Praxis, with support of ODIHR project “Good Practices for Roma Integration in the Western Balkans”, organized a workshop for member organizations of Western Balkans Legal Aid Network (WeBLAN) in Belgrade on 4 June 2013. As one of WeBLAN proclaimed goals is contribution to prevention and fight against discrimination of marginalized communities and strengthening of regional connections and cross-border cooperation, the workshop was held with an aim to acquire new knowledge in the area of protection from discrimination and exchange of experience the organizations had in relation to advocating for and protecting of victims of discrimination. The guest lecturer at the workshop was Adam Weiss, legal director of AIRE Centre from London.

The introductory part of the workshop focused on strategic litigation in the area of discrimination with special reference to identification and development of strategic cases related to registration in birth and citizenship registry books. Adam Weiss presented the cases of strategic litigation at European level, different types of strategic cases and their contribution to advocating for changes. While considering the elements of possible strategy of the solution of identified problems, Adam presented different levels of interventions  which human rights organization can use – advocating in a great number of cases before the first-instance and second-instance bodies and thus providing a potential strategic case, the third party intervention in procedures before the European Court of Human Rights, writing reports on the situation in practice to be submitted to relevant contracting bodies and EU authorities and presenting cases from practice in support to identified problems.

During the discussion about strategies used by organizations from the region, it was determined that most of the organizations had reacted to cases of discrimination at different levels, and that some of their cases could be strategic. Most of cases in the region referred to discrimination in the area of education and discrimination against disabled persons, but also to registration in registry books and exercise of the right to adequate housing. The conclusion was that joint characteristic of the courts proceeding upon discrimination cases is insufficient knowledge of international standards in the area of protection from discrimination, relevant practice, but also unwillingness to determine discrimination as such.

Relying on discussion and identified problems, the second part of the workshop referred to presentation of  the case law of the European Human Rights Court and representation of cases which could serve as the basis for conducting cases of protection of Roma from discrimination before the national bodies. The case law was considered in the context of the right to respect for private and family life. The issues that were particularly considered referred to whether the state had interfered in the exercise of that right and if yes whether such interference was in accordance with the law, whether it had had the legitimate goal and had been necessary in a democratic society. Once again, the significance of notifying the individual cases and stories as the most convincing way to test the limits of the implementation of the principle of proportionality was emphasized once again.

Finally, the last subject for discussion referred to possibilities of the use of situational testing in proving discrimination. As none of WeBLAN member organizations had practical experience in the use of situational testing, the participants were trying to develop plans for testing of potential cases and considering the advantages and disadvantages of proposed plans, and possibility of their implementation.

The workshop was attended by 40 participants including the representatives of WeBLAN organizations and the project “Good Practices for Roma Integration in the Western Balkans” and the representative of Tirana Legal Aid Society.

Download: Presentation by Adam Weiss

Download: HERE

Plan International opened a photo exhibition “Make me Visible – Birth Registration Matters” in the United Nations building in Geneva.

The photo exhibition was organized with the aim to draw attention of the public to the dialogue on resolution on birth registration and the right to a legal identity before the Human Rights Council. Persons who are not registered in birth registries do not enjoy basic human rights and protection of the state and are exposed to numerous safety risks. Human Rights Council Resolution on birth registration prescribes the obligation of the state to ensure the registration of all children immediately upon birth.

Upon a request from the organizer, Praxis’ photo found its place at the exhibition, since Praxis has a long-standing experience in provision of free legal aid to the legally invisible persons in Serbia. Photos of children from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe point to the widespread problem of birth registration around the world.

The reception of the photo exhibition was opened on 6 March 2013 by the Director-General of the United Nations in Geneva, Mr. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Among the guests were members of the Committee for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Special Representative for Violence against Children, OHCHR, UNHCR, ILO, WHO, international non-governmental organizations. Plan staff from Bangladesh, IH, Sweden, Finland and the EU office were also present.

See: Brochure with photos

Human Rights Council Resolution on birth registration

According to information obtained from residents of some container settlements in Belgrade, the Secretariat for Social Welfare cancelled the meals in the Soup Kitchen for residents of the settlements Makis 2, Jabucki Rit and Barajevo and a number of residents of the container settlement in Mali Leskovac. According to information of the Roma Children’s Centre, the meals for the residents of the settlement Kijevo will also be cancelled as of 1 June 2013.

