Within the project „Legal Assistance to Persons at Risk of Statelessness in Serbia”, funded by UNHCR, Praxis prepared the report “2021 annual report on child marriages in Serbia with special focus on the practice of public prosecutor’s offices”. 

This year's report presents data on the proceeding of public prosecutor's offices in relation to the criminal offences of coercion into marriage and cohabiting with a minor, based on the answers submitted by public prosecutor's offices from the territory of the Republic of Serbia to freedom of information requests.

According to the obtained data, every third criminal complaint for the criminal offence of cohabiting with a minor results in a motion to indict, but in the previous three years no suspicions of coercion into marriage have been reported in the Republic of Serbia.

Uneven actions and inconsistency in the work of the police and public prosecutor's offices, reflected in proposing a suspended sentence in two-thirds of motions to indict, indicates serious problems related to the effectiveness and expediency of prevention and sanction mechanisms since they are unable to provide adequate protection of child’s rights.

Significant knowledge about child marriages, but also about the major obstacles to combating this phenomenon, which are described in this report, was obtained through the activities carried out with children and the meetings held with the representatives of social welfare centres and schools.

The report “2021 annual report on child marriages in Serbia with special focus on the practice of public prosecutor’s offices” may be found HERE.

Nevladina organizacija Praxis, u saradnji sa Minority Rights Group Europe, će u martu 2022. godine organizovati novu rundu treninga namenjenih sledećim ciljnim grupama:

• Diplomiranim pravnicima/pravnicama koji imaju interesovanja za oblasti zaštite od diskriminacije i socijalne pravde, kao i za rad sa romskom zajednicom;
• Predstavnicima romskih organizacija civilnog društva, kao i organizacija koje se bave zaštitom prava pripadnika romske nacionalne manjine na lokalnom i nacionalnom nivou;
• Romskim aktivistima i aktivistkinjama iz cele zemlje koji imaju iskustva u radu sa romskom zajednicom na lokalnom ili nacionalnom nivou i koji bi želeli da unaprede svoje znanje o nacionalnom antidiskriminacionom zakonodavstvu i načinima pružanja podrške žrtvama diskriminacije.

Treninzi za svaku od navedenih ciljnih grupa biće podeljeni u sledeće celine:

• Uvodni sastanak (online događaj u trajanju do maksimalno 1 sat), u okviru kog će se učesnici/ce upoznati sa ciljevima projekta i samog treninga, kao i sa tehničkim detaljima korišćenja online platforme.
• Onlajn kurs (u trajanju od 2 nedelje), prilagođen svakoj ciljnoj grupi pojedinačno. Tokom ove dve nedelje učesnici će moći da prate i završe trening prema sopstvenom ritmu: ne postoje „predavanja“ ili „seminari“, učesnici će raditi na interaktivnoj onlajn platformi. Svaka celina sadrži niz vežbi koje pomažu učesnicima da procene svoje znanje. Tokom trajanja treninga, učesnici će imati podršku voditelja kursa.

Treninzi se organizuje u okviru projekta „Do ravnopravnosti Roma kroz unapređen pristup pravima“, koji ima za cilj unapređenje stanja u oblasti zaštite pripadnika romske nacionalne manjine od svih oblika diskriminacije podizanjem svesti javnosti, a naročito ključnih aktera o štetnosti ove društvene pojave, zatim poboljšanjem primene antidiskriminacionog zakonodavstva i osnaživanjem Roma da koriste dostupne mehanizme zaštite prava na ravnopravnost.

Polaznici koji uspešno prođu sve delove obuke, dobiće sertifikat o završenom treningu.

Prijavu na trening možete poslati na adresu This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. do 04. marta 2022. godine u 17h, uz naznaku na koji trening se prijavljujete. O tačnom datumu početka treninga u martu ćemo Vas naknadno obavestiti.

Within the project ”Legal Assistance to Persons at Risk of Statelessness in Serbia”, funded by UNHCR, Praxis prepared the report “Overview of obstacles to exercising the right to registration in birth registry books, acquisition of citizenship and registration of permanent residence in 2021”. The report presents an overview of the achievements and remaining challenges in the field of exercising the right to registration in the birth registry books, acquisition of citizenship and registration of permanent residence.

The problem of legally invisible persons in Serbia is still not close to a solution, which is supported by the data that, in 2021, a total of 162 persons who are not registered in birth registry books addressed Praxis for assistance. 

The systemic obstacle jeopardizing the exercise of the right to timely birth registration has not been removed last year either. For this reason, Serbia is still facing a situation in which new-born children are not registered in the birth registry book immediately after birth and are, hence, deprived of or have hindered access to numerous rights, including the rights to health care and social protection. The report indicates that there are still problems in the court procedures for determining the time and place of birth, in procedures for determination of personal name, registration of children born abroad in the birth registry book, as well as during subsequent birth registration and Re-registration procedures. At the same time, they are an obstacle to the acquisition of citizenship, along with other immediate problems listed in this report that occurred in relation to the exercise of the right to citizenship. 

