Non-governmental organization Praxis, Humanitarian Law Centre, Regional Centre for Minorities and Centre for Youth Integration appeal to state bodies and local self-governments to provide urgent assistance to inhabitants of informal settlements, in accordance with their capabilities and competences. Additionally, we are inviting the citizens and socially responsible companies to show their solidarity with inhabitants of these settlements in extremely unfavourable weather conditions and help them by donating firewood, food and warm clothing.

Our fellow citizens from informal settlements live below the poverty line. Many of them live without social protection and health care, without a permanent source of income, in houses made of material considered waste by most of citizens, and in conditions of complete social exclusion. At extremely low temperatures, the health and even life of the inhabitants of informal settlements, particularly of children and the elderly, is jeopardized due to poor insulation of the houses they live in, lack of firewood, food and impossibility to work during extremely difficult weather conditions. Of special concern is the forecast predicting a continuation of the cold wave in the forthcoming days, and also the fact that their situation is not improving and that a great number of children living in these settlements will not have the chance to get warm in schools, as they have been closed.

We urgently appeal to competent state bodies to enlarge capacities of shelters and reception centres and institutions of social protection in order to provide temporary shelter from cold to the most vulnerable inhabitants of the informal settlements. In considering possible solutions for the accommodation of the most vulnerable, we would like to bring attention to the fact that displacement of children in such cases is considered with utmost care and requires additional efforts so as to preserve the family unit. Also, we are calling on representatives of institutions of social protection to form mobile teams in their communities, which will visit the inhabitants of the most endangered informal settlements in order to adequately meet their existential needs in the shortest possible period.

Holding the Pride Parade is currently the most important issue that can be discussed in relation to the human rights situation in Serbia. Are the members of LGBT community third-rate citizens? Are they the only group of population whose right to assembly and expression of opinion is constantly denied, year after year? Are the state authorities free from the obligation to respect and protect their rights guaranteed by the Constitution of this country?

The Coalition against Discrimination and the Coalition for Access to Justice demand from the Government of the Republic of Serbian to publicly respond to these questions. For a number of years, the responsible representatives of state authorities have been repeatedly claiming that the holding of the Pride Parade is a matter of security and not of human rights.

This arbitrary and artificial political position, which opposes human rights to the right to personal safety, is intended to cover up from public view the correspondence between the political ideologies of those who resort to violence in society and are called hooligans and those who are entrusted to provide protection from violence in society in a limited period and are called the current representatives of the state government.

Neither of these want the Parade to be held because they have already developed their own political animosity towards it. Some threaten with violence, while others claim that the threat of violence is frightening for them and hence they are not able to suppress it.

This very harmonious emotional and political relationship between these two groups is repeatedly established every year, regardless of the efforts of the Parade organisers, demands of the international community, NGOs protests, statements and speeches of prominent individuals, the decision of the Constitutional Court of Serbia, regardless of the country’s legal system, ideas of equal justice and freedom, regardless of all.

The Coalition against Discrimination and the Coalition for Access to Justice demand from the Government of the Republic of Serbia to make a bold decision this year and get out of the vicious circle of violence that gives rise to futile policy. Resist the violence, stand for the rights and freedoms as the basic values of society, bare your teeth to political extremists, you know that you can do it when you want to do it! Otherwise, you will retain the position of an accomplice in the violation of human rights.

Signing organisations:

Coalition against Discrimination
Coalition for Access to Justice

The Coalition against Discrimination include: Center for Advanced Legal Studies, Civil Rights Defenders, CHRIS – Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia, Gayten LGBT, Labris - Lesbian Human Rights Organisation, Praxis, Regional Center for Minorities, Association of Students with Disabilities.

The Coalition for Access to Justice includes: Center for Advanced Legal Studies, Civil Rights Defenders, CHRIS – Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia, Humanitarian Law Center, Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina, Praxis, Sandzak Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms.

