After one year, administrative procedures of subsequent birth registration for three children have finally been solved in their favour before the Registry Office in Kraljevo. 

Due to unlawful conduct and non-compliance with the rules of procedure, the competent authority unjustifiably rejected the requests three times, which is why the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government adopted complaints and returned the cases for repeated procedure each time. Among other things, the competent authority rejected the requests considering them contrary to the Constitution because the submitted documents were not written in Cyrillic but in Latin script. It also considered that the Praxis’ activities of informing and advising the party were unconstitutional. The competent authority has failed to take care that illiteracy and ignorance of the party to the procedure should not prejudice the rights to which the party is entitled, which is an obligation of the authority conducting the administrative procedure that must be fulfilled ex officio. On the contrary, the authority abused its position and powers and used the illiteracy and ignorance of the submitter of request to her detriment, preventing her from exercising her statutory rights.

Thus, the competent authority has repeatedly requested from the submitter of request, a Roma woman who cannot speak Serbian, to provide the services of an interpreter, although the authority conducting the procedure has that obligation pursuant to the Law on the Official Use of Languages and Scripts. Considering that the Registry Office in Kraljevo had committed discrimination, denying the submitter of request the participation in the procedure due to lack of knowledge of the language, Praxis filed a complaint with the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, and the decision is pending.

After initiating a procedure for determining discrimination, requests for birth registration of three children were granted. It is paradoxical that this was done on the basis of the same evidence and statements of the same witnesses submitted at the time of the initiation of procedure.

The Registry Office in Kraljevo did not apply the statutory measures to facilitate the participation of members of vulnerable groups in the procedure, but by ignoring these affirmative measures, rendered their position and participation in the procedure even more difficult. Particularly disconcerting is the fact that such conduct occurred in the case where this authority was deciding on the children’s right to be recognised as persons before the law, which is completely contrary to the basic principle that everyone must be guided by the best interests of the child.

The Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights, the Autonomous Women's Centre and the Regional Center for Minorities have submitted to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Serbia the Initiative for Assessing the Constitutionality of the Decree on Measures of Social Inclusion of Beneficiaries of Cash Social Assistance.

Certain articles of this Decree contravene the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, the Law on Social Protection, as well as the provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the provisions of the Revised European Social Charter.

Believing that the implementation of the Decree will lead to a deeply unfair, illegal and discriminatory treatment of the most vulnerable and poorest citizens, the undersigned organisations demand that the disputed articles* of the Decree be abolished and that its full implementation be suspended until a decision is rendered by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Serbia.

Poverty is not a choice of any citizen, nor is it a consequence of someone's laziness, but reflects the inability of the state to provide equal opportunities for all its citizens. By adopting the disputed Decree, the state has shown a clear lack of understanding of the purpose and essence of the concept of social inclusion. Instead of actively contributing to improving the quality of life of poor people through affirmative action, the state, through the provisions of this Decree, further punishes them, threatening to deny the right to already insufficient social assistance. The implementation of the Decree will cause discriminatory treatment of the poorest, since it does not affect any other category of working age population. Since, under current laws, community service is recognised only in criminal law, it seems that the poorest need to be given some kind of punishment/sanction for being poor.

The organisations believe that the Decree is deeply unfair because it targets those who have the least power in society: families with many children, single mothers, the unemployed without property, the elderly and persons with disability, Roma and others. The Decree places all these categories of population in a disadvantaged position, even compared to persons sentenced to imprisonment, who have employment rights (right to remuneration and reward, right to protection at work and rest) for their work while in prison.

Above all, working age beneficiaries of cash social assistance, because of their poverty, will not be able to protect their rights in the event of discrimination, labour exploitation or other violations of rights resulting from the application of this Decree.

Therefore, the undersigned civil society organisations appeal to the Government of the Republic of Serbia to repeal the Decree or to postpone its implementation until the Constitutional Court's final decision on the assessment of constitutionality and legality.

