Non-governmental organization Praxis, with the support of the EU and in cooperation with partner organizations Heinrich Böll Foundation, Regional Centre for Minorities and Dokukino, is organizing the Expert Debate “European Good Practices - Advocacy Tool in Serbia” that will be held on 29-30 September 2011 in the Hotel Sumadija, 8 Sumadijski trg St, Belgrade, from 10:00 a.m. - 06:00 p.m.

The Debate will host experts from the countries of the European Union and national experts who, in their joint dialogue, will once again try to draw attention to the problems of Roma population in Serbia in relation to enjoyment of the right to be recognized as a person before the law and the right to adequate housing, present examples of good practices in the Europe, propose the best solutions and formulate recommendations for their implementation.

Topics to be discussed:

The first day – 29 September 2011
The right to be recognized as a person before the law

• Examples of good practices, good systemic solutions and international standards on (subsequent) registration in birth registry book
• Subsequent registration of children whose parents do not possess necessary documents
• Subsequent registration of adults who have no knowledge of their date and place of birth, persons whose parents have passed away, are unknown or reside at an unknown location
• The Model Law on the Procedure for Recognition of Persons before the Law as one of possible solutions
• Protection of the right to be recognized as a person before the law and its correlation with other human rights

The second day –30 September 2011
The right to adequate housing

• Examples of good practices, good systemic solutions and international standards regarding evictions of informal Roma settlements
• Legal remedies in cases of evictions
• Examples of good practices, good systemic solutions and international standards regarding sustainable development of informal Roma settlements (possibilities for legalisation of settlements, possibilities for registration of permanent or temporary residence, etc.)
• Protection of the right to adequate housing and its correlation with other human rights

Download: Profiles of Experts   Agenda

The visitors to the Croatian island of Brac had the opportunity to watch the latest European documentaries shown at Supetar Super Film Festival in the period 10 - 14 July 2012. The festival selection included a number of documentaries from Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Great Britain, the Czech Republic and Croatia; after the screenings the audience exchanged impressions with the authors and voted for their favorites.

Based on the votes of the audience, the film (The Importance of) Hair of the Swedish director Christina Höglund won first place, the second place went to the film Bye bye c’est fini of the author Tora Mårtens, while Here I Am, the work of Irene Fabri, won third place.

The film Here I Am, produced by Praxis in cooperation with Dokukino and with financial support from the European Union, examines the existential problems of the residents of informal Roma settlements in Serbia and introduces viewers to the very much alive, parallel world of the marginalised whose faith and hope are their basic tools of survival. In the spirit of the marginalised and from the subjective point of view, the leading actor presents to the audience his friends whose fate often depends only on one paper or somebody's good will.

Let us be reminded that the residents of informal Roma settlements in Serbia do not have identity documents, because they are not allowed to have their permanent residence registered. The lack of identity documents prevents them from finding jobs, educating children and enjoying other socio-economic rights. Some of them are also "legally invisible" persons, i. e. the persons who are not registered in birth registry books and therefore live outside the system of health care, social welfare and employment; they are socially excluded and exposed to various forms of discrimination.

In order to draw attention to the most marginalised minority group in Serbia, Praxis plans to continue to promote the film at other festivals in the country and abroad. The promotional video clips of the documentary can be viewed on YouTube through the links entitled Here I Am -Legally Invisible and Here I Am - Forced Evictions.

We hope that the recognition of the documentary Here I Am will remind the government that the problems of the residents of informal Roma settlements in Serbia should be resolved as soon as possible.

See also the blog posted on the website of the European Network on Statelessness: Giving a Face to the Invisible

On the occasion of completed eviction from an informal Roma settlement in Block 72 in New Belgrade, Praxis informs the public that this is one in a series of evictions that have not been carried out in compliance with the international standards that are binding on the Republic of Serbia, particularly the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms Racial Discrimination.

Download the statement (Serbian only): Statement on Eviction in Block 72

On 27 July 2010, together with the Coalition against Discrimination and other partner organizations, Praxis submitted a request to Nevena Petrusic, PhD, to decide without delay whether she will carry out her function of the Trustee for Protection of Equality or keep the post of a full time professor at the Faculty of Law in Nis. In accordance with the explicit provision of the Article 28 of the Law against Discrimination, Trustee for Protection of Equality cannot perform any professional duty.

In its letter to the Ombudsperson Sasa Jankovic, dated 3 August 2010, Praxis states that it supported the request of the Caolition against Discrimination because it completely agrees with understanding of the legal regulations on which the aforementioned request is grounded, and which have been explained in a document by Mr Sasa Gajin, PhD, the Coordinator of the Coalition and member of the Working Group for drafting the Law against Discrimination of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. Furthermore, Praxis supported this requests because it believes that Serbia needs a dedicated, strong and functional institution of Trustee for Protection of Equality which will be able to meet the obligations prescribed by the Law against Discrimination.

In its letter to the Ombudsperson, Praxis also enclosed the request of the Coalition against Discrimination addressed at the Trustee for Protection of Equality and the document on understanding legal regulations on which the request of a total of 31 non-governmental organizations is grounded.