The problem of "legally invisible persons" has existed for years and prevented thousands of people to realise their basic human rights. Therefore, the Ombudsman believes that the National Assembly should adopt, without delay, the amendments to the part of the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure related to drawing up a document on the fact of birth.

The Ombudsman that submitted an Initiative for Amending the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure to the Government of the Republic of Serbia, will also propose the amendments to modify the submitted proposal because of the changes that occurred in the meantime. More precisely, the Protector of Citizens expects that the National Assembly will adopt the amendments in accordance with the proposal sent to the Government, by which the Ombudsman suggests that the human rights organisations should be allowed to initiate a procedure for drawing up a document on the fact of birth. This change is very important since the non-governmental organisations that deal with the protection of human rights, by working on the issues related to “legally invisible persons” and persons who do not possess personal documents, have acquired expertise and developed necessary resources for active participation in solving the problems of these persons.

The statement has been retrieved from the website of the Ombudsman.

Non-governmental organizations Association Vasa Prava BiH (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Praxis (Serbia), Civil Rights Programme (Kosovo), Legal Centre (Montenegro), Macedonian Young Lawyers Association (Macedonia), and Information Legal Centre (Croatia) signed the MoU on March 13, 2012 in Sarajevo and thus formed the Western Balkans Legal Aid Network – WeBLAN.

WeBLAN will operate as an independent network of civil society organizations devoted to protection, promotion and improvement of human rights and social inclusion, prevention and reduction of statelessness in the Western Balkans and combating discrimination.

The cooperation of these organizations dates back to 2008 when as UNHCR implementing partners they commenced the implementation of the regional project aimed at the promotion of social inclusion of marginalized communities in the territory of the Western Balkans.

More information about WeBLAN goals and activities can be found here.

The decision of the Court of Appeals in Novi Sad confirmed the judgement of the Basic Court in Novi Sad, which established the discriminatory behaviour of the defendant – the City of Novi Sad, City Administration for General Affairs towards the persons of Roma nationality in procedures for subsequent birth registration.

The City Administration for General Affairs of the City of Novi Sad dismissed the requests for subsequent birth registration of three legally invisible Roma persons referring to the “current situation in Novi Sad, with ever greater influx of persons of Roma nationality claiming that they and their children were born in Novi Sad” and expressing a fear that “hasty, irresponsible and reckless” acting upon their requests “would cause numberless requests of a similar kind by persons of Roma nationality”. Therefore, Praxis filed a lawsuit against the City of Novi Sad in October 2010 requesting the establishment of discriminatory behaviour towards the persons of Roma nationality.

The judgement of the Basic Court in Novi Sad as of September 2011 established that the  “defendant was governed by personal features of the submitter of the request and made the unjustified difference between these and other submitters regarding their national affiliation, (…) and placed them in an unfavourable position in comparison to other submitters of requests who are not of Roma nationality, which is an act of direct discrimination”.

By deciding upon the appeal, the Courts of Appeals in Novi Sad dismissed the appeal of the defendant from December 2011 as ungrounded on January 18, 2012 and confirmed the first instance judgement which established a more severe form of discriminatory behaviour of the City of Novi Sad. The defendant is obliged to publish the complete judgment in daily newspaper Politika within 15 days.

The persons of Roma ethnicity without registered permanent or temporary residence are again denied access to health insurance. Some branches of the National Health Insurance Fund again request from persons of Roma ethnicity to enclose a proof of residence registration when applying for health insurance, and those who have not registered residence are prevented from acquiring the status of insured person. Those Roma who previously succeeded in obtaining health cards without residence registration are now not allowed to certify them.

