On 14 October 2013, Praxis organized a roundtable “Contribution to Social Inclusion and Combat against Discrimination of Marginalized Population in Serbia” in Belgrade, as a part of the activities within the project of the same name funded by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In addition to the representatives of Praxis and partners in the project from organizations Roma Educational Centre, Subotica, and Association of Roma Women Osvit, Nis, in the introductory part of the roundtable the speakers were also Davor Rako, Associate Protection Officer at UNHCR, Jasmina Benmansur, Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, Zorica Loncar Kasalica, Head of the Department of Administrative Affairs of the Ministry of Interior, Goran Basic, Deputy Ombudsman for Minority Issues, Zarko Sunderic, Team Manager of the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit, and Marija Zaric from the Office of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality.

Within three sessions that referred to birth registration, acquisition of citizenship, registration of permanent residence and access to personal documents, access to socio-economic rights and protection against discrimination, results and changes achieved in the three previous years of project implementation were presented. These refer to normative framework and practice of competent bodies and institutions in proceeding in cases for exercise of these rights. At the same time, the roundtable provided for an opportunity to present the most significant problems in exercise of the above rights. In the discussion that ensued, some of the possibilities for facilitating access to rights for the socially vulnerable and marginalized population were also proposed.

The roundtable gathered 48 participants, representatives of local bodies and institutions, relevant ministries, as well as non-governmental and international organizations.

Download: Agenda (Serbian only)
Download: Presentation on Protection of Roma against Discrimination