 2013, the Technical Group will implement activities referring to training of judges in relation to implementation of the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure that regulates determination of place and date of birth for persons who cannot prove that fact in the administrative procedure. The activities of the Technical Group will also refer to training of registrars in relation to implementation of laws and by-laws that regulate registration of facts and data in birth registry book. Finally, the activities will also be directed at implementation of a campaign aimed at acquainting members of the Roma minority with the manner of exercising the right to registration in birth registry book and provision of free legal assistance in the procedures of subsequent registration.

Download: HERE

Danilo Curcic from Praxis said for B92 that 675 Roma families had been evicted in the territory of Belgrade in the period from 2009 to 2012, without the previous timely notification, meaningful consultation and alternative accommodation. He added that a group of NGOs had drawn up a draft platform for the right to adequate housing, which will be sent to competent bodies for consideration with an aim to improve the area of the right to adequate housing.

Read the whole news on B92

Segregation, as a form of discrimination on the basis of racial, national, class or religious difference, is a specific social problem delicacy of which is particularly evident in relation to protection of human rights of Roma population in Serbia. Despite the intentions of certain social structures and coordinated efforts of state institutions to help the Roma population approach the living standards of dominating social groups through inclusion processes, this population group is often exposed to various forms of direct or indirect discrimination as a result of a series of social, economic, cultural and other factors, but also the illegitimate unequal proceeding. The stated occurrences are manifested in different ways but all have the same outcome: by preventing the members of the Roma population group to access regular models of social, economic, cultural, educational and other forms of connecting to the environment they live in, achievement of the goal to bring closer and make equal this vulnerable minority group with the dominating social groups is at risk. This certainly prevents formation of a harmonious demographic picture within the state.

NGO Praxis reacted to one of the more evident forms of segregation in the region of Southern Serbia by filing a complaint to the Commissioner for Protection of Equality against the Nis City Administration, Department of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, and against the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” from Nis, that is, against the School Principal as the responsible person.

Referring to domestic legislation and ratified international conventions, in its complaint, Praxis pointed to the problem of segregation of Roma children which becomes apparent if one observes the fact that, in the last twenty years, 90% of children enrolled in the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” in Nis were members of Roma ethnic minority, while only two to three children per generation belong to non-Roma population. Through absence of a reaction from the competent social structures – groups, institutions and bodies (despite certain attempts of interested parties to point to this problem), and by relying on insufficiently precise legal formulations, primarily the Law on the Fundamentals of the Education System, an atmosphere has been created in which the dominant population avoids enrolling their children in the school where the majority of pupils belong to Roma population. Among other things, it directly confronts one of the goals of the Strategy for Improvement of the Status of Roma in the Republic of Serbia – prevention of labeling schools with the majority Roma pupils as “gipsy schools.” Since this case has been active for years and is a result of years of absence of reaction from the competent authorities, while at the same time it represents an example of a widespread problem, the opinion of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality is significant not only with respect to resolving the actual situation, but also for formulating a model for a more engaged solving of the problem of segregation of the kind and for distribution of funds for general prevention of discrimination of minority groups in this or other ways.

The Commissioner for Protection of Equality gave a decision upon the submitted complaint. In addition to the course of procedure explained in detail and statements of persons the complaint refers to (Head of the Department for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport of the Nis City Administration, Principal of the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic,” but also the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development), the decision of the Commissioner established the factual state of affairs: not denying existence of segregation, the Commissioner estimated that it was a multidisciplinary problem the resolving of which requested articulated action by the socially responsible entities. In this actual case, the Commissioner gave a recommendation referring to formulating and implementing the plan of measures the realization of which should overcome the problem of segregation, i.e. high number of Roma children in the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” in Nis. Department for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport of the Nis City Administration should assume responsibility for realization of these measures.

However, the opinion and the recommendation in this actual case do not essentially solve the problem of segregation. The fact is that the afore-mentioned school is located near a large Roma settlement in Nis. Relying on the fluctuating provisions of the Law on the Fundamentals of the Education System (which enables the citizens to enroll their children in schools at their own discretion, without limitations as regards the choice of the institution), circumstances have been created which allow the competent services to be passive in responding to discrimination the occurrence of which is becoming more and more evident every year, and to do so within the legal framework. Mechanisms for protection of human rights fail selectively (e.g. during the procedure in this case the competent authority failed to hold a hearing of the witness – Director of the Association of Roma Women “Osvit,” suggested by the submitter of the complaint; despite the suggestion of the proceeding body – the Commissioner for Protection of Equality - the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development did not deliver the statement that should have followed the inspection that was carried out). Precisely such minor omissions create conditions that further intensify the problem of discrimination. Roma population is marginalized and, observed as a whole, often treated as the “social ulcer,” by direct or indirect actions of individuals or a group, spontaneous actions or procedures that often find false support in legislation and the legal system of the state. It is significant to point to abuses in interpretation of certain legal acts, abuses which are aimed at protecting secular interests of certain entities, primarily socially responsible ones – bodies, organizations, institutions or individuals, that would, in an actual case, be held responsible for obvious discrimination. The term abuse refers to each selective and tendentious interpretation of imprecise provisions of legal acts, that is aimed at creating a distorted picture of the failure to proceed in certain cases which is opposite to basic principles of human rights protection. Raising awareness among the dominating population about the importance of inclusion, bringing together and truly making equal all social layers is a process that demands a committed approach and articulated and uncompromising proceeding of all responsible structures. In order to take actual steps in practice, legal framework must first be coordinated and harmonized, as well as the mechanisms for implementation of legal norms, which, at this moment and in this region, still represents an unfulfilled goal.

