Praxis Watch

Thursday, 17 October 2013

Citizenship Acquired 23 Months after Submitting the Request

S. K. received the decision determining her citizenship 23 months after submitting the request. She is the mother of six legally invisible children, who are not registered in birth registries because of the unregulated status of the mother, precisely because she does not possess the ID card even though she does possess the birth certificate, unique personal identification number and registered permanent residence.  

The procedure for determination of citizenship, which Praxis, as a legal representative of S.K., conducted before the Police Station Novi Beograd, lasted inappropriately long because of discrepancy between some of her data and data on her parents in birth registry books, which initiated the procedure for correction of data in registry books. In addition, the amendment to the request, which Police Station Novi Beograd received in July 2013, was lost on the road to the Ministry of Interior, though both bodies are located in the same street. Only after filing a complaint for the lack of acting of the Police Station, was the amendment to the request found and the body acted upon it.

This is not the only example showing that the lack of the parents’ personal documents make the children legally invisible for the system, even though the state is obliged to obey the Convention of the Rights of the Child, which prescribes in the Article 7 that a child shall be registered immediately after the birth and shall have the right to a name and the right to acquire a citizenship.

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Praxis means action
Praxis means action
Praxis means action
Praxis means action