* Article 2, paragraph 2, point 5, Article 4, paragraph 1, point 1, Article 9, paragraph 1, point 3 

The request is supported by:

1.Praxis, Belgrade

2.Reconstruction Women's Fund, Belgrade

3.Voice of Difference, Belgrade

4.Women in Black, Belgrade

5.Labris, Belgrade

6.Association of Roma Novi Bečej

7.Women of South, Pirot

8.SOS Women's Center, Novi Sad

9.Women's Support Centre, Kikinda

10....Iz kruga – Vojvodina

11.Roma Information Centre, Kragujevac

12.Cultural Center DamaD, Novi Pazar

13.Centre Living Upright, Novi Sad

14.Centre for Girls - Niš

15.Women’s Space, Niš 

16.ASTRA, Belgrade

17.Women's Forum, Prijepolje

18.Association of Women Sandglass, Kruševac

19.Gender Equality Institute, Novi Sad

20.Centre for Youth Integration, Belgrade 

21.Alternative Centre for Girls, Kruševac

22.Association of Roma Women Osvit, Niš

23.Victimology Society of Serbia

24.CHRIS - Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia

25.Sandžak Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms, Novi Pazar

26.SOS Hotline for Women and Children Victims of Violence, Vlasotince

27.Citizen Association Together Together, Belgrade

28.Committee for Human Rights - SOS Hotline Vranje

29....Iz kruga – Belgrade

30.Association Požega, Požega

31.Association of Refugees from the Republic of Croatia

32.Women's Peace Group, Pančevo

33.Roma Children's Centre, Belgrade

34.Centre for Margin, Belgrade

35.Women’s Studies Centre, Belgrade

36.ALTERO - Association for Personal Training, Education, Development and Empowerment

37.Women's Centre, Užice

38.Women's European Lobby Network Serbia

39.European Anti-Poverty Network -  Serbia

40.Public Policy Research Center, Belgrade

41.MODS - Network of Organisations for Children of Serbia

42.Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies, Belgrade

43.Humanitarian Law Centre, Belgrade

44.Urban-In, Novi Pazar

45.Sandžak Committee for Human Rights, Novi Pazar

46.Safe Pulse of Youth - SPY, Belgrade

47. Children Center Little Prince, Belgrade

48.Trag Foundation, Belgrade

49.Democratic Transition Initiative, Belgrade

50.Roma Youth Centre, Požega

51.Youth Forum for Education of Roma, Bujanovac 

52.Victimology Society of Serbia, Belgrade

53.Civil Society Development Centre, Belgrade

54.Initiative for Inclusion VelikiMali, Pančevo

55.Centre for Development of Civil Resources, Niš

56.YUROM Centre, Niš

57.Centre for Independent Living of PWD of Serbia, Belgrade  

Vuk Raičević, koordinator Program za antidiskriminaciju i rodnu ravnopravnost, i Jelena Petrović, koordinatorka Programa za prava deteta, bili su gosti u ekskluzivnoj i jubilarnoj emisiji "Liceulice FM" na Radio Aparatu. Tom prilikom, govorili su o dečjim, ranim i prinudnim brakovima, segregisanim školama, višestrukoj diskriminaciji, nevidljivosti osoba sa invaliditetom i drugim oblicima diskriminacije Romkinja i Roma. 

Poslušajte emisiju ovde. 

Taken from MODS' website

The Annual Assembly Meeting of the Network of Organisations for Children of Serbia (MODS) was held in Kragujevac on 16 and 17 November 2018. This was another opportunity for the members of the Network to meet, consider and adopt proposals relevant to the MODS's work and to admit new members.

MODS has a new member of the Supervisory Board

The MODS Assembly also elected a new member of the Supervisory Board. The Assembly unanimously elected Nataša Raičević, Programme Director of the Center for Social Preventive Activities GRiG, a new member of the Supervisory Board. The members of the Supervisory Board are now: Radomir Jevtić (A Step Forward, Kruševac), Ana Jovanović (Center for Creative Development Knjaževac) and Nataša Raičević (GRiG, Belgrade).

