The Parliament of Serbia has adopted the Law on Amendments to the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure, which will enable the easier subsequent birth registration for about 6,500 legally invisible persons.

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Women having been exposed to domestic violence and granted sole exercise of the parental right are required to deliver evidence that a parent/perpetrator who does not exercise the parental right does not fulfil the legal obligation of paying the child support either, when submitting a request for exercise the right to cash assistance – cash social welfare, assistance and care for another person and other  forms of social welfare benefits.

Depending on practice of a competent body, the submitter of a request might be asked to deliver the evidence on criminal charges pressed for the criminal act of evading the payment of child support or to deliver the final sentence passed in this criminal procedure. Such obligation puts the submitters of request into a very difficult position. Namely, upon the experienced violence and numerous court procedures they have been through, the submitters of request are requested to initiate a new court procedure which requires facing the perpetrator again and exposing to secondary victimization.

Praxis’ experience in the work with women who were exposed to violence shows that such procedures last for about 5 to 10 months and sometimes even longer, which is also confirmed by results of research on exercise of the right to legal support before the judiciary bodies.

Due to the above stated, Praxis addressed the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy for the opinion about the exercise of the right to cash assistance to single mothers who have been exposed to violence.

Women having been exposed to domestic violence and granted sole exercise of the parental right are required to deliver evidence that a parent/perpetrator who does not exercise the parental right does not fulfil the legal obligation of paying the child support either, when submitting a request for exercise the right to cash assistance – cash social welfare, assistance and care for another person and other  forms of social welfare benefits.

Depending on practice of a competent body, the submitter of a request might be asked to deliver the evidence on criminal charges pressed for the criminal act of evading the payment of child support or to deliver the final sentence passed in this criminal procedure. Such obligation puts the submitters of request into a very difficult position. Namely, upon the experienced violence and numerous court procedures they have been through, the submitters of request are requested to initiate a new court procedure which requires facing the perpetrator again and exposing to secondary victimization.

Praxis’ experience in the work with women who were exposed to violence shows that such procedures last for about 5 to 10 months and sometimes even longer, which is also confirmed by results of research on exercise of the right to legal support before the judiciary bodies.

Due to the above stated, Praxis addressed the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy for the opinion about the exercise of the right to cash assistance to single mothers who have been exposed to violence.

Within the project directed at reduction and prevention of statelessness in Serbia, funded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in December 2011 Praxis issued a report entitled “Persons at Risk of Statelessness in Serbia – Case studies”.

The objective of this case study is to provide a more detailed insight into the implementation of regulations and exercise of the right to citizenship in practice. The cases were selected in a way to show why, despite the general compliance of the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Serbia with the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, there are continuous violations of the right to citizenship of many persons and why certain persons find it so difficult to prove and establish their citizenship.

The selected cases serve as an overview of the situations, which most often result in statelessness, and effectiveness of certain provisions aimed at prevention of statelessness. The given examples were categorised into four groups, according to the origin of the problems they face and/or depending on the procedures they should initiate in order to acquire citizenship.

With the aim to overcome the problem faced by the internally displaced persons because they are charged the fee for complaint against the decision of the Kosovo Property Agency and the fee for judgement of the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo competent for deciding upon complaints against the decisions of the Kosovo Property Agency, Praxis, Balkan Centre for Migrations and the Project of support to refugees and internally displaced persons in Serbia have addressed the Supervisory Board of the Kosovo Property Agency and the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo.

The Supreme Court of Kosovo, as the authorised proponent, was asked to request an opinion of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo as to whether charging of fees in these cases is in accordance with the Constitution of Kosovo, and in particular with the Article 31 Right to Fair and Impartial Trial and Article 32 Right to Legal Remedy of the Constitution. It would resolve the existing dilemmas, as well as any doubt in the constitutionality of practice concerning charging of fees for complaints and judgements before the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo competent for deciding upon complaints against decisions of the Kosovo Property Agency.

At the time it was brought, the regulation stipulating the obligation of paying court fees could not have had in mind the specific procedure for lodging complaints against the decisions of the Kosovo Property Agency and issuance of decisions upon complaints, that was established later. In the procedures of housing property restitution, once under the competence of the Housing and Property Claims Commission, the fees for complaints and second-instance decisions had not been charged.