Since the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights – YUCOM also lodged an initiative to the Ombudsperson for submitting a proposal for bringing and authentic interpretation of the Law against Discrimination, Praxis believes that both initiatives before the Ombudsperson will be useful when deciding upon submitting the proposal for bringing and authentic interpretation of the Law against Discrimination.

Download (Serbian only): Request of the Coalition against Discrimination and partner organizations to the Trustee for Protection of Equality

Download (Serbian only): Document on legal regulations on which the Request to the Trustee for Protection of Equality is grounded

We strongly condemn the lack of adequate response by the Secretariat for Social Welfare of the City of Belgrade, which ignored the requirements for the provision of adequate alternative accommodation to Roma families with children from Skadarska Street. These families were left in the street yesterday. The residents of 55 Skadarska Street spent the last night in city parks and the Drop-In Center for Street Children provided the overnight accommodation to the children.

We point out that 22 civil society organizations jointly addressed the competent city authorities and tried in vain to arrange the meeting and cooperation with the Secretariat for Social Welfare.

On 20 July 2011, the residents of Skadarska Street addressed the Secretariat for Social Welfare of the City of Belgrade with the request for urgent provision of adequate accommodation because they were facing the forthcoming forced eviction scheduled for 27 July 2011. As city authorities did not respond to this request, the activists of human rights organizations achieved an agreement with the proxy of the owner of the facility on the forced eviction day and managed to postpone the forced eviction by 15 days in order to find the solution for the accommodation of these families in the meantime. However, all that these families were offered by the competitive authorities was immediate cash assistance, separation of families and accommodation of children older than three in social welfare institutions, and one-way tickets to the place of residence for the family which was not from Belgrade.

Particularly worrying is the fact that competitive authorities ignored the plight of the woman survivor of domestic violence. That woman was offered a one-way ticket to the place of her permanent residence registered at the perpetrator’s address.

We again point out that the international documents in the human rights area, primarily International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which is binding on the Republic of Serbia, guarantee the right to housing and provision of the alternative accommodation in cases of forced eviction. The result of forced evictions should not be homeless people who are additionally exposed to violations of other human rights.

The responsibility for the violation of human rights of the residents of 55 Skadarska Street and violation of the international obligations in the field of human rights, which are obliging on the Republic of Serbia, shall be fully borne by the competent authorities of the City of Belgrade. Therefore, we demand that the competent city authorities urgently provide the adequate alternative accommodation to families from Skadarska Street and cease the practice of forced evictions, which is fully contrary to international standards on the right to housing.

Organizations signing the statement:


1. Praxis
2. Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights – Yucom
3. Regional Centre for Minorities
4. Women in Black
5. Centre for Advanced Legal Studies
6. Youth Initiative for Human Rights
7. Humanitarian Law Centre
8. Centre for Youth Integration

Non-governmental organization Praxis, Humanitarian Law Centre, Regional Centre for Minorities and Centre for Youth Integration appeal to state bodies and local self-governments to provide urgent assistance to inhabitants of informal settlements, in accordance with their capabilities and competences. Additionally, we are inviting the citizens and socially responsible companies to show their solidarity with inhabitants of these settlements in extremely unfavourable weather conditions and help them by donating firewood, food and warm clothing.

Our fellow citizens from informal settlements live below the poverty line. Many of them live without social protection and health care, without a permanent source of income, in houses made of material considered waste by most of citizens, and in conditions of complete social exclusion. At extremely low temperatures, the health and even life of the inhabitants of informal settlements, particularly of children and the elderly, is jeopardized due to poor insulation of the houses they live in, lack of firewood, food and impossibility to work during extremely difficult weather conditions. Of special concern is the forecast predicting a continuation of the cold wave in the forthcoming days, and also the fact that their situation is not improving and that a great number of children living in these settlements will not have the chance to get warm in schools, as they have been closed.

We urgently appeal to competent state bodies to enlarge capacities of shelters and reception centres and institutions of social protection in order to provide temporary shelter from cold to the most vulnerable inhabitants of the informal settlements. In considering possible solutions for the accommodation of the most vulnerable, we would like to bring attention to the fact that displacement of children in such cases is considered with utmost care and requires additional efforts so as to preserve the family unit. Also, we are calling on representatives of institutions of social protection to form mobile teams in their communities, which will visit the inhabitants of the most endangered informal settlements in order to adequately meet their existential needs in the shortest possible period.

Holding the Pride Parade is currently the most important issue that can be discussed in relation to the human rights situation in Serbia. Are the members of LGBT community third-rate citizens? Are they the only group of population whose right to assembly and expression of opinion is constantly denied, year after year? Are the state authorities free from the obligation to respect and protect their rights guaranteed by the Constitution of this country?

The Coalition against Discrimination and the Coalition for Access to Justice demand from the Government of the Republic of Serbian to publicly respond to these questions. For a number of years, the responsible representatives of state authorities have been repeatedly claiming that the holding of the Pride Parade is a matter of security and not of human rights.

