U izveštaju o napretku Srbije u procesu pristupanja Evropskoj uniji za 2019. godinu, Evropska komisija konstatovala je da većina Roma poseduje lične dokumente, ali je istakla da je postupak upisa rođenja deteta čiji roditelji ne poseduju lične dokumente potrebno pratiti i da je potrebno izmeniti odgovarajuće podzakonske akte.

Na ovaj način, Evropska komisija pridružila se velikom broju međunarodnih organizacija i ugovornih tela, koje su u svojim izveštajima takođe ukazale na ovaj problem i koje su preporučile Srbiji da omogući upis u matičnu knjigu rođenih svakom detetu odmah nakon rođenja. Slične preporuke Srbiji su prethodno upućene i od strane Saveta za ljudska prava UN, Komiteta UN za ljudska prava,  Komiteta UN za prava deteta,  Komiteta UN za ekonomska, socijalna i kulturna prava. I Evropski parlament je prošle godine pozvao Srbiju da omogući potpunu realizaciju prava na blagovremeni upis rođenja, a Srbija se obavezala i da će ispuniti Ciljeve održivog razvoja UN, među kojima je i cilj da se svakome mora obezbediti upis u matičnu knjigu rođenih.

Sve ove preporuke donete su zbog toga što dva podzakonska akta koji regulišu postupak upisa u matičnu knjigu rođenih sprečavaju da se odmah nakon rođenja u matične knjige upišu deca čije majke ne poseduju lične dokumente. Na taj način, u Srbiji se krši pravo deteta na upis u matične knjige odmah nakon rođenja, koje je garantovano kako ratifikovanim međunarodnim konvencijama tako i Ustavom i zakonom Republike Srbije. UNICEF je u tumačenju odredaba Konvencije o pravima deteta konstatovao da upis „odmah nakon rođenja“ podrazumeva rok od nekoliko dana, a ne meseci. Međutim, u Srbiji su ti postupci dugotrajni, u nekim slučajevima traju i duže od pola godine.

Ovaj problem u Srbiji skoro isključivo pogađa romsku nacionalnu manjinu, jer i dalje nemali broj Romkinja ne poseduje lične dokumente. Povodom toga, Praxis je uputio apele nadležnim organima da izmene sporne podzakonske akte u cilju rešavanja ovog ozbiljnog problema.

U izveštaju Evropske komisije ukazuje se i na druge probleme koji pogađaju romsku populaciju u Srbiji, na težak društveni položaj Roma i na jaz koji postoji u odnosu na većinsko stanovništvo. Tako se, pored ostalog, ističe i to da skoro 60 posto devojčica iz romskih naselja venčava u ranom uzrastu, kao i da pravo na roditeljski dodatak zavisi od toga da li su deca vakcinisana, a da je samo 12,7 posto romske dece primilo sve preporučene vakcine, dok je kod neromske dece vakcine primilo njih 70,5 posto. Takođe se ukazuje da mnogo manje dece romske nacionalnosti obuhvaćeno predškolskim obrazovanjem i da drastično manji broj romskih učenika završava školovanje. Istovremeno se ističe se i da je potrebno rešavati problem segregacije u školama. U izveštaju se iznose i podaci koji pokazuju daleko veću nezaposlenost Roma u odnosu na ostalo stanovništvo, a skreće se i pažnja na nedovoljnu zastupljenost Roma u javnoj upravi. 

Praxis je učestvovao u procesu izrade izveštaja Evropske komisije, kako tokom konsultacija, tako i slanjem pisanog priloga upravo ukazujući na gorenavedene probleme.

Praxis sent these appeals because, there are still children born in Serbia who cannot get registered in the birth registry in cases when the mothers of these new-born children do not possess personal documents. In such situations, birth registration of children is not possible due to restrictive provisions of two by-laws which regulate the procedure for birth notification and registration in the birth registry. Thus, the Instruction on administering registry books and forms of registry books and the Rulebook on the procedure for the issuance of birth notification and form of the issuance of birth notification in a health care institution do not envisage the possibility of birth registration of new-born children in cases when the mothers do not possess documents.

Since the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and the Minister of Health are responsible for the adoption and amendments to these regulations, Praxis addressed them with the appeals to amend the disputable provisions and, in this way, to prevent the occurrence of new cases of legally invisible persons. In the stated appeals, Praxis has emphasised that the current situation represents the severe violation of the right of the child to birth registration immediately after birth, which is also guaranteed by the ratified international conventions and Serbian Constitution and law. A significant number of international organizations and treaty bodies have also recognized that the current situation is not satisfactory and provided recommendations to Serbia to resolve this problem.

