On 10 February 2015, a working meeting of the representatives of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy and CSOs was held. The meeting was organized as part of the process of drafting the new Law on Amendments to the Law on Social Protection by the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society of the Republic of Serbia. The goal of the meeting was to allow to the representatives of CSOs to contribute with their comments to the improvement of the legal framework in this area.
Praxis attended the meeting and gave proposals the adoption of which would contribute to easier exercise of the right to social protection. Thus, the following was requested:

• to delete the Article 84 of the Law on Social Protection, which envisages the obligation of the submitter of request for cash social assistance to file a lawsuit against a cousin who are obliged to support them in accordance with the Family Law,
• to explicitly envisage the obligation of social welfare centres to collect evidence ex officio.

The endeavor to ensure an easier access to rights is evident also in the proposals that came from representatives of many other CSOs. However, it remains to see to what extent the amendments of the Law on Social Protection will reflect the proposals presented at the working meeting. It was announced in the report from the meeting that following the first working Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Social Protection, the Ministry will explain why certain comments, fully or partially, are not integrated in the text of the Draft, and additional delivery or refining of comments will be later possible.

Praxis will continue monitoring the process of amendments to the Law on Social Protection and advocate for adoption of solutions that would facilitate the access to the right to social protection.

For more information, see the announcement: Praxis at Working Meeting on the Occasion of the Amendments to the Law on Social Protection