Acting upon Praxis complaint, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality established that the article “An Increasing Number of Refugees: Migrants will Soon Islamise Serbia”, published by Kurir Daily in the e-issue as of 2 August 2015, does not contain any violation of rights in accordance with the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination.

Praxis pointed that disputable text contributes to spreading of fear, creating of hostile environment and deepening of social distance of the citizens towards refugees and migrants, who are currently one of the most vulnerable groups in Serbia. Groundless emphasizing that refugees will soon Islamise Serbia and highlighting that “special risk is the fact that those with combat experience were found among the refugees entering Serbia“ creates atmosphere of fear, incites discrimination and intolerance, which is contrary to national and international regulations.

The Commissioner for Protection of Equality is of the opinion that the text contains mainly the opinions and attitudes of analysts and “given than media have the right to report on different phenomena, give and transmit different information and attitudes, it would be unacceptable to hold the author/editor-in-chief accountable for transmitting the opinions of other people on phenomena in society that are the subject of public discussion”.

Despite the opinion of the Commissioner, Praxis believes that that responsibility of media cannot be excluded or diminished by the fact that opinions of other persons are “just” transmitted in the text. We agree that democratic society needs freedom of expression, but not at the cost of xenophobic, disturbing and discriminatory allegations, opinions and attitudes.

For more information, see: The Commissioner For Protection of Equality Established That Kurir Daily Did Not Discriminated Against Refugees And Migrants