The report also points to obstacles related to registration of permanent residence, one of the most common being avoiding jurisdiction. In addition, option of registration of permanent residence at the address of a spouse or parents, the competent bodies do not take into consideration, while in some municipalities, social welfare centres stopped giving consent to registration of permanent residence at their address.

The report “Overview of obstacles to exercising the right to registration in birth registry books, acquisition of citizenship and registration of permanent residence in 2021” may be found HERE.

The Roma community in Serbia continues to endure challenges when it comes to birth registration and citizenship acquisition. The risk of statelessness in the Roma community easily spans generations, hampering their access to basic benefits and rights and exacerbating their social exclusion and marginalization.

Ivanka Kostic, long-time executive director of Praxis, and now a member of the Board of Directors, wrote about legal mechanisms in Serbia that perpetuate vicious circles of Roma statelessness, presenting recommendations for the work ahead. 

Blog “Vicious circles of Roma statelessness in Serbia – A road map” may be found at the following link. 

Download: HERE

24. januara 2022. godine u Kragujevcu, Praxis je održao sastanak kome su prisustvovali predstavnici javnog i civilnog sektora sa ciljem da se razmotre prilike i mogući modaliteti uključivanja građana u proces kreiranja i praćenja lokalnih javnih politika i postigne konsenzus u pogledu uspostavljanja delotvornih modela građanskih konsultacija kako bi se unapredila participativnost i inkluzivnost konsultativnih procesa na lokalnom nivou. Samim tim, sastanak je bio prilika da se razmene stavovi i ideje u pogledu budućih koraka na planu unapređenja transparentnosti u radu lokalne samouprave uključujući predloge konkretnih javnih politika koje će biti usvojene u narednom periodu, kao i mehanizme koji će obezbediti da politike odgovore na realne potrebe građana naročito pripadnika osetljivih društvenih grupa. Istovremeno, Praxis je predstavio neke od preliminarnih rezultata istraživanja koje je sprovedeno u okviru projekta ukazujući na ključne izazove u procesu reforme javne uprave na lokalnom nivou koji otvaraju prostor za unapređenje procesa naročito kada se radi o kreiranju lokalnih javnih politika. Učesnici sastanka su pokazali posebnu zainteresovanost za sprovođenje ranih konsultacija sa građanima u pogledu ključnih prioriteta kada je u pitanju poboljšanje položaja pripadnika romske nacionalne manjine u Kragujevcu, a predlog je da se u budućem periodu u saradnji sa OCD-a i predstavnicima JLS-e organizuju fokus grupe ili sastanci u zajednici kako bi se definisale ključne potrebe i mere koje bi se ugradile u budući Lokalni akcioni plan za inkluziju Roma.

Sastanak je jedna od aktivnosti na projektu „Jačanje građanskog aktivizma za bolju javnu upravu u Kragujevcu“ koji se realizuje u okviru projekta Osnaživanje civilnog društva Zapadnog Balkana za reformisanu javnu upravu (WeBER 2.0), koji finansira Evropska unija koju predstavlja Evropska komisija.

Cilj projekta je da poboljša aktivno učešće građana u procesu praćenja reforme javne uprave naročito u oblasti izrade i koordinacije politika i da unapredi stanje u pogledu poštovanja principa javne uprave koji se odnose na odgovornost i transparentnost u radu lokalnih organa uprave u Kragujevcu. Ideja je da se jačanjem kapaciteta lokalnih organizacija civilnog društva da aktivno učestvuju u reformskim procesima koji se odnose na primenu principa dobrog upravljanja, posebno transparentnosti i odgovornosti, promocijom i zaštitom ljudskih prava, posebno prava najosetljivijih društvenih grupa i jačanjem saradnje svih važnih aktera, uključujući predstavnike lokalne samouprave, civilni sektor i medije, unapredi stanje u pogledu primene principa dobrog upravljanja.

Praxis submitted to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights a report on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Serbia. The report points out the problems and obstacles encountered by members of the Roma national minority in exercising the right to registration in birth registry books and access to personal documents, the right to social protection and health care, and the harmful practice of child marriages.

The Praxis report indicates that the situation in Serbia has not changed significantly since the publication of the Committee's Concluding Observations on Serbia's second periodic report in 2014. The biggest progress is that the number of undocumented persons has been somewhat reduced, primarily due to the engagement of non-governmental organisations that provide free legal aid, but there are still certain systemic obstacles that make access to documents difficult. The most important obstacle is related to the prevention of every child to be registered at birth.

Regarding the subsequent registration in birth registry books, the progress achieved by the 2012 amendments to the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure could be significantly undermined by the 2020 Conclusion on the jurisdiction of the non-contentious court in the procedure of registration in birth registry books of the Supreme Court of Cassation. In practice, the application of this Conclusion prevents the registration in the civil registry books of Serbia for many citizens who were born and registered in Kosovo, regardless of the fact that they have been living for years in cohabitation and have children in Serbia (outside Kosovo), and despite meeting the requirements for Serbian citizenship.

With regard to registration of permanent residence, obstacles previously identified by the Committee and recommended to be addressed still persist. There are also significant irregularities in the procedure of registration of permanent residence at the addresses of social welfare centres.

