Through publications issued in 2008 (Legally Invisible Persons in Seven Stories - why should the Law on the Procedure for Recognition of Persons before the law be adopted) and 2009 (Legally Invisible Persons in Serbia - the State Must Take over the Responsibility), Praxis strived to point to the difficult position of persons who legally do not exist and to make visible the problems of those who are themselves invisible before the law. At the same time, Praxis pointed to the obligation of the State to take over the responsibility for solving the problems of persons who are not registered in birth registry book – “legally invisible” persons – and to regulate with precision the procedure of subsequent registration in birth registry book while bearing in mind the specific characteristics of the Roma community whose members face difficulties when registering in birth registry book.

Numerous UN agencies, primarily UNHCR and UNICEF, as well as the European Commission, OSCE and the bodies monitoring the implementation of international treaties ratified by Serbia have also been pointing to the necessity of resolving the status of “legally invisible” persons. In this respect, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the UN Human Rights Committee have recently expressed their concern about the problems of the “legally invisible” and, at the same time, made recommendations to undertake necessary measures, including amendments of relevant regulations, with the aim of finding solutions for the problems of these persons.

Some progress has been made by recognizing the existence of the problem and the necessity of its resolution, which has been stressed in the Strategy for Improvement of the Status of Roma in the Republic of Serbia and the Action Plan for implementation of the Strategy. However, real changes and the more precise regulation of the procedure of subsequent registration have failed to take place.

The report “Legally Invisible Persons in Serbia - Still without a Solution” represents Praxis’ latest efforts to once again point to the problem of “legally invisible” persons through actual cases from practice.
 
The report was prepared by within the projects “Contributions to Social Inclusion and Combat against Discrimination of Marginalized Population in Serbia”, funded by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and “Social Inclusion: Regional Support to Marginalised Communities” funded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Serbia. The report is a result of Praxis’ many years of experience in working in this field and its efforts aimed at overcoming problems of persons who are not recognized before the law.

The views presented in this report are exclusively those of the author and do not necessarily represent official standpoints of the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the UNHCR Representation in Serbia.

Download: Legally Invisible Persons in Serbia - Still without a Solution