A year ago, Praxis already sent an appeal to the Ministry for Public Administration and Local Self-Government for amendments of regulations. However, the Ministry responded that the normative framework enabled every person to be registered in the birth registry book, neglecting the fact that children whose mothers did not possess documents would not be able to get registered immediately after birth and that additional, often long-lasting procedures would have to be conducted for them. The fact that such situation represents the violation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child is also confirmed by UNICEF interpretation according to which the registration “immediately after birth” implies the deadline of several days, rather than months. 

This problem in Serbia almost exclusively affects the members of Roma ethnic minority, because there is still a number of persons among this population who do not possess personal documents. In this way, their already difficult position is additionally aggravated and the marginalization and deprivation of rights only intensified.

The report Contributing to Public Administration Reform in Kraljevo  was prepared as the result of the research conducted by Praxis within the project "Contributing to public administration reform in Kraljevo" in the period from 1 June 2017 - 31 March 2018, as part of  the project Western Balkans Enabling Project for Civil Society Monitoring of Public Administration Reform (WeBER), financed by the European Union and co-financed by the Kingdom of Netherlands.

Based on the conducted research of the transparency of local self-government and the efficiency of local administrative bodies in Kraljevo, as well as monitoring of the application of the Law on General Administrative Procedure, Praxis has established that there is a significant  space for improving the work of local administrative bodies in all areas. 

Despite the efforts made in recent years in the field of public administration reform, both at the national and local level, there is no visible progress in some areas. The most serious gaps have been identified in the area of transparency of the work of administrative bodies, in particular regarding public participation in decision- and policy-making processes, since the participation of citizens and civil society organisations in such processes is almost non-existent. Consequently, discriminatory decisions have been made in several cases indicating the failure of local self-government to respond to the needs of vulnerable groups. Active citizen participation in the decision-making and policy-making process can undoubtedly prevent the adoption of discriminatory and inappropriate decisions and make the work of administration accountable and efficient.  

In addition, it has been established that there is no proactive approach in terms of improving the conditions and creating a conducive environment for the development of civil society at the local level. 

The role of the local media in Kraljevo, as drivers of public debate, is not sufficiently developed in the area of public administration reform, due to both financial instability and insufficiently encouraging environment for reporting on specific topics.

Download the report here.

An updated and expanded country profile on Serbia as part of the Statelessness Index has been launched today. The Serbia pagenow includes up-to-date data on new categories like withdrawal of nationality, reduction of statelessness, and bilateral return and readmission agreements, as well as a shorter country briefing in English and Serbian, which outline recommendations for the Government on how to improve the treatment of stateless people and to prevent and reduce statelessness (also attached to this email).

The Index country profile on Serbia provides analysis for over 25 different categories. Law, policy and practice under each of these categories are assessed against international norms and good practice and marked with a clear and easy to understand assessment key. 

MAIN 2019 INDEX UPDATES

Serbia saw some positive legislative developments in 2018, but the update also highlights some continuing concerns with implementation in practice. 

In March 2018, Serbia adopted a new Law on Foreigners, which established a definition of a stateless person and introduces provisions on detention and return procedures that could improve the situation of some stateless people. Detention may now only be ordered after considering less coercive measures; removal can be postponed and access to basic rights granted if someone’s identity can’t be determined (through no fault of their own); and temporary residence can be granted on humanitarian grounds if removal is postponed for over a year. As a result, the assessment of Serbia’s performance in the Detention theme has slightly improved. 

However, there is also a provision in the new law that presumes that if someone can’t establish their identity or doesn’t have a travel document, they are obstructing removal, which undermines some of these positive changes. The Index update also shows that work remains to be done to bring Serbian law, policy and practice on the protection of stateless people and prevention and reduction of statelessness in line with international standards: Serbia still has no statelessness determination procedure; bylaws requiring parents to be documented to register births remain in force; and safeguards to prevent children being born stateless in the country are undermined by implementation gaps. 

For more information, see the announcement here.

The European Network on Statelessness, with Praxis being one of its members, published a country briefing on the issues significantly affecting the situation of protection against statelessness in Serbia. The briefing points to the problems related to immediate birth registration and prevention of statelessness among children born in Serbia, and provides some positive solutions concerning late birth registration.  