With reference to that, the Secretariat for Social Welfare informed the residents of container settlements to address the City Social Welfare Centre in order to “legally” exercise the right to cash assistance and Soup Kitchen.

The persons with unregulated status, specifically those who do not have any identification document, are most affected by such acting of the Secretariat, since the procedure for exercise of the right to cash assistance is complicated and lengthy (requests for enclosing much evidence, the procedure lasts 4 to 6 months on average).

For more information see the announcement: The City of Belgrade Cancelled Meals in the Soup Kitchen for a Number of Residents of Container Settlements

According to information obtained from residents of some container settlements in Belgrade, the Secretariat for Social Welfare cancelled the meals in the Soup Kitchen for residents of the settlements Makis 2, Jabucki Rit and Barajevo and a part of the container settlement in Mali Leskovac. According to information of the Roma Children’s Centre, the meals for the residents of the settlement Kijevo will also be cancelled as of 1 June 2013.

Makis 2
The residents of the settlement Makis 2 found out about the cancellation of the meals only after they went to take over the meals in the Soup Kitchen. On 27 May 2013 they did not receive any information about the reasons for cancellation of meals in the Soup Kitchen. The Cukarica Department of the City Social Welfare Centre referred them to the Secretariat for Social Welfare. Besides, A.G, S.S, S. J. and S.D, residents of the settlement Makis 2, informed us that representatives of the Cukarica Department of the City Social Welfare Centre threatened to take their children away from them if they could not provide existential minimum for themselves.

Through a phone conversation with the Deputy Secretary for Social Welfare Aleksandra Krstic, Praxis was informed that the reason for cancellation of meals for residents of container settlements lay in the fact that they had obtained documents and that, thus, it was “no longer the obligation of the Secretariat to ensure the use of the Soup Kitchen, but that the residents of the settlements should address the Social Welfare Centre and sign up for the Soup Kitchen.”

Jabucki Rit
According to information from the Roma Centre for Women and Children “Daje” and the Roma Children’s Centre, all families in the Jabucki Rit settlement have stopped receiving meals in the Soup Kitchen. There are 18 families in this settlement, including 4 pregnant women, 8 babies and 17 children. According to obtained information, most children in the settlement are presently ill. One resident of the settlement, R.K, who suffers from a chronic illness, as well as diabetes, is currently under treatment in hospital after his health condition worsened. In addition, residents M.S. and H.A. requested emergency medical assistance several days ago. This settlement is extremely far away from Palilula municipality, and is inhabited also by persons with unregulated status issues, who therefore cannot exercise the right to social protection.

Due to all the above-mentioned, we believe that the residents of this settlement are the most affected by the latest developments.

Kijevo
According to information that the Children’s Centre “Mali Princ” received from the residents of the settlement, their meals in the Soup Kitchen will be cancelled as of 1 June 2013. However, one of the residents of this settlement claims the contrary, i.e. that there is no problem in this settlement with exercising the right to meals through the Secretariat for Social Welfare.

Barajevo
According to information of the Roma Children’s Centre, on 28 May 2013, the meals have been cancelled for residents of this settlement who do not receive cash social assistance.

Other container settlements in Belgrade
Due to the impossibility to contact residents of all container settlements over the phone, we cannot establish with certainty whether the problem referring to provision of meals through the Secretariat for Social Welfare is present in all container settlements. However, according to available information, it may be concluded that the situation is alarming and urgent reaction is needed.

Background to the problem
According to the provisions of the articles 69-71 of the Decision on the rights and social protection services of the City of Belgrade, the right to free meal can be exercised by an individual and his/her family if they are beneficiaries of the cash social assistance. Exceptionally, this rights may also be exercised by persons whose monthly income per household member does not exceed 50% minimum salary for the month preceding the month in which the request has been submitted, on condition that these persons:

• Are elderly and infirm, whose relatives are not able to provide them with this type of assistance

• Have within their family a person who exercises the right to care allowance

Bearing in mind that container settlements are home to a certain number of  persons who do not have their status regulated, as well as that the procedure for exercise of the right to cash social assistance lasts from 4 to 6 months on average, that it demands a large number of documents and is complicated, residents of the container settlements who have been cancelled meals in the Soup Kitchen which were provided by the Secretariat for Social Welfare of the City of Belgrade are not able to provide existential minimum for themselves and their family members on their own.