Hoping that significant steps will be taken in the future, aimed at improving general living conditions of Roma and other minority groups in the Republic of Serbia, we emphasize that we are all born equal, with equal opportunities, rights and obligations and that each attempt to neglect that is intolerable, inhuman and unacceptable.

Segregation, as a form of discrimination on the basis of racial, national, class or religious difference, is a specific social problem delicacy of which is particularly evident in relation to protection of human rights of Roma population in Serbia. Despite the intentions of certain social structures and coordinated efforts of state institutions to help the Roma population approach the living standards of dominating social groups through inclusion processes, this population group is often exposed to various forms of direct or indirect discrimination as a result of a series of social, economic, cultural and other factors, but also the illegitimate unequal proceeding. The stated occurrences are manifested in different ways but all have the same outcome: by preventing the members of the Roma population group to access regular models of social, economic, cultural, educational and other forms of connecting to the environment they live in, achievement of the goal to bring closer and make equal this vulnerable minority group with the dominating social groups is at risk. This certainly prevents formation of a harmonious demographic picture within the state.

NGO Praxis reacted to one of the more evident forms of segregation in the region of Southern Serbia by filing a complaint to the Commissioner for Protection of Equality against the Nis City Administration, Department of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, and against the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” from Nis, that is, against the School Principal as the responsible person.

Referring to domestic legislation and ratified international conventions, in its complaint, Praxis pointed to the problem of segregation of Roma children which becomes apparent if one observes the fact that, in the last twenty years, 90% of children enrolled in the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” in Nis were members of Roma ethnic minority, while only two to three children per generation belong to non-Roma population. Through absence of a reaction from the competent social structures – groups, institutions and bodies (despite certain attempts of interested parties to point to this problem), and by relying on insufficiently precise legal formulations, primarily the Law on the Fundamentals of the Education System, an atmosphere has been created in which the dominant population avoids enrolling their children in the school where the majority of pupils belong to Roma population. Among other things, it directly confronts one of the goals of the Strategy for Improvement of the Status of Roma in the Republic of Serbia – prevention of labeling schools with the majority Roma pupils as “gipsy schools.” Since this case has been active for years and is a result of years of absence of reaction from the competent authorities, while at the same time it represents an example of a widespread problem, the opinion of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality is significant not only with respect to resolving the actual situation, but also for formulating a model for a more engaged solving of the problem of segregation of the kind and for distribution of funds for general prevention of discrimination of minority groups in this or other ways.

The Commissioner for Protection of Equality gave a decision upon the submitted complaint. In addition to the course of procedure explained in detail and statements of persons the complaint refers to (Head of the Department for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport of the Nis City Administration, Principal of the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic,” but also the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development), the decision of the Commissioner established the factual state of affairs: not denying existence of segregation, the Commissioner estimated that it was a multidisciplinary problem the resolving of which requested articulated action by the socially responsible entities. In this actual case, the Commissioner gave a recommendation referring to formulating and implementing the plan of measures the realization of which should overcome the problem of segregation, i.e. high number of Roma children in the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” in Nis. Department for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport of the Nis City Administration should assume responsibility for realization of these measures.

However, the opinion and the recommendation in this actual case do not essentially solve the problem of segregation. The fact is that the afore-mentioned school is located near a large Roma settlement in Nis. Relying on the fluctuating provisions of the Law on the Fundamentals of the Education System (which enables the citizens to enroll their children in schools at their own discretion, without limitations as regards the choice of the institution), circumstances have been created which allow the competent services to be passive in responding to discrimination the occurrence of which is becoming more and more evident every year, and to do so within the legal framework. Mechanisms for protection of human rights fail selectively (e.g. during the procedure in this case the competent authority failed to hold a hearing of the witness – Director of the Association of Roma Women “Osvit,” suggested by the submitter of the complaint; despite the suggestion of the proceeding body – the Commissioner for Protection of Equality - the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development did not deliver the statement that should have followed the inspection that was carried out). Precisely such minor omissions create conditions that further intensify the problem of discrimination. Roma population is marginalized and, observed as a whole, often treated as the “social ulcer,” by direct or indirect actions of individuals or a group, spontaneous actions or procedures that often find false support in legislation and the legal system of the state. It is significant to point to abuses in interpretation of certain legal acts, abuses which are aimed at protecting secular interests of certain entities, primarily socially responsible ones – bodies, organizations, institutions or individuals, that would, in an actual case, be held responsible for obvious discrimination. The term abuse refers to each selective and tendentious interpretation of imprecise provisions of legal acts, that is aimed at creating a distorted picture of the failure to proceed in certain cases which is opposite to basic principles of human rights protection. Raising awareness among the dominating population about the importance of inclusion, bringing together and truly making equal all social layers is a process that demands a committed approach and articulated and uncompromising proceeding of all responsible structures. In order to take actual steps in practice, legal framework must first be coordinated and harmonized, as well as the mechanisms for implementation of legal norms, which, at this moment and in this region, still represents an unfulfilled goal.

