On 19 April 2013, the training on registration in birth registry book was held for registrars and deputy registrars administering the registry books for 28 cities and municipalities in the territories of the districts of Zlatibor, Macva, Kolubara and Moravica, as well as for the administrative officers working on issues related to citizenship, registration of permanent and temporary residence and issuance of ID cards within the organizational units of the Ministry of Interior and employees of social welfare centres. The training for more than 120 participants was organized by the Technical Group, formed based on the Memorandum of Understanding concluded between the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, Ombudsperson and UNHCR, in accordance with the Activity Plan the aim of which is eradication of the phenomenon of legally invisible persons in Serbia by 2015.

Representatives of the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, Ombudsperson, UNHCR, Praxis, Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy drew attention of the present participants to the importance of possession of documentation and consequences of life without documentation. They also presented the most frequent problems in practice which are of significance for realization of goals specified in the aforementioned Memorandum of Understanding. The stated issues were analysed with reference to the changes in the domestic legislation which occurred as a part of the process of European integrations. New solutions contained in the Law on Permanent and Temporary Residence of Citizens (primarily the envisaged possibility to register permanent residence at the address of a social welfare centre for persons who do not have other option to regulate this issue), the Law on ID Card, the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure (new procedure for determination of time and place of birth which is a basis for registration in birth registry book) reflect the general tendency to facilitate the access to basic status rights. With reference to that, the representatives of the aforementioned state bodies and institutions presented to the participants of the training available mechanisms and means they should rely on in their work, in order to conduct the procedures in as simple and efficient manner as possible – procedures of subsequent birth registration, re-registration in cases of lost or destroyed registry books from Kosovo during the conflict, determination and registration of the fact of citizenship in citizenship registry books and the procedures before the social welfare centres. Representatives of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy emphasized that they were currently working on amending the Instruction on proceeding in the procedure of registration of permanent residence at the address of a social welfare centre, issued in December 2012. Specifically, the Instruction contains the disputable provision on a piece of evidence that should be issued by the competent units of the MoI, needed for filling in the prescribed form and conducting the procedure at the address of a SWC. According to the suggested solution in the process of amending the Instruction, a certificate of a competent unit of MoI confirming that a person does not have permanent residence registered in the territory of the Republic of Serbia will be considered relevant evidence in the concerned procedure, which should remove present ambiguities. Thus, conditions would be created for unimpeded registration of permanent residence at the address of a SWC, which is the only way for many members of vulnerable groups to solve their problems with residence registration.

In the final part of the training, the participants discussed the insufficiently clear aspects in the concerned legal fields. Good will was expressed to contribute to eradication of the phenomenon of legally invisible persons in Serbia, while the achievement of the proclaimed goals will depend on efforts of all competent bodies and services, both at the normative level and the level of application of adopted solutions in practice.