In the procedure initiated upon Praxis complaint, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality has established that M.P., an employee of the Social Welfare Centre of the City of Novi Sad, discriminated against five Roma women from informal settlement Veliki Rit, on the grounds of their gender and Roma ethnicity.

At the end of 2012, during a visit to the informal settlement Veliki Rit, it came to Praxis knowledge that M.P. was discriminating against Roma women who were addressing him for exercise of the right to social welfare benefits. According to the statements given by the potential beneficiaries of social welfare, the employee had been insulting them, threatening them, sexually harassing them, intimidating them by saying that they might be physically attacked, and even physically attacked one of them.

By applying the distribution rule of the burden of proof, the Commissioner has established that, apart from denying all the points of complaint, M.P. did not offer facts or evidence that he had not discriminated against the Roma women.

The Commissioner has also emphasised that the Roma women are exposed to multiple discrimination and that it is necessary to take into account the results of a number of research studies and data about the position of Roma women, which contribute to adequate and thorough understanding of the context and social circumstances in which the submitters of the complaint find themselves. In its issued opinion, the Commissioner has given a recommendation to M.P. to send a written apology to the Roma women he discriminated against on the grounds of gender and Roma ethnicity, and to restrain himself in the future from disturbing and humiliating acting and from statements insulting the dignity of the members of national minorities and creating a hostile, humiliating and insulting environment.

At the same time, the Commissioner recommended to the Social Welfare Centre of the City of Novi Sad to post the opinion and recommendation of the Commissioner, along with the written apology of M.P. on the notice board or other noticeable place in the premises of the Social Welfare Centre, and to keep them posted for at least 8 days.

Apart from the concern about the fact that M.P., employee of the Social Welfare Centre of the City of Novi Sad, discriminated against the beneficiaries addressing him precisely for overcoming difficult living circumstances they are facing, additionally worrying is the fact that the Centre has neither responded to such acting so far nor issued a statement on the points stated in the complaint.

Download: The opinion and the recommendation of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality
Download: Interview of Jelena Milonjic, Praxis Legal Advisor, for Radio Beograd 1