The Results of the Project “How to Conduct Situational Testing” Presented

Friday, 6 December 2013

The Results of the Project “How to Conduct Situational Testing” Presented

On 6 December 2013 in Belgrade, Praxis, in cooperation with non-governmental organization Poradna pro občanství/Občanská a lidská práva from the Czech Republic, organized a press-conference and a roundtable “How to conduct situational testing” on the occasion of the end of the project of the same name, funded by the Transition Promotion Programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.

At the press conference and the roundtable, Praxis presented its experience with situational testing. During the project period, Praxis conducted 5 cases of situational testing in three of which it collected evidence on discrimination against the Roma. The results of testing indicate that the Roma have been discriminated when trying to rent an apartment, get employed or open a bank account, which illustrates the extent of discrimination against the Roma in our society. For the cases in which evidence was collected, Praxis has initiated the appropriate procedures for protection against discrimination as discrimination against the Roma would not be left without legal consequences.

The representatives of the partner organization and the Ombudsman of the Czech Republic talked about their experience with special reference to time limits of situational testing of discrimination, psychological aspect of the testing and financing of accompanying strategic litigation. In addition, the representative of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality gave the overview of cases from the practice of this body in which situational testing was used to prove discrimination in Serbia.

Despite differences in the situational testing system reflecting in the obligation of reporting the situational testing and prohibition of audio and video recording in Serbia and the lack of obligation of reporting the testing Republic and freedom of audio and video recording in the Czech, the participants of the roundtable agreed that situational testing is the extremely useful evidence which needs to be applied more frequently in cases of discrimination. In addition, the participants discussed the specificity of conducting of situational testing, monitoring of recommendations of independent bodies competent for the implementation of anti-discrimination regulations and establishment of court practice in Serbia in the field of discrimination and cases of situational testing used as evidence.

Also, the manual “Strategic Litigation in Service of Human Rights” prepared by Poradna pro občanství/Občanská a lidská práva was presented at the roundtable.