In the procedure initiated upon Praxis complaint, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality has established that M.P., an employee of the Social Welfare Centre of the City of Novi Sad, discriminated against five Roma women from informal settlement Veliki Rit, on the grounds of their gender and Roma ethnicity.

At the end of 2012, during a visit to the informal settlement Veliki Rit, it came to Praxis knowledge that M.P. was discriminating against Roma women who were addressing him for exercise of the right to social welfare benefits. According to the statements given by the potential beneficiaries of social welfare, the employee had been insulting them, threatening them, sexually harassing them, intimidating them by saying that they might be physically attacked, and even physically attacked one of them.

In its issued opinion, the Commissioner has given a recommendation to M.P. to send a written apology to the Roma women he discriminated against on the grounds of gender and Roma ethnicity, and to restrain himself in the future from disturbing and humiliating acting and from statements insulting the dignity of the members of national minorities and creating a hostile, humiliating and insulting environment.

At the same time, the Commissioner recommended to the Social Welfare Centre of the City of Novi Sad to post the opinion and recommendation of the Commissioner, along with the written apology of M.P. on the notice board or other noticeable place in the premises of the Social Welfare Centre, and to keep them posted for at least 8 days.

For more information, see the announcement: Employee of Social Welfare Centre Discriminated against Roma Women
Download: Interview of Jelena Milonjic, Praxis Legal Advisor, for Radio Beograd 1