Previously, the Rulebook on the Way and Procedure of Exercising the Rights from Compulsory Health Insurance stipulated the obligation of enclosing a proof of residence registration. However, after Praxis initiated a procedure for the assessment of legality of the Rulebook before the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Serbia, in July 2010, the Rulebook was amended and the obligation of enclosing a proof of residence registration was abolished for the persons of Roma ethnicity without permanent or temporary residence. The Rulebook was aligned with the Law, and many Roma were enabled to obtain health cards for the first time. Until the last month, these people were obtaining their health cards on the basis of Article 22 of the Law on Health Insurance that allowed Roma to acquire the status of insured person, regardless of whether they had a registered temporary residence, and on the basis of amended Article 7, point 11 of the Rulebook, which stipulates that instead of evidence on temporary residence, these persons may give a personal statement on their address.

When denying the right to health insurance to one of the most vulnerable groups in Serbia, the branches of the National Health Insurance Fund refer to the Regulation on the Content, Form and Manner of Submitting a Single Application for Compulsory Social Insurance, which stipulates that persons of Roma ethnicity should also submit a proof of residence registration. Such acting of HIF branches is not only contrary to the Law on Health Insurance, but also constitutes a violation of constitutional guarantees under which the achieved level of human and minority rights cannot be lowered.

Since the Roma who were not able to register their place of temporary residence were denied the right to health insurance in an unlawful manner, on 27 April 2012, Praxis submitted to the Constitutional Court an initiative for assessing the legality of Regulation, requesting from the court to issue a decision establishing that the disputed provision of Regulation was contrary to the Law on Health Insurance.
 
Related news:
 
Initiative for Legislative Review of Art. 7, Par. 11 of Rules of Procedure from Health Insurance
 
A Step Forward in Roma National Minority Exercising Right to Health Care
 

 “There has been no information whatsoever on what will happen to us, to the families from the south, to children, the sick and immobile (a Belvil resident)”.

The human rights organisations inform the public that tomorrow, 26 April 2012 at 6 a.m., the City of Belgrade will begin a forced eviction of the Roma families living in the informal settlement Belvil. This forced eviction is the seventeenth in a series, in the period slightly longer than two years, which is conducted in contravention of international human rights standards binding on the Republic of Serbia.

Let us be reminded that this forced eviction was accompanied by the following problems and a failure to comply with the aforementioned standards:

Absence of an action plan for carrying out eviction and non-transparent acting of the City of Belgrade
The City of Belgrade did not create an action plan for relocating the Belvil settlement and the settlement residents were not provided with clear information about the locations to which they were relocated, the living conditions in alternative accommodation or exercising other rights. In addition, the City Administration prohibited non-governmental organisations from attending a public meeting with the settlement residents and unlawfully delayed the provision of information on the eviction procedure.

Absence of adequate consultation with the settlement residents
Although several informational meetings with the settlement residents were organised, they cannot be considered an adequate consultation. The families living in the settlement did not have an opportunity to propose alternatives or to talk to the representative of the City of Belgrade in order to obtain precise information on the location to which they were relocated, the offered alternative accommodation or other rights they were entitled to.

Prison standards are more adequate than the standards of accommodation that the City offered to the residents of Belvil
According to the regulations of the Republic of Serbia, even prison accommodation is more appropriate than the one offered to the Belvil residents. According to the Law on Execution of Criminal Sanctions every prisoner should have 4 square meters of space, while the six-member families from Belvil are placed in the metal containers measuring 15 square meters.

Inadequate locations of alternative accommodation
Most of the locations to which the Belvil residents are relocated are rather far away from the places where they work, exercise their rights to social protection and health care or where their children go to school. In addition, these settlements are spatially segregated and located in the areas that are far-off from the rest of the community in which they live, and they are intended exclusively for Roma housing.

Absence of the right to adequate legal remedy
The settlement residents did not have an adequate legal remedy in the eviction procedure. More specifically, the appeals against decisions on demolishing housing structures do not suspend the execution of these decisions and do not provide any assurance that the family will receive any protection, at least from the second-instance body, prior to the demolition of their buildings.