The report has been prepared by:
Praxis
Roma Centre for Women and Children “Daje”
Roma Children’s Centre 
Regional Minority Centre
Children’s Centre “Mali princ”

Download the Report
Download the Announcement of the City Administration on cancelling the meals in the soup kitchen for residents of container settlements (Serbian only)

Praxis has published the report Analysis of the Main Obstacles and Problems in Access of Roma to the Right to Adequate Housing within the project Contribution to Social Inclusion and Combat against Discrimination of Marginalized Population in Serbia.

The present report deals with the basic issues of exercising the right to adequate housing in Serbia and covers the period 2009 - 2012. In this period, there was an increase in the number of forced evictions from informal Roma settlements (18 large-scale evictions that affected over 2,800 Roma) and individual eviction cases (at least 1,000 in only two years), while discrimination against the Roma in the exercise of the right to adequate housing was established for the first time. On the other hand, the responses from the authorities relating to the access to adequate housing by residents of informal settlements were unsatisfactory.

Read in Danas
Download the report

Praxis published the report “Analysis of the Main Obstacles and Problems in Access of Roma to the Right to Adequate Housing,” prepared within the project Contribution to Social Inclusion and Combat against Discrimination of Marginalized Population in Serbia, funded by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The present report deals with the basic issues of exercising the right to adequate housing in Serbia and covers the period 2009 - 2012. In this period, there was an increase in the number of forced evictions from informal Roma settlements (18 large-scale evictions that affected over 2,800 Roma) and individual eviction cases (at least 1,000 in only two years), while discrimination against the Roma in the exercise of the right to adequate housing was established for the first time. On the other hand, the responses from the authorities relating to the access to adequate housing by residents of informal settlements were unsatisfactory.

Except for the fact that the adopted Strategy for Improvement of the Status of Roma in the Republic of Serbia recognised the problem faced by Roma population in the exercise of the right to adequate housing, little progress has been achieved to date in this field. In addition to forced evictions which are conducted contrary to international human rights standards and which pose the greatest obstacle to exercise of the right to adequate housing, very small number of Roma settlements has been legalized or is in the process of legalization. The Roma in informal settlements often have impeded or no access to basic human rights at all, and the situation is similar in container settlements formed after the evictions from informal settlements. In regard to the exercise of the right to adequate housing, particularly vulnerable groups are internally displaced persons from Kosovo, the elderly, persons with disabilities and women.

The absence of legislative framework that would regulate eviction procedures and the out-dated laws in the field of housing show the state's unwillingness to take steps towards promoting the exercise of the right to adequate housing of Roma.

Bearing in mind the existence of a large number of informal Roma settlements, extremely poor housing conditions in a number of them, lack of records about these settlements and the problems identified in the published analysis, the issue of systemic discrimination against the Roma in exercising the right to adequate housing may be raised. If changes are not introduced immediately, further gross violations of the right to adequate housing of Roma could be expected.

Download the report: Analysis of the Main Obstacles and Problems in Access of Roma to the Right to Adequate Housing

With the support of ODHIR/ Best Practices for Roma Integration in the Western Balkans (BPRI) and UNHCR Representation in Serbia, Praxis organized a Joint Workshop of the Western Balkans Legal Aid Network (WeBLAN) and the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) on 23 April 2013 in Belgrade. The aim of the workshop was to contribute to solving the problem of stateless persons in the territory of the Western Balkans through analysis of statelessness in the countries in the region, promotion of international standards and exchange of experience and good practice examples.

Preparing for the workshop, WeBLAN members filled in a research template on statelessness, previously designed and defined in cooperation with the ENS representatives. Analysis of national legislation and situation in practice was carried out for each country in the region in order to examine the proportions of the problem of exercise of the right to a nationality and to establish which persons or groups were at risk of statelessness. An additional aim was to establish whether respective national legislations contained protection mechanisms suitable for preventing the occurrence of statelessness and to identify whether national laws contained relevant regulations or provisions that could provide adequate treatment and access to basic rights to stateless persons. Finally, the research examined the activities, initiatives or new tendencies significant for exercise of the right to a nationality, as well as engagement of state bodies aimed at solving the existing problems.