One should bear in mind that it is a procedure not envisaged to exist permanently in the legal system of protection of property rights in Kosovo. We would like to emphasise that the deadline for submitting requests for initiating procedures for restitution of housing property had expired in 2007, which limited the number of participants in the procedure, the majority of them being internally displaced persons in Serbia. It is yet another fact testifying of specific features of this procedure.

With the aim to overcome the problem faced by the internally displaced persons because they are charged the fee for complaint against the decision of the Kosovo Property Agency and the fee for judgement of the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo competent for deciding upon complaints against the decisions of the Kosovo Property Agency, Praxis, Balkan Centre for Migrations and the Project of support to refugees and internally displaced persons in Serbia have addressed the Supervisory Board of the Kosovo Property Agency and the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo.

The Supreme Court of Kosovo, as the authorised proponent, was asked to request an opinion of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo as to whether charging of fees in these cases is in accordance with the Constitution of Kosovo, and in particular with the Article 31 Right to Fair and Impartial Trial and Article 32 Right to Legal Remedy of the Constitution. It would resolve the existing dilemmas, as well as any doubt in the constitutionality of practice concerning charging of fees for complaints and judgements before the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo competent for deciding upon complaints against decisions of the Kosovo Property Agency.

At the time it was brought, the regulation stipulating the obligation of paying court fees could not have had in mind the specific procedure for lodging complaints against the decisions of the Kosovo Property Agency and issuance of decisions upon complaints, that was established later. In the procedures of housing property restitution, once under the competence of the Housing and Property Claims Commission, the fees for complaints and second-instance decisions had not been charged.

One should bear in mind that it is a procedure not envisaged to exist permanently in the legal system of protection of property rights in Kosovo. We would like to emphasise that the deadline for submitting requests for initiating procedures for restitution of housing property had expired in 2007, which limited the number of participants in the procedure, the majority of them being internally displaced persons in Serbia. It is yet another fact testifying of specific features of this procedure.

Praxis organized two workshops for internally displaced women. One was held in the collective centre ORA Sartid in Radinac (15 November 2010), Municipality of Smederevo. Another workshop was organized in Nis (22 December 2010) in cooperation with IDP association Happy Family. During the workshops, women were acquainted with the phenomenon of domestic violence and state institutions responsible for provision of protection against violence. A total of 38 women participated in workshops.

Furthermore, in cooperation with the Regional Centre of Civic Action Lingua, Praxis organized a workshop for refugee women in Kraljevo (1 November 2010). A total of 19 refugee women, who live in collective centres and in private accommodation in the vicinity of Kraljevo, took part in the workshop.

Within the campaign of raising awareness of the public of sexual and gender based violence, Praxis organized 2 three-day regional seminars for representatives of local institutions dealing with protection of domestic violence survivors (justice, police, social welfare centres, health and education institutions, humanitarian and non-governmental organizations). Seminars were held in Smederevo (29-31 March 2010) for representatives of institutions from Smederevo, Pozarevac and Velika Plana; and in Novi Pazar (11-13 May 2010) for representatives of institutions from Novi Pazar, Raska and Sjenica. The goal of the seminar was forming a network of the main local stakeholders and their sensitizing about specific measures of protection and needs of violence survivors. A total of 57 representatives of relevant institutions took an active part in seminars.

In cooperation with the Roma association Bibija, Praxis organized 6 plays of the interactive performance of forum theatre Say STOP to Violence in Belgrade, Kragujevac, Krusevac, Subotica and Nis. The goal of the performance is to help the participants to easily recognize sexual and gender based violence and to become familiar with the role of institutions responsible for the provision of protection to violence survivors. A total of 280 Roma women participated in performances.

The plays were performed by the following schedule:

Beograd (Rakovica) – 27 March 2010
Kragujevac – 17 April 2010
Krusevac – 12 June 2010
Subotica – 2 October 2010
Nis – 9 October 2010
Beograd (Zeleznik) – 23 October 2010

In cooperation with the Roma association Bibija, Praxis organized 6 plays of the interactive performance of forum theatre Say STOP to Violence in Belgrade, Kragujevac, Krusevac, Subotica and Nis. The goal of the performance is to help the participants to easily recognize sexual and gender based violence and to become familiar with the role of institutions responsible for the provision of protection to violence survivors. A total of 280 Roma women participated in performances.

The plays were performed by the following schedule:

Beograd (Rakovica) – 27 March 2010
Kragujevac – 17 April 2010
Krusevac – 12 June 2010
Subotica – 2 October 2010
Nis – 9 October 2010
Beograd (Zeleznik) – 23 October 2010