Failure of the City authorities to understand the inclusion of Roma
The only model of inclusion that the City of Belgrade offers to the Roma population is accommodation in segregated container settlements. The City Administration does not take any steps towards improving the living conditions in informal settlements, nor does it implement any measures to enable the residents of these settlements to exercise their basic human rights. The Roma from the container settlements are also threatened with eviction from this accommodation if their children do not attend school regularly, or if they fail to “adopt the rules of good conduct towards the representatives of the institutions of the City of Belgrade”.

Failure of the Republic of Serbia’s authorities to undertake preparatory activities for carrying out the relocation of Belvil settlement
The authorities of the Republic of Serbia have not been involved in the activities conducted by the City of Belgrade concerning the eviction from the Belvil settlement. Given that the City of Belgrade has carried out sixteen forced evictions from informal settlements and thus violated international human rights standards, the Government of the Republic of Serbia was obliged to prevent such conduct. It was also obliged to promptly develop an adequate legal framework to regulate the manner of conducting the evictions of informal settlements.

The Republic of Serbia has no plans or regulations to address the problem of informal settlements, and all evictions are carried out randomly, without the respect for human rights of the residents of informal settlements and the criteria for providing adequate housing to the informal settlement residents that are the poorest and most vulnerable social group in Serbia.

We strongly condemn the serious violations of human rights of the residents of informal settlements by the City of Belgrade and urge the authorities to immediately cease such actions which are carried out with disregard for human dignity and in contradiction to the documents and recommendations of international organisations - primarily the United Nations and the European Union.


The organisations that signed the statement:

Praxis
Regional Centre for Minorities
Minority Rights Centre
Centre for Advanced Legal Studies
Women in Black
Youth Initiative for Human Rights
Humanitarian Law Centre
Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights - YUCOM 

Non-governmental organization Praxis has signed the Agreement on Cooperation with Associations of Citizens within the Network of CSOs for Children in Serbia, becoming thus its member.

Network of CSOs for Children in Serbia is advocating for the full enjoyment of rights guaranteed by the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Serbia, and for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, and declaration “A World Fit for Children” and the National Action Plan for Children of the Republic of Serbia.

The mission of the Network of CSOs for Children in Serbia is the full enjoyment of rights, improvement of the position and quality of life of children in Serbia.

The goal of the Agreement on Cooperation with Associations of Citizens within the Network of CSOs for Children in Serbia is to:

• establish a representative network of civil society organizations;
• improve the cooperation of civil society organizations in the area of respect and exercise of children’s rights;
• contribute to strengthening of the capacity of civil society organizations aimed at improving the position of children.
 
The members of the Network of CSOs for Children believe that care about children is extremely significant for every society that thinks about its future and that investment in children is the safest investment in development.
 
More about the Network of CSOs for Children can be found here.

A large number of national and international organisations, and the bodies monitoring the implementation of international treaties ratified by Serbia, have been drawing attention in recent years to the need to stop forced evictions from informal settlements. In March 2011, after consideration of the Republic of Serbia’s periodic report and other submitted reports, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recommended to the Republic of Serbia to take steps to ensure that any dislocation of informal settlements did not involve further forced evictions, and to put in place procedural protections that would allow respect for human dignity of the residents of informal settlements. In addition, in October 2011, the European Commission in its Analytical Report on the Serbia's EU accession stated that: “There is still no systematic approach to the relocation of illegal Roma settlements, which is often conducted inappropriately, resulting in serious violations and breaches of basic human rights."

According to the latest information from the 2011 Census, there are about 780 settlements throughout Serbia, over one seventh of which are located in Belgrade. Since 2009, there have been 16 major evictions from informal settlements in Belgrade affecting nearly 1,500 persons. The conducted forced evictions were accompanied by numerous violations of human rights of the residents of informal settlements: property rights, the right to free choice of residence and the right to adequate housing guaranteed by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

As part of its activities aimed at resolving this pressing problem, in May 2012 Praxis published a report on the eviction from the informal settlement in Block 72 in New Belgrade.

