On 26 September 2013, Praxis participated in the roundtable organized in Subotica within the campaign News in the Field of Birth of Registration and Obtaining of Personal Documents. The roundtable was organized as a part of activities carried out on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Ombudsman of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self-Government of the Republic of Serbia. On that occasion, the news in the field of birth registration, registration of residence at the address of social welfare centre and obtaining of personal documents were presented to the representatives of civil society organizations, Roma activists, health mediators, pedagogical assistants and Roma coordinators from the municipalities of Backa District.

In addition to Praxis’ representatives, the keynote speakers were also UNHCR representatives, Office of the Ombudsman of Serbia and Department for Administrative Affairs of the Ministry of Interior. The inspector working of the issues of ID cards and residence also participated in the discussion.

During the discussion, the participants of the roundtable presented the information they had about the problems faced by the members of Roma population in accessing personal documents. Almost all participants emphasised that Roma from their local communities are facing the problem of payment of administrative fees for obtaining ID cards, which is the reason why they do not have valid ID cards and are consequently without the access to rights. They were advocating for the changes so that obtaining of ID cards would be free for the poorest.

Also, the participants of the roundtable presented their remarks to the requests of state bodies to enclose the birth certificates to the request for issuance of ID card or the application for cash social assistance and other social welfare benefits, since the poorest citizens are thus exposed to unnecessary costs.

Some participants presented individual problems and cases from the field in which the citizens of Roma nationality needed Praxis’ legal assistance.

See the video clip.
See:Closing the Cycle of Legal Invisibility

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.

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.

For more information, see the announcement: Employee of Social Welfare Centre Discriminated against Roma Women
Download: Interview of Jelena Milonjic, Praxis Legal Advisor, for Radio Beograd 1

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

The problem of inability to obtain health booklets for persons of Roma nationality who do not have permanent or temporary residence registered and do not fulfil the conditions for insurance on some other ground still exists.

Although the Law on Health Insurance stipulates that Roma can obtain the insurer status based on the statement that they are persons of Roma nationality and a statement on the place of temporary residence, the 2012 changes of the Regulation of the content, form and manner of submitting a unique application for mandatory social insurance, unique methodological principles and unique codex of codes for entry of data in the unique basis of the Central Register of mandatory social insurance envisage that persons of Roma nationality need to enclose the evidence on registration of permanent residence at the address of social welfare center (SWC) in addition to the statement on national belonging when applying for health insurance. The Regulation was brought relying on the solution offered by the Law on Permanent and Temporary Residence of Citizens (adopted in November 2011), which envisages the possibility of registering permanent residence at the address of a social welfare centre. However, many Roma still cannot register permanent residence at the address of a social welfare centre because of the inconsistent application of this solution in practice.

Having in mind that the Regulation is not in accordance with the Law on Health Insurance and that it subsequently changes the purpose of the Law to disadvantage of the guaranteed rights, Praxis submitted an initiative for assessing the legality and constitutionality to the Constitutional Court in May 2012. While waiting for the decision of the Constitutional Court, Praxis has been pointing at this problem to the Ministry of Health, Republic Fund for Health Insurance and the Ombudsperson, but the disputable Regulation is still applied in some branches.

European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) and Praxis most severely condemn the intimidation and threats of hooligans the Roma families living the container settlement of Resnik in Belgrade has been exposed to for six nights already.

The attacks started on 28 August 2013 when a group of at least 20 men wearing hoods attacked the residents of the settlement by metal poles while shouting threats and racist insults. The attackers were throwing stones and broke a window in one of the containers, while children were sleeping under it, and hit one woman with the metal bar as it came through the window. The attackers returned to the settlement on the following nights, shouted insults and threatened to set the residents on fire.

Residents reported the attacks to the police, who attended the scene, and on one night took four of the attackers into custody. However a night patrol car was only stationed at the settlement for protection overnight after six days of repeated attacks, and following an intervention from Praxis and the ERRC. 

The ERRC and Praxis sent a joint letter of concern calling on the authorities take all necessary security measures to protect the Romani families in Resnik container settlement from further attacks and to make a full and thorough investigation, identify and bring to justice all persons involved in the attacks. Key elements of the incidents, such as the ethnicity of the target group, location of the settlement, number of attackers and repetition of violence indicate premeditated and planned hate crime and must be prosecuted as such. 

For more information, see the announcement: Racist Attacks on Resettled Roma in Belgrade
See: Warning of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality

A single mother who is a beneficiary of cash social assistance addressed the Police Station Vracar with a request for issuance of the first ID card for her daughter who was 16 and a half years old at the time. However, for missing a legal deadline to submit a request for issuance of an ID card (for citizens over 16 years of age), the competent police officer referred the party to verify a statement with two witnesses in the Municipality of Vracar, where she would give her reasons for missing the deadline, so that the competent body could later approve the issuance of the ID card. The costs of verification of the statement amounted to 1,020 RSD, which was totally unnecessary at the time, bearing in mind that the police officer could have personally taken the statement from the party.

With regard to this, Praxis addressed the Ministry of Interior emphasising that the party had been exposed to unnecessary costs and asking to prevent such proceeding of police officers in the future. The MoI shortly acquainted with the stated problem the City of Belgrade Police Department, of which the Police Station Vracar is a part. In reference to this, the Police Department requested from its officers to personally take the statements on reasons for omission of legal deadline for submitting requests for issuance of ID cards whenever possible, so that the citizens are not exposed to costs of verification of statements before other bodies.