This arbitrary and artificial political position, which opposes human rights to the right to personal safety, is intended to cover up from public view the correspondence between the political ideologies of those who resort to violence in society and are called hooligans and those who are entrusted to provide protection from violence in society in a limited period and are called the current representatives of the state government.

Neither of these want the Parade to be held because they have already developed their own political animosity towards it. Some threaten with violence, while others claim that the threat of violence is frightening for them and hence they are not able to suppress it.

This very harmonious emotional and political relationship between these two groups is repeatedly established every year, regardless of the efforts of the Parade organisers, demands of the international community, NGOs protests, statements and speeches of prominent individuals, the decision of the Constitutional Court of Serbia, regardless of the country’s legal system, ideas of equal justice and freedom, regardless of all.

The Coalition against Discrimination and the Coalition for Access to Justice demand from the Government of the Republic of Serbia to make a bold decision this year and get out of the vicious circle of violence that gives rise to futile policy. Resist the violence, stand for the rights and freedoms as the basic values of society, bare your teeth to political extremists, you know that you can do it when you want to do it! Otherwise, you will retain the position of an accomplice in the violation of human rights.

Signing organisations:

Coalition against Discrimination
Coalition for Access to Justice

The Coalition against Discrimination include: Center for Advanced Legal Studies, Civil Rights Defenders, CHRIS – Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia, Gayten LGBT, Labris - Lesbian Human Rights Organisation, Praxis, Regional Center for Minorities, Association of Students with Disabilities.

The Coalition for Access to Justice includes: Center for Advanced Legal Studies, Civil Rights Defenders, CHRIS – Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia, Humanitarian Law Center, Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina, Praxis, Sandzak Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms.

The problem of "legally invisible persons" has existed for years and prevented thousands of people to realise their basic human rights. Therefore, the Ombudsman believes that the National Assembly should adopt, without delay, the amendments to the part of the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure related to drawing up a document on the fact of birth.

The Ombudsman that submitted an Initiative for Amending the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure to the Government of the Republic of Serbia, will also propose the amendments to modify the submitted proposal because of the changes that occurred in the meantime. More precisely, the Protector of Citizens expects that the National Assembly will adopt the amendments in accordance with the proposal sent to the Government, by which the Ombudsman suggests that the human rights organisations should be allowed to initiate a procedure for drawing up a document on the fact of birth. This change is very important since the non-governmental organisations that deal with the protection of human rights, by working on the issues related to “legally invisible persons” and persons who do not possess personal documents, have acquired expertise and developed necessary resources for active participation in solving the problems of these persons.

The statement has been retrieved from the website of the Ombudsman.

Non-governmental organizations Association Vasa Prava BiH (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Praxis (Serbia), Civil Rights Programme (Kosovo), Legal Centre (Montenegro), Macedonian Young Lawyers Association (Macedonia), and Information Legal Centre (Croatia) signed the MoU on March 13, 2012 in Sarajevo and thus formed the Western Balkans Legal Aid Network – WeBLAN.

WeBLAN will operate as an independent network of civil society organizations devoted to protection, promotion and improvement of human rights and social inclusion, prevention and reduction of statelessness in the Western Balkans and combating discrimination.

The cooperation of these organizations dates back to 2008 when as UNHCR implementing partners they commenced the implementation of the regional project aimed at the promotion of social inclusion of marginalized communities in the territory of the Western Balkans.

More information about WeBLAN goals and activities can be found here.

The decision of the Court of Appeals in Novi Sad confirmed the judgement of the Basic Court in Novi Sad, which established the discriminatory behaviour of the defendant – the City of Novi Sad, City Administration for General Affairs towards the persons of Roma nationality in procedures for subsequent birth registration.

The City Administration for General Affairs of the City of Novi Sad dismissed the requests for subsequent birth registration of three legally invisible Roma persons referring to the “current situation in Novi Sad, with ever greater influx of persons of Roma nationality claiming that they and their children were born in Novi Sad” and expressing a fear that “hasty, irresponsible and reckless” acting upon their requests “would cause numberless requests of a similar kind by persons of Roma nationality”. Therefore, Praxis filed a lawsuit against the City of Novi Sad in October 2010 requesting the establishment of discriminatory behaviour towards the persons of Roma nationality.

The judgement of the Basic Court in Novi Sad as of September 2011 established that the  “defendant was governed by personal features of the submitter of the request and made the unjustified difference between these and other submitters regarding their national affiliation, (…) and placed them in an unfavourable position in comparison to other submitters of requests who are not of Roma nationality, which is an act of direct discrimination”.

By deciding upon the appeal, the Courts of Appeals in Novi Sad dismissed the appeal of the defendant from December 2011 as ungrounded on January 18, 2012 and confirmed the first instance judgement which established a more severe form of discriminatory behaviour of the City of Novi Sad. The defendant is obliged to publish the complete judgment in daily newspaper Politika within 15 days.