One of agenda items was voting for the admission of new organisations into the Network. A total of five organisations presented themselves to the Assembly, after which the Assembly unanimously decided to admit all of them into its membership. Presently, MODS has 101 member organisations.

Five new MODS members are:

• Psychosocial Innovation Network (PIN), Belgrade

• NGO Sovice, Belgrade

• Education Development Center “Planet”, Sombor

• Healthy Lifestyle Workshop, Belgrade

• Music Art Project, Belgrade

New governing acts adopted by the Assembly

The Assembly then voted on adopting new governing acts of MODS, which had been drafted at the proposal of the Steering Committee. After a brief discussion and with some amendments, the Assembly unanimously adopted.

1. Act on Detailed Requirements and Procedures for Admission to Membership, Exclusion from Membership and the Rights and Obligations of MODS Members;
2. MODS Guidelines for Child Protection.

Part of the Assembly Meeting dedicated to furthering the work of MODS

An important pillar of MODS action is to develop the capacity of organisations to improve the situation of children and strengthen mutual cooperation. Therefore, holding the Assembly Meeting was also recognised as an opportunity to open a discussion on possibilities for further improvement of the Network's work. The second day of the Assembly Meeting was dedicated to discussions on the ways to improve the MODS activities, so that participants had the opportunity to give their comments and suggestions within the working groups.

The Assembly discussed, among other things, the ways in which MODS could further enhance its capacities and increase the visibility of the work of organisations. There were also some new suggestions that MODS would seek to implement in its work. 

Preuzeto od Save the Children

Četvoro od deset dece izbeglica i migranata kojima je u prvoj polovini 2019. godine pružena pomoć u Beogradu, glavnoj tranzitnoj tački na zapadnobalkanskoj ruti, svedočilo je da su neregularno, bez odgovarajuće zakonske procedure, sama ili sa roditeljima, potisnuta sa granica zemalja u regionu. Svaki treći slučaj potiskivanja dece je, prema svedočenjima, uključivao i nasilne mere koje je primenjivala granična policija.

U periodu od januara do juna 2019. nevladina organizacija Praxis, partner organizacije Save the Children, srela je i obezbedila podršku za 1,842 dece izbeglica i migranata u Beogradu, među kojima su kako deca koja putuju sa porodicama tako i deca koja putuju sama [1]. Čak 40% maloletnika (731) izvestilo je kako su, tokom putovanja, bili potisnuti sa najmanje jedne granice u regionu. Kako su neka od dece svedočila o više potiskivanja, broj zabeleženih slučajeva (795 [2]) je nešto veći od broja dece koja su prijavila potiskivanje.

Svako treće dete (35%) reklo je kako je bilo žrtva nasilja ili je svedočilo nasilju koje je, tokom potiskivanja, koristila granična policija.

Deca bez pratnje i razdvojena deca, koja su činila skoro 90% broja dece korisnika usluga terenskih timova koji rade u Beogradu u prvoj polovini godine, prijavila su 83% slučajeva potiskivanja (664). Svi su bili dečaci. Većinu potiskivanja uz korišćenje nasilja takođe su prijavili dečaci koji putuju sami (91%). Kada su u pitanju deca koja putuju sa porodicama, svaki peti prijavljeni slučaj potiskivanja uključivao je nasilje, a 42% ovih slučajeva prijavile su devojčice.

Prema svedočenjima, policija i granični službenici ponižavajuće su se odnosili prema izbeglicama i migrantima, koristeći različite oblike verbalnog i fizičkog nasilja, preteći i ismevajući odrasle I decu, oduzimajući im lične i vredne predmete, uništavajući telephone i ignorišući zahteve za azilom. Maloletnici su svedočili da ih u mnogo slučajeva službenici nisu pitali za godine, tretirajući ih kao odrasle, iako je svako peto dete koje kaže da je bilo vraćeno sa neke od granica imalo 13 ili manje godina (18%), dok je u 12% slučajeva koji su uključivali decu ovog uzrasta bilo primenjeno nasilje.