It is pointed out that because of inadequate regulations, children whose parents do not have documents cannot be registered in birth registry books immediately after birth. It is also stressed that children who, according to the law, should acquire citizenship automatically by birth must conduct a separate procedure for acquiring citizenship, and that in practice it is not possible to obtain citizenship by birth in Serbia after reaching the age of 18 years. On the other hand, it is stated that significant progress has been made in Serbia to facilitate access to late birth registration by prescribing a court procedure for determination of date and place of birth, thanks to which many people who had previously been unable to register in birth registry books obtained personal documents.

The briefing also contains recommendations for overcoming the identified obstacles, and states that it is necessary to amend regulations that prevent the registration of children whose parents do not possess documents. It is also stressed that it is necessary to ensure the consistent implementation of the Law on Citizenship to prevent childhood statelessness, and that the time limit for acquiring citizenship by birth should be extended in line with the UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

The briefing was published as part of the Statelessness Index,  a comparative tool that assesses how different European countries protect stateless people and what they do to prevent and reduce statelessness. 

On 24 December, 2018, Praxis held a conference in the Media Centre in Belgrade to present the achieved results and remaining challenges in the fields of prevention and elimination of statelessness and child marriages in Serbia.

The conference was opened by Ivanka Kostić, Praxis Executive Director, who welcomed the attendees and gave a brief overview of the multi-year activities implemented by Praxis in the field of preventing statelessness and child marriages with the financial support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). On that occasion, Ivanka pointed out that thanks to free legal assistance provided by Praxis, in the period of 14 years over 90,000 people had been able to access their basic status rights. She also expressed hope that in the course of 2019, a systemic solution to the problem of stateless persons and legally invisible children would finally be found. Referring to the problem of child marriages in Serbia, Ivanka pointed out that the legal provision allowing early marriages after reaching the age of 16 in exceptional cases had been deleted from the current Draft Law on Family, which indicated the state’s willingness to eradicate child marriages.

Participants were then addressed by Hans Friedrich Schoder, UNHCR Representative in Serbia, who pointed out that in the same period the number of persons at risk of statelessness decreased from 30,000 to 2,100. He highlighted that child marriages represented a disregard for international conventions, in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child, endangered the girls’ health and had an additional impact on the emergence of statelessness. He also expressed his satisfaction for continuing the cooperation with Praxis and his expectation that a common goal would be achieved and that a systemic solution to the problem of statelessness would be found.

Milan Radojev, Praxis Status and Socioeconomic Rights Programme Coordinator, presented all the remaining problems faced by people at risk of statelessness and pointed out that there were still newborns in Serbia who could not be registered immediately after birth due to the two by-laws that did not allow their registration if their parents did not possess personal documents, and added that Praxis had submitted an initiative to the Constitutional Court for examining the constitutionality and legality of these regulations, and sent an appeal to the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-government regarding their amendments.

Nataša Živković, Head of Sector for Personal Status of Citizens, Keeping Registers and Electoral Rights of the Secretariat for Administration in the Belgrade City Administration, spoke about the background of the problem of illegally invisible persons in Belgrade, as well as the beginning of successful cooperation with Praxis, dating back to 2012. 

Jelena Petrović, Praxis Child Rights Programme Coordinator, presented the activities implemented by Praxis aimed at raising awareness about the harmfulness of child, early and forced marriages and explained that a major obstacle to fighting against child marriages was the perceiving of the phenomenon of child marriages out of the context of Roma tradition and culture, in particular by the competent authorities, and the lack of records on child marriage cases kept by relevant institutions.

Sadija Gicić, a social worker and women’s rights activist, spoke about the responsibilities of institutions in cases of child marriage. She stressed the importance of timely response of institutions and pointed to their duty to act in accordance with binding protocols.

Finally, it was concluded that, regardless of the achievements in the field of prevention and elimination of the emergence of legally invisible persons, it was necessary to continue the intensive work on eliminating the remaining challenges in order to prevent the emergence of new cases of legally invisible and stateless persons. In the field of prevention and elimination of child marriages, in addition to the civil sector that was making the biggest contribution in combating this extremely harmful traditional practice, decision makers, social welfare centres, the police, prosecution, schools, health care institutions and the media should be involved more actively and in a coordinated manner, because without efforts of all relevant actors, it was not possible to ensure a solution to this problem.

For more information, see the announcement here.