Praxis was presented a Certificate of Appreciation in recognition of participation and significant contribution in the implementation of the Programme of functional primary education of adults and the achievement of the primary aim of the Project “Second Chance” - provision of a new opportunity to the persons without completed primary education to acquire education, improve their lives and increase their employment opportunities.

Project “Second Chance” has been implemented in Serbia since September 2010 and was initiated by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development in cooperation with the European Union in order to establish the system of functional elementary education of adults.

Successful cooperation between Praxis and the Project “Second Chance” dates back to 2011 and is reflected in ensuring the right to education and inclusion into the educational system for the adults who have not finished elementary school with the final aim of social inclusion, and in Praxis’ providing legal representation in administrative and court procedures for the regulation of the personal status and in the procedures of obtaining personal documents.

See the Certificate of Appreciation here.

Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights – YUCOM organized a national conference "Establishing the System of Access to Information, Advice and Active Help" in the framework of the project "Triple A for Citizens: Access to information, Advice & Active help” funded by the European Commission. The conference dedicated to the identical issue was held at the same time in Sarajevo and Pristina. The aim of the conference was for the participants to identify possible policy solutions in the stated areas through presentation of experiences and challenges in the field of access to information, advice and active help, and through ensuing discussion.

Representatives of Law Centres Network (London) presented their experience regarding the system of providing free legal aid in the UK. YUCOM presented the results of research on support to citizens conducted in the territory of Serbia, in which local self-governments, non-governmental organizations and legal clinics participated.

Praxis Deputy Executive Director Jasmina Mikovic presented the state of providing free legal aid services within the non-governmental sector, but also explained some specific and urgent needs of citizens that Praxis has encountered so far in its work. With regard to provision of free legal aid, Ms Mikovic believes that representation in individual cases is not sufficient and that it is necessary to legally empower socially vulnerable communities (Roma, IDPs and refugees) and to strategically advocate in various ways in order to protect their interests. By presenting specific characteristics of free legal aid that Praxis provides, she acquainted the participants with Praxis strategic advocacy activities directed at resolving the problem of legally invisible persons in Serbia. Furthermore, she also presented strategic litigation cases in the area of exercise of right to be recognized as a person before the law and the right to adequate housing.

Download: Report from the national conference "Establishing the System of Access to Information, Advice and Active Help" (Serbian only)

Download: Presentation “Response to Specific Needs –Experience of Praxis“ (Serbian only)

Download: Agenda (Serbian only)

Public Enterprise Municipal Housing Agency in Kraljevo sued 33 families who live in social housing apartments in Kraljevo, requesting that they move out. The apartments were built through a donation of the organization HELP - Hilfe Zur Selbsthilfe e.V. – Mission in the Republic of Serbia, the beneficiary being Kraljevo City Administration, which transferred the right to manage these apartments to the Municipal Housing Agency in Kraljevo through a separate contract.

After the expiry of the three-year deadline during which internally displaced persons, former residents of collective centres, lived in social housing apartments in Kraljevo for free, the Municipal Housing Agency prescribed that the beneficiaries of these apartments must provide minimum 75 euros (in RSD equivalent) per household member. At the same time, the contracts offered to the beneficiaries by the Municipal Housing Agency envisage a monthly obligation of paying the rental in the amount of 1.20 euros per square meter. Having in mind that certain number of the beneficiaries do not generate any income or are retired, beneficiaries of social welfare or receive temporary compensation for unemployed persons from Kosovo, the fulfillment of contractual obligations is unattainable for many of them.

As a result of highly unfavourable conditions for extending the contracts which the residents of social housing apartments cannot fulfil, they are left without legal basis of housing and are facing a lawsuit before Basic Court in Kraljevo, being requested to move out.

Roma families living in the container settlement of Resnik, Belgrade, faced six nights of violence, intimidation and threats from attackers. On 28 August, around 20 men attacked the settlement, shouting threats and racist insults. The men wore hoods and came armed with metal poles. They threw stones, and broke a window in one of the containers, while children were sleeping underneath it. One woman was hit with the metal bar as it came through the window. Attackers returned to the settlement on the following nights, shouting insults and threatening to set the residents on fire. Residents reported the attacks to the police, who attended the scene, and on one night took four of the attackers into custody. However a night patrol car was only stationed at the settlement for protection overnight after six days of repeated attacks, and following an intervention from Praxis and the ERRC.  

The ERRC and Praxis sent a joint letter of concern calling on the authorities take all necessary security measures to protect the Romani families in Resnik container settlement from further attacks and to make a full and thorough investigation, identify and bring to justice all persons involved in the attacks. Key elements of the incidents, such as the ethnicity of the target group, location of the settlement, number of attackers and repetition of violence indicate premeditated and planned hate crime and must be prosecuted as such. 

The ERRC and Praxis are also concerned about the behaviour and attitude of the staff from City of Belgrade Secretariat for Social Welfare, which runs the camp. The City of Belgrade authorities only came to visit the families on 2 September 2013, several days after the attacks began, despite the fact that the authorities were informed immediately about the incidents. They told families that they would have to pay for the broken window caused by the attackers. Two City of Belgrade employees also shouted at and insulted the Roma, calling them “thieves” and “animals” and threatening to cut off any further assistance to the families.

The Roma families were previously evicted from the Belvil settlement. Before they even arrived in Resnik, the the local population in Resnik organised violent protests against the decision to settle Romani families in this location. Roma had to live under constant police protection for several months.

See: Warning of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality