Today the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) which represents over fifty civil society organisations from across Europe including Praxis will hand over a petition to members of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe calling on European leaders to work to end childhood statelessness.

The petition which received over 21,000 signatures highlights the need to protect thousands of children in Europe from the scourge of statelessness, and is a part of a wider campaign bringing together a broad spectrum of actors mounting pressure on European countries to reform their nationality laws which prevent children from acquiring a nationality. 

For more information, see the related announcement here.

Civil society organizations demand the passing of the Free Legal Aid Act and the respect for minimum standards found in contemporary legal regulation in this field.

The Republic of Serbia is the only country in Europe which has not adopted a law on free legal aid. Even though such a law has been directly designated as one of the first steps in further advancement towards integration into the European Union,  the Republic of Serbia's Government and National Assembly have for ten years now lacked the political capacity to execute the explicit constitutional obligation and pass the law.

A contemporary free legal aid act has to be able to prevent the possibility of establishing a monopoly in this field and therefore to secure an equal legal position for all service providers, which is not the case with the existing draft law. In view of the fact that the beneficiaries of free legal assistance (poor citizens and victims of violence, trafficking, discrimination and so forth) must be guaranteed respect for their specific needs and positions, and must not become hostages to other persons’ desire to get rich, civil society organizations are calling for the responsible ministries, Government and members of the National Assembly to complete the procedure of adopting the law on free legal aid without delay.

For more information, see the related announcement here.

The problems faced by beneficiaries of social apartments in the settlement “Beranovac” in Kraljevo, built to meet the housing needs of internally displaced persons by the donation of the organization HELP - Hilfe Zur Selbsthilfe e.V. – Mission in the Republic of Serbia, are still far from the solution.

Specifically, after the expiry of the deadline of three years within which the internally displaced persons, previously residents of the collective centres, lived in the social apartments in Kraljevo free of charge, the Municipal Housing Agency (MHA) prescribed that beneficiaries of social apartments shall provide minimum 75 EUR in dinar counter value per member of the household. In addition, the agreements offered to residents by MHA envisage the monthly obligation on behalf of the rent in the amount of 1.20 EUR per square meter. Having in mind that certain number of residents does not earn any income but they are beneficiaries of pensions, social welfare or temporary assistance for unemployed persons from Kosovo, the fulfillment of contractual obligations is unachievable for many of them. By rejecting to sign the unfavourable agreements, the residents of social apartments lost the legal ground of housing and were sued in 2013 by MSA. The lawsuits were filed against 33 internally displaced families, and court procedures are far from the completion. 

In the meantime, the sued residents addressed many state bodies with the plea to solve the current situation by considering the real circumstances and particularly social needs of internally displaced persons who live in disputable apartments. Neither the state nor the City of Kraljevo did find an interest to consider the problem in the wider context of protection of the rights of internally displaced persons, which is the reason why they did not go far from a lengthy civil litigation. 

In light of such circumstances, tenants of social apartments have been living for three years in uncertainty and in constant fear of eviction. In addition, they are forced to face daily with the countless obstacles in accessing rights caused by the fact that they cannot extend their stay at the addresses where actually reside.

Since September the citizens of the Municipality of Čukarica have been protesting again. Media has reported about it under the headlines Čukarička padina in the smoke of burned tires and PEOPLE, THEY ARE GOING TO POISON US! Residents of Čukarička padina concerned about everyday burning of tires and cables. The city authorities have thought of a way to solve the problem of burning secondary raw materials – by introducing a full-day duty in this part of Čukarička padina, in order to respond quickly to citizen complaints, in cooperation with the Communal Police, if secondary raw materials are burned again.

Despite the Praxis’ initiative, request and pointing to the necessity of providing urgent assistance to the residents of this settlement, the situation has not changed significantly. With the winter approaching, we do not see an adequate response of the authorities to the problems encountered by the residents of the informal settlement "Čukarička šuma", and therefore we once again call for taking measures aimed at improving the living conditions in this settlement.