A series of recommendations issued to Serbia by international organisations and treaty bodies indicate that the situation in Serbia related to timely birth registration is not satisfactory. Thus, the UN Human Rights Committee recommended to Serbia to enhance its efforts to enable registration of children born to parents without identification documents. Similar recommendations were given by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The European Parliament called for full implementation of the right to timely birth registration, while the the UN Human Rights Council, in the Universal Periodic Review for Serbia, recommended to Serbia to provide the registration into birth registry books immediately after birth, without discrimination and regardless of whether parents had personal documents. Serbia accepted this recommendation of the UN Human Rights Council and committed to fulfil the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including to provide universal registration into birth registry books. 

However, despite the accepted obligations and proclaimed commitment to allowing every child to register in birth registry books immediately after birth, Serbia has not yet removed legal obstacles that impede registration of a significant number of children. Moreover, in 2018, the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-government refused Praxis’ suggestions to amend legislation to allow all children to be timely registered in birth registry books. 

Given the fact that this situation is unsustainable both in terms of respecting human rights and in terms of compliance of secondary legislation with primary legislation, with Serbia being in the position of a state that does not fulfil its international obligations, Praxis once again stresses that it is necessary that the competent institutions take immediate action to allow every child to be registered in birth registry books immediately after birth.

For more information, see the announcement here.

The Paperless People Podcastfollows the stories of two Roma families, exploring how policies in Serbia are perpetuating their legal invisibility. Through these stories and expert analysis, it is explored how the UN Sustainable Development Goals may struggle to achieve what they set out to do if the approach to implementation and monitoring does not account for structural discrimination that is too often leaving certain people behind: in this case the Roma in Serbia. 

This podcast series, produced by the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, with the support of the Knowledge Platform for Security and the Rule of Law (Knowledge Management Fund), explores how the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals need to be re-thought in order to effectively address statelessness challenges. 

This episode was created in close partnership with Praxis, a human rights organization based in Serbia. With thanks to Ivanka Kostic and her team.

Music from Blue Dot Sessions and Podington Bear under Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution License. 

Listen to this episode here.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government believes that there are no reasons to amend the by-laws that hinder birth registration immediately after birth of children whose parents do not possess personal documents. Such an opinion stems from the response which the Ministry sent to Praxis upon the recently submitted appeal to amend the provisions of two by-laws (Instruction on administering registry books and forms of registry books and Rulebook on the procedure for the issuance of birth notification and form of the issuance of birth notification in a health care). Praxis stated in the appeal that these by-laws were in contradiction with the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, Family Law and ratified international conventions, since many children are left without birth registration immediately after birth. 

The Ministry disregarded these arguments in its response, stating that the normative framework enabled every person to be registered in the birth registry books. It also stated that the problems in birth registration were overcome. However, the Ministry did not take into consideration the fact that not only would the children whose parents do not possess documents not be able to get registered in the birth registry book immediately after birth, but also that additional, often lengthy procedures would have to be conducted for them.

In this way, the Ministry disregarded the opinions of many international organizations and treaty bodies which emphasised in their recommendations to Serbia that the children whose parents do not possess documents must be enabled to register in the birth registry books immediately after birth. Furthermore, the Ministry also neglected its obligation stemming from the Operational conclusions from the seminar “Social Inclusion of Roma in the Republic of Serbia 2017”  to ensure the fulfilment of the right to report and register births of children whose parent do not possess personal documents. 

Government of the Republic of Serbia, in cooperation with the European Commission, organized the fourth seminar “Social Inclusion of Roma in the Republic of Serbia” in October 2017. The seminar is a biennial meeting, first organized in 2011, dedicated to the status of Roma in the region organised by the European Commission. Roma seminars are the main channel of communication between the European Commission/EU Delegation and Serbian authorities dealing with these issues. The Seminar discussed actions to improve the status of Roma in education, implemented activities and observed problems at the national and local level in the field of employment of Roma, social and health protection of Roma, housing and legalisation of Roma settlements as well as challenges and possible solutions to the issue of personal documents and the status of IDPs and returnees under the Readmission Agreement.

Ivanka Kostic, Praxis’ Executive Director, once again pointed at the problem faced by undocumented parents when registering the birth of their children, and advocated for the systemic solution of the problem through the amendments of relevant regulations/bylaws.

By achieving this goal, new cases of statelessness would be prevented. Children whose parents do not possess personal documents could be registered in the birth registry immediately after birth and exercise their other basic rights.

For more information, see the announcement.