On the occasion of the 53rd Session of the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which will review the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in the Republic of Serbia, Praxis submitted a Parallel Report in cooperation with the European Roma Rights Centre. In order to give a clearer picture about the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Parallel Report contains information about the problems in the fields regulated by the Convention, primarily problems faced by women from particularly vulnerable groups – refugee, internally displaced and Roma women.

The Report gives information on implementation of the Convention in the fields of prevention of sexual and gender based violence, information on mechanisms for achievement of gender equality, access to right to personal documents, education, employment and health protection. The report further provides information relating to forced evictions from informal Roma settlements, as well as impeded access to justice.

At the end of the report, Praxis and the ERRC have suggested to the CEDAW recommendations the adoption of which would enable improvement of implementation of the Convention.

Review of the implementation of the Convention in Serbia was scheduled for October 2012, but, according to unofficial information, it will be postponed for mid-2013.

Download: Parallel Report to the Committee on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
 

Representing the women who were exposed to violence, Praxis noticed considerably unequal practice of health institutions related to documenting and issuing medical certificates on violence-inflicted injuries.

When women who were exposed to violence address health institutions for assistance on their own, not accompanied by an officer of the Ministry of Interior, they often have to pay a fee for issuance of the certificate on inflicted injuries amounting to 1,900.00 RSD. Furthermore, these certificates are not issued on a form that is unified for all health institutions and do not even contain basic data about suffered injuries – time, place and the manner of infliction of injuries. They often contain only a superficial description of inflicted injuries. The Ministry of Health brought a Special Protocol for Protection and Treatment of Women Exposed to Violence and prescribed the manner in which the health institutions should proceed in such cases and document violence.

Medical certificates on inflicted injuries are also issued by forensic medicine clinics, and contain a detailed description of injuries and case history. If the woman who suffered violence addresses a forensic medicine clinic on her own, the fee for issuance of the medical certificate amounts to 6,300.00 RSD.

Certificates with detailed description of suffered injuries represent a valuable piece of evidence in court procedures for protection of women against violence. If the Protocol were applied consistently, then certificates issued by regular health institutions could also be as significant a piece of evidence as the certificates from forensic medicine clinics that are much more expensive. For this reason, Praxis addressed the Ministry of Health with a request for an opinion about the implementation of the Special Protocol for Protection and Treatment of Women Exposed to Violence.

Representing the women who were exposed to violence, Praxis noticed considerably unequal practice of health institutions related to documenting and issuing medical certificates on violence-inflicted injuries.

When women who were exposed to violence address health institutions for assistance on their own, not accompanied by an officer of the Ministry of Interior, they often have to pay a fee for issuance of the certificate on inflicted injuries amounting to 1,900.00 RSD. Furthermore, these certificates are not issued on a form that is unified for all health institutions and do not even contain basic data about suffered injuries – time, place and the manner of infliction of injuries. They often contain only a superficial description of inflicted injuries. The Ministry of Health brought a Special Protocol for Protection and Treatment of Women Exposed to Violence and prescribed the manner in which the health institutions should proceed in such cases and document violence.

Medical certificates on inflicted injuries are also issued by forensic medicine clinics, and contain a detailed description of injuries and case history. If the woman who suffered violence addresses a forensic medicine clinic on her own, the fee for issuance of the medical certificate amounts to 6,300.00 RSD.

Certificates with detailed description of suffered injuries represent a valuable piece of evidence in court procedures for protection of women against violence. If the Protocol were applied consistently, then certificates issued by regular health institutions could also be as significant a piece of evidence as the certificates from forensic medicine clinics that are much more expensive. For this reason, Praxis addressed the Ministry of Health with a request for an opinion about the implementation of the Special Protocol for Protection and Treatment of Women Exposed to Violence.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women has been marked today, thus marking the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism Campaign that will last until the 10 December - the Human Rights Day.

According to UN WOMEN data, violence against women is the most widespread form of human rights violations. It is estimated that seven out of ten women have been exposed to physical abuse at some point of their life.

Serbia does not possess comprehensive records on violence against women. The data of the Women against Violence Network, obtained by following articles published in the media, show that a total of 28 women were killed in Serbia in the period 1 January – 20 October 2012. All murdered women knew the perpetrators, while in some cases the violence had been reported to the competent institutions prior to the murders.

Violence against women affects all women regardless of their social and economic status, but the women from marginalized groups – Roma, refugee, internally displaced women – are exposed to greater risk. Specific characteristics of this category of population lie in the fact that those are persons who had already gone through a difficult experience of being forced to flee their homes or they are facing severe social exclusion and marginalization. Some of them live in collective centres in utterly unfavourable living conditions, some in unrecognized collective centres, while most members of Roma minority live in informal settlements. They find themselves in extremely difficult economic and social position, while the economic vulnerability sometimes affects their decision to leave the perpetrators. Their vulnerability is also reflected in the fact that they come from post-conflict areas, because the threat from perpetrators is much more traumatic if they possess weapon. We believe that it is necessary that the Republic of Serbia works more actively on combating violence against women, and that it is essential that it ratify Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.

You can find more about the problems in the system of protection against violence faced by this category of women in Praxis’ Report “The Weaknesses of the System of Protection against Domestic Violence.”