The report states that the Government of the Republic of Serbia has failed to comply with the Committee’s recommendation to provide undocumented persons with access to economic, social and cultural rights. Nothing has changed regarding this issue and the possession of documents is almost always a requirement for exercising these rights in Serbia. Instead of improving, the situation regarding access to social protection for Roma in Serbia is becoming more and more difficult. This trend is mainly due to inadequate regulations that restrict access to social protection services for Roma.

The report assesses that the problem of child marriage is still not adequately addressed by the relevant state institutions, which instead of acting in accordance with binding national and international legislation, give higher priority to customary law. In addition to the lack of coordinated action of all relevant stakeholders, as well as the lack of data collection, there are gaps in the legal framework that also contribute to the occurrence of child, early and forced marriages.

The report also stresses that the right to health care in Serbia is still not fully and equally accessible to those who are particularly vulnerable, and that persons who do not have personal documents have rather restricted access to health care services, and that they are provided only with emergency medical care.

Regarding the aforementioned problems, in its report to the Committee, Praxis presented a number of recommendations for measures aimed at eliminating the identified problems and obstacles to access rights.

Ronaldo ^[1] was born in December 2020 in Belgrade, at the Clinical Centre of Serbia. Ronaldo’s mother Bukurije Osmani ^[1] is not registered into birth registry books. She was born in Podujevo and moved to Belgrade where she entered cohabitation. The Free Legal Aid Service of Zemun Municipality in April 2021 initiated, on behalf of Bukurije, a procedure before the Third Basic Court in Belgrade for determining the date and place of her birth. This procedure is still ongoing.

Since Bukurije is undocumented, Ronaldo’s personal name could not be determined by his parents before the registrar. A procedure for determining the child's personal name was initiated before the Social Welfare Centre (SWC) Zemun in late January 2021.

Since a decision was not issued within the legal deadline, an urgency letter was sent to the competent authority in late April. However, the Social Welfare Centre Zemun continued not taking any action in this procedure, and the Ronaldo’s father went to the SWC towards the end of May to get the information about the status of the case. On that occasion, he was told that they had been waiting for the lawyer’s opinion, but that most likely it would not be possible to conduct the procedure until the mother obtained an ID card. In mid-July, the father went to the SWC again, where it was confirmed to him that the procedure would not be conducted until the mother received her ID card.

The instruction of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, sent to the social welfare centres in 2014, stressed that the right to personal name was guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Constitution and the Law on Family, and that personal name must be determined also to children of undocumented parents. The instruction specifies that even in such situations, parents must be allowed to participate in the procedure if their identity can be guaranteed by a third party with a personal document or if they are personally known to an official.

In July 2021, an appeal was filed for failing to issue a decision within the legal deadline. However, the second instance body - the Ministry of Family Welfare and Demography also significantly exceeded the prescribed deadline and a decision on the appeal is still pending, although it had to decide within two months of receiving the appeal.

Such actions of the Social Welfare Centre violate the right to registration in birth registry books and the right to personal name of the children of undocumented parents, also depriving them of many other rights that cannot be exercised without birth certificates, including the right to health care and social protection.

[1] These are not their real names

Lamija Selimi ^[1] was born in November 2019 in the Clinical and Hospital Centre Zvezdara. At the time of her birth, her mother Leonora ^[1] did not possess personal documents and therefore was unable to determine her daughter’s personal name after her birth. This is why she had to initiate a procedure for determining her daughter’s personal name before the guardianship authority.

A procedure for determining the child's personal name was initiated before the Social Welfare Centre Palilula, and a decision was issued in March 2020. By this decision, the registrar of Zvezdara Municipality was ordered to register Lamija’s name and surname in birth registry books. However, despite the obligation to implement the final decision of the Social Welfare Centre, the Registry Office Zvezdara has not complied with that obligation nearly two years later, leaving Lamija Selimi without a personal name registered in birth registry books.

In June 2021, the staff of the Registry Office Zvezdara told her father that they would not be able to issue a birth certificate for the child until her mother Leonora received an ID card. After that, Praxis helped them to submit a written request for the issuance of a birth certificate, but neither the requested document was issued nor any response was received, despite the fact that an emergency letter had been sent to the registry office.

Leonora was born in Italy, and in 2020 she conducted the procedure of registration in the birth registry books of Serbia. However, she has not been able to register her permanent residence in Serbia and obtain an ID card. In mid-2021, Leonora, helped by Praxis, submitted a request for the registration of permanent residence in the Police Station Palilula.

Leonora’s permanent residence registration has not yet been approved, due to which she cannot obtain an ID card, while her daughter Lamija Selimi, due to the illegal actions of the registry office, remains unregistered nearly two years after the Social Welfare Centre Palilula adopted a decision on determining her personal name. This not only violates Leonora’s right to registration in birth registry books and the right to personal name, but also deprives her of many other rights that cannot be exercised without a birth certificate, including the right to health care and social protection.

This example once again shows why it is important to systematically resolve the issue of registration in birth registry books immediately after birth, as provided by international conventions, the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia and the Law on Family.

[1] These are not their real names.