Press conference, organized in May 2008 in Media Center, Belgrade, officially marked the beginning of implementation of projects “Social Inclusion and Access to Human Rights for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities in the Western Balkans” and “Combating Social Exclusion: Universal Birth Registration in Serbia”, funded by the EU through UNHCR and UNICEF respectively. Non-governmental organization Praxis is the chief implementing partner of UNHCR and UNICEF in both projects.
The aim of the projects is to enable social inclusion of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Communities (RAE), as well as other marginalized groups, and, thus, enable them to access their basic civil rights. The focus is on the most vulnerable members of RAE population, especially children, women and the elderly.
According to official data, a total of 108,000 Roma live in the Republic of Serbia, even though some estimates suggest that that number is as high as 500,000. At the same time, there are 22,965 RAE officially registered as IDPs, even though it is assumed that that number is much higher, since many of them were unable to register their status upon leaving Kosovo due to lack of documents.
As an integral part of project activities, UNHCR, UNICEF and Praxis conduct information campaign with the aim to raise awareness, educate and inform members of RAE communities, as well as to point to the local and central authorities and domestic population to the need and importance of registration into birth registry book and possession of personal documents. The campaign is conducted in 20 selected municipalities in Serbia, and the teams composed of representatives of UNICEF, UNHCR, Praxis, the Secretariat for Roma National Strategy and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy visit these municipalities and have meetings with local Roma organizations, Roma coordinators, representatives of municipal authorities and local institutions.
In addition, Praxis provides free legal assistance, information and counselling to members of RAE population in the field in relation to obtaining documents and initiating procedures of re-registration and subsequent registration into registry books, which has been identified as a problem particularly affecting RAE population.
Out of the planned 20 municipalities, the Project has so far been implemented in Sabac, Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Vranje, Lebane, Vladicin Han, Krusevac, Prokuplje, Novi Sad, Zrenjanin, Pozarevac, Obrenovac and Subotica. By June 2009, Praxis legal mobile teams will also visit Roma settlements in Smederevo, Stara Pazova, Zvezdara, Kursumlija, Bujanovac, Aleksinac and Novi Beograd.
By mid-January 2009, Praxis legal mobile teams visited 56 Roma settlements in 13 municipalities. Praxis identified a total of 347 persons who are not registered into birth registry books, while 182 requests for subsequent registration have been submitted. A total of 1,538 requests for personal documents have also been submitted, out of which 1300 requests have been solved already.
Activities performed so far and the situation that we have come across in the field once again confirms that the problem of these persons needs to be solved systematically, and all the relevant stakeholders engaged in the matter immediately. Together with the UNHCR, OSCE Mission in Serbia, the Centre for Advanced Legal Studies and the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, Praxis has been putting efforts towards finding a systemic solution for the problems of “legally invisible” persons. For that purpose, upon initiative and with the support from Praxis, UNHCR and BPRM, the Centre for Advanced Legal Studies drafted a Model Law on the Procedure for Recognition of Persons before the Law, using Praxis experience in working on individual cases and encountered obstacles in accessing right to be recognized as a person before the law. The aim of the Model Law is to enable recognition of persons before the law in a simple and efficient procedure, which would not be burdened by numerous formal legal conditions, which the present legal framework does not provide.
As a support to the Model Law, Praxis published a collection of cases from practice entitled "Legally Invisible Persons in Seven Stories", which, through describing different life situations in actual cases, shows the extent of the problem and consequences of not being recognized before the law.
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Djeljana, Nadjija and Alija Case
No evidence, therefore, no existence
Djeljana is 16 years old and lives in Subotica with her 25-year-old sister Nadjija and 23-year-old brother Alija. They were all born out of wedlock, at home in Vucitrn, Kosovo, and are not registered into birth registry book. They fled from Kosovo with their parents in 1999, and have been living in Serbia ever since, without permanent address. The parents died in displacement, but the children do not know the exact date and place of their death. They only speak Romani language and they support themselves by collecting and selling raw material.
At the end of 2008, they addressed Praxis for legal assistance.
Unfortunately, Djeljana, Nadjija and Alija do not possess evidence needed for initiating procedures of subsequent registration into registry book before an administrative body. In addition, they cannot seek protection of their rights before court, by initiating a lawsuit for determining maternity and paternity, since their parents are deceased.
It is obvious that the existing regulations do not offer solutions for subsequent registration of the fact of birth for Djeljana, Nadjija and Alija. They can only wait until this issue is legally regulated.
Legally Invisible Persons in Seven Stories – Praxis publication, October 2008
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The present situation is not only unbearable for thousands of people who cannot exercise their basic rights due to lack of documents, but also for the country. In that respect, it is important to mention some of the recommendations of the international bodies. UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has requested from Serbia to enable every child born on its territory to register into birth registry books, especially the children of Roma nationality and children whose parents are IDPs (CRC/C/SRB/CO/1, 6 June 2008). Within Council of Europe, the attention has also been brought to the problem of “legally invisible” persons. In its first report about Serbia, which was adopted by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance on 14 December 2007, the Serbian state bodies are requested to enable the persons of Roma nationality to efficiently obtain personal documents.
By adopting the Model Law on the Procedure for Recognition of Persons before the Law, this legally unbearable situation in Serbia could be overcome. For that purpose, the priority in the current year will be to intensify the advocacy activities and lobbying for the adoption of the Law on the Procedure for Recognition of Persons before the Law.
This text was published in the magazine Pravi odgovor, No. 128, dated 27 January 2009 (page 24).
See the news on the Press Conference at the UNICEF web site .
Download (Serbian only): Pravi odgovor, no. 128
Download: Legally Invisible Persons in Seven Stories