After leaving the reception centre Hostel “Mimi” in Leskovac, a family that had earlier been evicted from the Belgrade informal settlement “Belvil” found accommodation in the abandoned building of a Working Association “Rasadnik” in Donje Stopanje, on the territory of Leskovac. They have been living in a constant fear for their safety ever since. They have been exposed to attacks from unknown persons who have been trying to force them out of the facility they live in temporarily by throwing stones and insulting them every night. The attack was reported to the Police who conducted an investigation, but no action has been taken.

It is impossible that no one can guarantee safety to this family with five underage children. The attackers and the motive can hardly remain unknown because Donje Stopanje has approximately 1,000 inhabitants and the attacks occur every night, as the family state.

With regard to this case, Praxis contacted the President of the Migrations and Permanent Solutions Council within the City Administration of Leskovac, who was in charge of accommodation and assistance to the families evicted from “Belvil”, and acquainted him with the critical situation and fears the family face every night. Upon Praxis insisting that the family be provided minimum safety conditions and that their physical and psychological integrity be protected, the President informed us that he would acquaint the Head of the Police Department in Leskovac so that at least one Police patrol would always be present during night in the place where this family currently lives. He also said that the Police patrol would be on duty over weekends as well, which suggests that the housing solution for the family is still uncertain.

None of the families evicted from “Belvil” that left the reception centre on 1 August 2012 have been taken care of yet, but they have to get along themselves.

Legal literature usually defines human rights as a set of rights and freedoms that belong to all people. This definition is often accompanied by the words that refer to the inalienability of human rights and their natural origin. Hence, it is said that every human being is born free, with all the rights and freedoms that belong to other people. All people are endowed with the same corpus of human rights, regardless of the country they live in. Human rights do not depend on the will of the state or other authorities. Human beings do not get their rights and freedoms from a merciful government, nor are these rights and freedoms taken away by a capricious government. The individual remains the owner of all his/her rights, even if they are not recorded in the Constitution or other legal document.

Download: HUMAN RIGHTS - Legal and Systemic Framework

Praxis and School for Primary Education of Adults Branko Pesic“ from Belgrade have signed the Agreement on mutual cooperation.

By this Agreement, Praxis commits itself to providing free legal assistance in obtaining personal documents necessary for the enrollment in the school for attendees of the project “SECOND CHANCE”– Development of the system of functional primary education of adults above 15 years of age in Serbia, which will be implemented by this school in the period from 2011-2012.

The goal of this agreement is also to provide free legal assistance in obtaining personal documents necessary for the enrollment in the school for attendees of classes organized according to the shortened curriculum of the regular primary schools for children up to 14 years of age.

Praxis organised a round table in Belgrade entitled Access to Rights and Integration of Returnees into Society, whose aim was to bring together relevant actors at a local and national level dealing with the integration of returnees upon readmission agreements and to be a forum for discussion, exchange of information and experiences. The roundtable discussion identified further guidelines for facilitating access to basic rights for the returnee population, thus contributing to their integration and inclusion into society. 

Praxis marked the completion of the Civil Rights Project in the Media Center in Belgrade. On that occasion, a round table was organised under the title End of Civil Rights Project - what has been done for seven years and where we are today.

Praxis took over the Civil Rights Project in 2004 from the Norwegian Refugee Council, which had implemented that project in Serbia from 1997. With the financial assistance from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Praxis continued to advocate for the rights of target groups - refugees and internally displaced persons. During seven years, Praxis provided free legal assistance, information and counselling to the refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the internally displaced persons from Kosovo, in relation to the issues of accessing rights in the country (place) of origin or exile/displacement, focusing mainly on access to documents, property and other socio-economic rights.

The aim of the roundtable was to summarise and present the achieved project results and to jointly define the outstanding issues and obstacles in these areas impeding the target groups from reaching a durable solution.

Praxis was honoured by the presence and speech of Mr. Nils Ragnar Kamsvåg, the Norwegian Ambassador to the Republic of Serbia.

Within the project European Good Practices – Advocacy Tool in Serbia, in partnership with the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Foundation, the Regional Minority Centre and Dokukino, Praxis organised a two-day expert debate on 29-30 September 2011 in Belgrade addressing the recognition of the right to be recognised as persons before the law and the exercise of the right to adequate housing in Serbia. The goal of the debate was to contribute to the finding of systemic solutions which would allow the unimpeded enjoyment of these rights, on the basis of European practice. The invited European experts presented the examples of good practice and participated in discussion with the colleagues from Serbia on how to solve the problem of legally invisible persons and increasingly frequent forced evictions in Serbia.

The debate panellists were: Laura van Waas (Senior Researcher and Manager of the Statelessness Programme, Tilburg Law School in the Netherlands), Adrian Berry (barrister/advocate at Garden Court Chambers, London), Adam Weiss (Assistant Director of the AIRE Centre, London), Giulia Perin (attorney-at-law, Association for Legal Studies on Immigration, Italy), Claude Cahn (Human Rights Adviser, Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the Republic of Moldova), Idaver Memedov (lawyer, European Roma Rights Centre, Budapest) and Meghna Abraham (Head of Economic, Social and Cultural Team, the International Secretariat of Amnesty International, London). The two-day debate gathered some 80 participants, including the representatives of state bodies, non-governmental and international organisations.