Following the introductory part of the workshop dedicated to presenting both networks and their goals and activities, WeBLAN member organizations gave their respective overviews of the most significant aspects of the stated research during the session dedicated to discrimination and statelessness. The conducted research showed that the causes of statelessness were similar in all countries of the region, that they mostly referred to failure to register the fact of birth or were a result of break-up of former Yugoslavia and migrations. Majority of persons who were not registered in birth registries or were of undetermined nationality belong to Roma population, while the statistical data on their number were either unavailable or imprecise and mostly relied on estimates of UNHCR or research of non-governmental organizations. With regard to compliance with the most important international and regional instruments, it was established that all the countries were signatories to the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons or contained provisions in their national legislation which were in accordance with the Convention. On the other hand, the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness had been ratified only by Croatia and Serbia, while the European Convention on Nationality had been ratified only by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro. Furthermore, a joint characteristic of all countries was lack of a statelessness determination procedure which also posed an obstacle for obtaining identification documents and access to rights guaranteed to this category of persons. Finally, the level of engagement of relevant state bodies and initiatives directed at solving the problem of persons at risk of statelessness varied from one country to another. A good practice example was the introduction of a court procedure for determination of time and place of birth in Serbia and singing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, Ombudsperson and UNHCR with an aim to implement actual activities for resolving the problem of persons at risk of statelessness in Serbia.

During the second part of the workshop, ENS representatives gave their presentations on the issues relating to nationality, prevention of statelessness and reduction of the number of stateless persons, statelessness status determination and protection of stateless persons, strategic litigation and international advocacy for resolving the problem of statelessness. Observing the notion of statelessness, definition and concept of protection of stateless persons, it was pointed to the importance of correct understanding and defining the concept of stateless persons. Through short case studies, the most significant aspects of the definition of stateless persons were analysed and the guidelines given for their interpretation, especially in the context of when a person is not considered a citizen in accordance with the law and practice of a state. The concept of a person at risk of statelessness was particularly considered and, based on the given data from the conducted research, the existing protection mechanisms and their efficiency in terms of prevention of statelessness were analysed at the same time. Bearing in mind that none of the countries in the region has statelessness determination procedure, ENS representatives also presented the existing statelessness determination procedures at the European level, pros and cons of the legal solutions in effect, and, at the same time, provided arguments for organizations in the region that could be used when advocating for introduction of this procedure in their respective countries. Furthermore, in the context of protection of stateless persons, the significance of strategic litigation in this field was also considered and the most significant cases from the practice of the European Court of Human Rights presented. Finally, there was also a discussion about the importance of advocacy activities for resolving the problem of stateless persons at the international and regional level.

The workshop was attended by a total of 44 participants, representatives of WeBLAN member organizations, representatives of the ENS, the representatives of UNHCR offices from BiH, Montenegro, Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo and Italy, representatives of BPRI, OSCE Mission to Serbia, Italian Refugee Council and organization Tirana Legal Aid Society, Albania.

Presentations:
ENS, presentation of Chris Nash
ENS, presentation of Laura van Waas
ENS, presentation of Amal de Chickera
ENS, presentation of Gábor Gyulai
ENS, presentation of Maxim Ferschtman
WeBLAN, presentation of Naim Osmani, CRP Kosovo

See:
Blog by Ivanka Kostic
Blog by Laura van Waas
News on BPRI web site

The report Access to Social Protection and Health Care for Vulnerable Groups in South Serbia has been prepared as part of the NGO Praxis project under the same title, financed by the Fondation Caritas Luxembourg. The project activities were carried out in the period from 1 December 2012 to 31 May 2013 in the seven municipalities of the Pcinja District (Vranje, Bujanovac, Vladicin Han, Surdulica, Trgoviste, Presevo and Bosilegrad).

The aim of the report is to provide a thorough insight in the situation regarding access to rights in the field of social protection and health care for vulnerable population groups in the southern municipalities. Data presented in the report have been obtained directly from the persons belonging to especially vulnerable groups, such as the Roma and internally displaced persons, but also from the meetings with representatives of institutions responsible for making decisions on socio-economic rights, and from the training delivered to Roma activists and civil society organisations. Considerable information has been obtained through providing legal assistance in individual cases of exercise of the aforementioned rights.

Download the report Access to Social Protection and Health Care for Vulnerable Groups in South Serbia

Download: HERE