For more information, see the related announcement here.

The Council of Europe, in co-operation with EuroChild and ChildPact, held a seminar on 15 and 16 December 2016 in Strasbourg on social rights, protection of children from violence, effective advocacy at the national level, and the available instruments offered by the Council of Europe to protect children’s rights. The meeting gathered 46 participants from national, regional and European networks and coalitions, international organizations, CSOs and the Council of Europe. The Network of Organizations for Children of Serbia - MODS was represented by Jasmina Mikovic from Praxis, a member of the Steering Committee of MODS.

Regina Jensdottir, CoE Head of the Children’s Division, presented general overview and working methods of the Council of Europe, including the Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2016-2021). The Strategy sets the following five priority areas to guarantee the rights of the child: equal opportunities for all children, participation of all children, a life free from violence for all children, child-friendly justice for all children and rights of the child in the digital environment.

The participants were encouraged to use CoE instruments, such as legal instruments, resolutions, reports and recommendations in order to hold their governments accountable. The representatives of the CoE emphasized that it is of great importance to encourage and facilitate the sustained provision of information to the CoE and to amplify the voice of the CSOs as to positively impact the work and the efficiency of the monitoring bodies of the CoE and enhance the implementation of the CoE standards.

For more information, see the related announcement here.

Today, 27 years after the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, we are still talking about legally invisible children, children without a name and date of birth, children without identity. "You exist, but as if you were not present in this world.”, legally invisible R. B. from an informal Roma settlement near Belgrade would say.

The violation of the rights of girls and boys to the development and timely education are still justified by the common law of the Roma community, and we tacitly allow that child, early and forced marriages are an everyday life for a significant number of Roma children, denying them thus an opportunity to enjoy their childhood and the freedom of choice. ”You are a child, and then you are a woman. You are never a girl!”, M. A., a young girl from an informal Roma settlement in central Serbia would say.  M. A. “got married” when she was 13, and became a mother for the first time when she was 14. Today, she dreams that her daughter has a childhood, finishes the university, becomes a successful woman who had a chance to choose her future.

Thousands of refugee children are still exposed to numerous risks and dangers every day."I do not know what to do now, but I have no choice, I have to try to cross the border.", a sixteen-year-old unaccompanied minor, A. H. from Afghanistan said.

Children are children every day. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. 

For more information, see the related announcement here.

In order to raise awareness of professional and wider public about the need for prevention and elimination of child, early and forced marriages (CEFM), throughout this week Praxis will point at various aspects of this phenomenon, ranging from statistical data, over causes and consequences, to the main conclusions and recommendations for further activities, in a form of short messages and charts that will be shared on social media.

The CEFM problem in Serbia is mainly recognized as part of Roma tradition, which also pervades all aspects of child development, is one of the possible causes of statelessness, endangers the mental and physical health of girls, puts them at a greater risk of domestic violence, leads to increased rates of school drop-out, which together lead to a vicious cycle of poverty and economic dependence of women.

The activities performed by Praxis throughout 2016 with the financial support of UNHCR are aimed at raising awareness of children and parents, professional and wider public, about the risks and consequences of CEFM, as well as at advocating for prevention and elimination of this problem.

For more information, see the related announcement here.

In Brussels, on 11-13 July 2016, #StatelessKids Youth Congress was organized by the European Network on Statelessness. Praxis’ Executive Director, Ivanka Kostic, took part in this congress. 

This was the first youth congress on statelessness, which gathered 35 young people and experts in this field from Spain, Portugal, Poland, Albania, Switzerland, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Holland, Norway, Finland, Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Slovenia, Macedonia and Serbia. The congress was held in the premises of the Maastricht University in Brussels. 

Two young ambassadors from Serbia - Ivana Radojkovic and Dijana Dackovic took part in the congress. 

For more information, see here.