Download the report: Eviction from the Informal Settlement in Block 72, New Belgrade

The human rights organisations strongly condemn the racist protests that erupted in Resnik on 7 April 2012 after the announced relocation of Roma from the informal settlement Belvil. At the same time, we use the opportunity to point out to the seriousness of this problem, and to send a message to those who are responsible for its deepening that they must assume responsibility for populist statements that encourage racist violence. Racism is encouraged, to a great extent, by the populist statements of politicians who collect cheap political points by inciting an anti-Roma sentiment.

In this sense, although the Mayor of Belgrade publicly condemned the attacks against the police that provided security during the installation of containers, the last two months he has been constantly and publicly stigmatising the persons of Roma ethnicity in the context of their right to adequate housing and protection against forced evictions. We are hereby reminding that in his response to the Mayor of Laarne, a Belgian city, Dragan Djilas sarcastically and arrogantly offered to deport the Belgrade Roma, residents of informal settlements, for whose rights the aforementioned Mayor advocated. Thus, Dragan Djilas sent a clear message that Roma were not welcome or considered to be the equal citizens of Belgrade and Serbia. Repressive measures and calling on the application of laws cannot produce the expected results if at the same time the politicians send mixed signals through demagogic rhetoric aimed at attracting voters.The human rights organisations strongly condemn the racist protests that erupted in Resnik on 7 April 2012 after the announced relocation of Roma from the informal settlement Belvil.
 
At the same time, we use the opportunity to point out to the seriousness of this problem, and to send a message to those who are responsible for its deepening that they must assume responsibility for populist statements that encourage racist violence. Racism is encouraged, to a great extent, by the populist statements of politicians who collect cheap political points by inciting an anti-Roma sentiment.

In this sense, although the Mayor of Belgrade publicly condemned the attacks against the police that provided security during the installation of containers, the last two months he has been constantly and publicly stigmatising the persons of Roma ethnicity in the context of their right to adequate housing and protection against forced evictions. We are hereby reminding that in his response to the Mayor of Laarne, a Belgian city, Dragan Djilas sarcastically and arrogantly offered to deport the Belgrade Roma, residents of informal settlements, for whose rights the aforementioned Mayor advocated. Thus, Dragan Djilas sent a clear message that Roma were not welcome or considered to be the equal citizens of Belgrade and Serbia. Repressive measures and calling on the application of laws cannot produce the expected results if at the same time the politicians send mixed signals through demagogic rhetoric aimed at attracting voters.

At the same time, we emphasise that racist attacks are rarely prosecuted, and that hatred is rarely taken into account as a perpetrator’s motive, while the pronounced sentences are either probationary or below the legal minimum. This statement is supported by an extremely alarming fact that the six perpetrators of multi-day racist violence in the village Jabuka in 2010 were sentenced to probation.

On this occasion, we repeat that the containers are not an adequate solution, not only because they cannot provide the basic material conditions for a dignified human life, but also because the segregated container settlements neither contribute to the substantial integration of Roma nor promote interculturalism and coexistence of different ethnic groups.

We demand that the perpetrators of this violence be prosecuted and that the government officials unambiguously condemn this behaviour. At the same time, we request from those who have been spreading racist messages for months to take responsibility for the consequences of their statements.

The members of Anti-Discrimination Coalition are: Centre for Advanced Legal Studies, Civil Rights Defenders, Labris – Lesbian Human Rights Organisation, Anti-Trafficking Centre, Network of the Committees of Human Rights in Serbia (CHRIS Network), Association of Students with Disabilities, Gayten LGBT, PRAXIS and Regional Centre for Minorities.

The statement is also supported by:

Youth Initiative for Human Rights - YIHR
Humanitarian Law Centre - FHP
Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights – YUCOM
Women in Black – WiB
Roma Women's Rights Center – Nis
Minority Rights Centre