Svedočenja prikupljena od dece

Tri maloletnika iz Avganistana ispričala su da ih je hrvatska policija pretukla i opljačkala pre nego što ih je vratila u Bosnu I Hercegovinu.

Petnaestogodišnji dečak iz Avganistana prijavio je da je proveo mesec dana u pritvoru u Hrvatskoj pre nego što je vraćen u Srbiju.

Dvanaestogodišnji dečak iz Pakistana rekao je kako ga je srpska policija pretukla pre nego što ga je vratila u Makedoniju.

Dve iranske porodice sa ženama i decom prijavile su da su ih brutalno pretukli rumunski granični službenici.

Porodica iz Iraka svedočila je da je rumunska policija tukla muškarce i naredila ženama iz njhove grupe da svuku odeću.

Sirijska porodica koja putuje sa osmomesečnom bebom napustila je Grčku i putovala preko Albanije, Crne Gore i Bosne i Hercegovine kako bi stigla u Hrvatsku. Prema navodima, hrvatska policija vratila ih je u Bosnu i Hercegovinu da bi ih zatim bosanska policija neregularno deportovala u Srbiju.

Kako dečaci iz Avganistana čine najveći deo maloletnika koji prolaze kroz Srbiju, najveći broj prijava o potiskivanjima takođe se odnosi na decu iz Avganistana (78%), a slede Pakistan (7%), Irak (5%), Iran (5%) i Sirija (2%).

Najveći broj prijavljenih potiskivanja dece sa granica desio se na hrvatskoj (222), severnomakedonskoj (124), bugarskoj (103) i mađarskoj granici (93). Najveća učestalost primene nasilja prijavljena je na bugarskoj granici, gde je 8 od 10 vraćanja navodno bilo nasilno. Sledi Grčka (61% prijavljenih potiskivanja navodno su uključivala nasilno postupanje), Rumunija (61%) i Severna Makedonija (59%).

Organizacije Save the Children i Praxis od 2016. godine podržavaju izbeglice i migrante u Srbiji, obezbeđujući informacije, pomoć pri registraciji, upućujući na druge usluge podrške, prikupljajući uz to podatke o dolascima i prateći trendove u mešovitim migracijama na zapadnobalkanskoj ruti. Na osnovu podataka koje prikupljaju terenski timovi ove organizacije izdaju redovne publikacije, istraživanja i izveštaje namenjene medijima ili u svrhu zagovaranja, tražeći bolju zaštitu i bolju podršku za decu migrante i izbeglice koji nastavljaju da putuju zapadnobalkanskom rutom.

Mapa puta koju su napravili tinejdžeri iz Avganistana u Centru za pomoć izbeglicama Miksalište u Beogradu.

[1] Svi podaci korišćeni u tekstu odnose se na svedočenja naših korisnika i korisnica.

[2] Sve reference u tekstu odnose se na celokupni broj prijavljenih potiskivanja osim ako nije drugačije naglašeno.

In July 2019, Praxis continued providing assistance to refugees/migrants, through information, psychosocial support, referrals to the targeted assistance provided by various organisations/institutions or covering the costs of transport to the asylum and reception centres.

A total of 1432 newly arrived refugees/migrants were informed about current situation in Serbia and the region, legal status and available legal options (seeking asylum in Serbia, assisted voluntary return to the country of origin, possibilities of family reunification abroad or resettlement to a third country when possible), accommodation in asylum centres (AC) or transit-reception centres in Serbia, means of transportation to the assigned centres, other rights and available services (medical care, psychosocial support, food, NFIs, various workshops for refugees/ migrants etc).

Download the whole Protection Monitoring Report for July 2019 here.