Hoping that significant steps will be taken in the future, aimed at improving general living conditions of Roma and other minority groups in the Republic of Serbia, we emphasize that we are all born equal, with equal opportunities, rights and obligations and that each attempt to neglect that is intolerable, inhuman and unacceptable.

Segregation, as a form of discrimination on the basis of racial, national, class or religious difference, is a specific social problem delicacy of which is particularly evident in the region of Southern Serbia, where the number of members of Roma population is higher. NGO Praxis reacted to one of the more evident forms of segregation in the region of Southern Serbia – the fact that, in the last twenty years, 90% of children enrolled in the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” in Nis were members of Roma ethnic minority, while only two to three children per generation belong to non-Roma population – by filing a complaint to the Commissioner for Protection of Equality against the Nis City Administration, Department of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, and against the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” from Nis, that is, against the School Principal as the responsible person.

Upon the conducted procedure, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality gave her opinion. In addition to the course of procedure explained in detail and statements of persons the complaint refers to (Head of the Department for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport of the Nis City Administration, Principal of the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic,” but also the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development), the decision of the Commissioner established the factual state of affairs: not denying existence of segregation, the Commissioner estimated that it was a multidisciplinary problem the resolving of which requested articulated action by the socially responsible entities. In this actual case, the Commissioner gave a recommendation referring to formulating and implementing the plan of measures the realization of which should overcome the problem of segregation, i.e. high number of Roma children in the Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” in Nis. Department for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport of the Nis City Administration should assume responsibility for realization of these measures.

However, the opinion and the recommendation in this actual case do not essentially solve the problem of segregation. The fact is that the afore-mentioned school is located near a large Roma settlement in Nis. Relying on the fluctuating provisions of the Law on the Fundamentals of the Education System (which enables the citizens to enroll their children in schools at their own discretion, without limitations as regards the choice of the institution), circumstances have been created which allow the competent services to be passive in responding to discrimination the occurrence of which is becoming more and more evident every year, and to do so within the legal framework.

Observing the above-mentioned case as a representative example of the situation in the field of human rights, one comes to the conclusion that one of the basic tasks in combat against all forms of discrimination should be creating a firm legislative basis, where there would be no conditions for unequal proceeding towards any vulnerable social groups by adhering to “the letter of the law”.

For more information please see the announcement Commissioner for Protection of Equality Has Not Established Discrimination Irrespective of Segregation in Primary School “Vuk Karadzic” in Nis 

The procedure against S.S, accused of the criminal act of violation of family relations (Article 196, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code),  is being conducted before the First Basic Court in Belgrade because she has not fulfilled obligations stipulated by the Article 69 of the Family Law nor has she raised the children in a way to take care about their life and health. The bill of indictment reads that S.S. “was residing in the unhygienic settlement in Novi Beograd (…) without registering the children to competent bodies and obtaining them personal documents, nor did she enroll them in school and include in educational system due to which the minor children were educationally and hygienically neglected and disregarded”.

It is a notorious fact that residents of informal settlements are not able to register permanent residence due to the lack of legal basis of housing. Until 1999, S.S. lived in Kosovo, when she was forced to leave her home and moved later on to Sarajevo, where she gave birth to her two children. However, the children did not acquire the citizenship of BiH, nor did they acquire the citizenship of the Republic of Serbia. On coming to Belgrade, S.S. was assisted by Praxis in the procedure of determination of a personal name for one of her sons in Sarajevo, and obtaining of birth certificates for both sons. Afterwards, she tried to register their permanent residence and obtain them health booklets, but with no success as they did not have regulated citizenship status. None of the bodies she addressed did instruct her on activities that should be taken in order to obtain personal documents for her children. In addition, contrary to the bill of indictment, S.S. did enroll her children in school.

This is the first known case of a parent accused because her children do not possess personal documents. It is absurd that state bodies criminally prosecute the citizen S.S. for alleged neglect of children instead of taking measures that would enable the residents of informal Roma settlements and persons at risk of statelessness the full integration into society.

By Praxis assistance, Igor Mitschka from Yale College, USA, visited the informal Roma settlement in Jabucki rit near Belgrade, where Serbian local authorities settled some hundred forcibly evicted Roma. The settlement is remote from the city and living conditions are dire. The Roma people still have hope that the Serbian government will eventually adhere to international law and provide them with adequate housing and opportunities to integrate into society. The report on the visit has been published in ACCENT Magazine.

Read the report in ACCENT Magazine