NGOs from Serbia – Regional Centre for Minorities, CEKOR - Centre for Ecology and Sustainable Development, CHRIS – Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia, and Praxis submitted an alternative report entitled Information Submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on the Occasion of Initial Periodic Report of Serbia.
As a State Party to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Republic of Serbia is obliged to regularly submit reports to the Committee, presenting all measures taken regarding the implementation of the Convention. Serbia submitted the Initial Periodic Report to the Committee in August 2009, 19 months late. It is also practice that non-governmental organizations submit alternative or shadow reports as additional information to the Committee in their estimate of State reports.
The organizations submitting the report have opted for the so-called “violations approach” which identifies burning issues in exercise of basic human rights, such as, for example, problems related to right to housing, right to nationality, right to freedom of movement and residence within the border of the State, right to own property and other basic human rights. Due to the selected approach, the report does not deal with the positive sides of the State policy in certain topics, but exclusively with serious violations of human rights of which no information was given in the Initial Periodic Report of the Republic of Serbia.
The data presented in this report are a result of years of field work, information and cooperation with grass-root organizations, analysis of our previous experience in the topics relevant for the report and following on and analysing the work of the State bodies.
The Committee will consider the report during the 78th Session, on Thursday 24th February and Friday 25th February 2011. The report will be considered together with those of the State and international organizations Amnesty International and European Roma Rights Centre.
Download: Information Submitted to CERD on the Occasion of Initial Periodic Report of Serbia
