We have sent another call to the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and the Ministry of Health to change the disputed provisions, thus eliminating the obstacles to registration in birth registry books immediately after birth. This problem, which affects some of the poorest and most disadvantaged citizens of Serbia, can be solved rather easily and quickly with some good will from the competent authorities.

Every child must be registered in birth registry books immediately after birth. This right is guaranteed to children by the Constitution, the law and ratified international conventions.

However, children who cannot be registered at birth continue to be born in Serbia. It happens when their mothers do not have identity cards. In these cases, instead of registering children in birth registry books immediately after birth, it is necessary to conduct special procedures before social welfare centres, municipal administrative bodies or courts. These procedures can often be lengthy and complicated and last, at best, several months, often more than a year and sometimes even for years. In this way, the child's right to timely registration in birth registry books is grossly violated. UNICEF has taken the position that registration immediately after birth implies a period of several days, not months.

Until these procedures are successfully completed, the child will not be able to obtain a birth certificate, due to which many of his or her rights will be denied or difficult to access. For example, the child will not be able to obtain a health card, which means that the parents will have to cover the costs of medical examinations and medicines, and will not be able to receive parental or child allowance or exercise other social security rights.

This problem in Serbia almost exclusively affects members of the Roma national minority, who are among the most vulnerable, most discriminated and most marginalised citizens. Thus, their already difficult position is only worsened.

The cause of the problem, i.e. the reason why the children of undocumented mothers cannot be registered at birth, is found in the two by-laws that regulate the procedure of birth notification and registration in birth registry books. They stipulate that data on parents shall be entered in birth registry books on the basis of their identity cards and birth certificates.

Despite the fact that the regulations of higher legal force (the Constitution, the Law on Family, ratified international conventions) stipulate that every child, without exception and regardless of any circumstances - including whether their parents have personal documents or not - must be registered in birth registry books immediately after birth, in practice, registrars apply by-laws and do not register the children of undocumented mothers in birth registry books immediately after birth. Therefore, it is necessary to amend the disputed by-laws so as to enable the registration in birth registry books of each child immediately after birth.

Numerous international organisations and treaty bodies have stressed that this situation is unsustainable and that it constitutes a violation of the child’s basic rights. These include the European Commission, the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the UN Committee on Human Rights and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination, which in their recommendations to Serbia have pointed out that every child must be allowed to register at birth, and that it is necessary to amend the regulations that prevent it.

This activity has been implemented as part of the project “Ending Roma Statelessness in the Western Balkans”, financed by the Open Society Foundation through the European Network on Statelessness. The views expressed in this document are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the donor.

Download document: HERE

Civil society organizations demand from the competent authorities to remove the shortcomings contained in the draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination and the draft Law on Same-Sex Unions, in accordance with the recommendations of civil society and the issued opinion of the Protector of Citizens.

During and after the public debate on the amendments to the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination, the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue has, without providing any justification and contrary to the recommendations of civil society organizations, formulated provisions that deviate from the legal standards of the Council of Europe, and in particular the European Court of Human Rights and the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance. It has also deviated from European Union standards regarding the prohibition of discrimination in the field of labour and employment. Shortcomings have also been identified in the other provisions of the draft law, including those that are not in line with other systemic laws, such as the Law on General Administrative Procedure and the Law on Personal Data Protection.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted the draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination on April 22, 2021. This text is burdened with the same shortcomings as the draft Law. 

In the draft Law on Same-Sex Unions the Ministry included provisions that are not based on the recommendations of LGBT organizations regarding obstacles to the registration of same-sex unions, the relationship between a partner and a child of another partner and their mutual subsistence, as well as conditions for the recognition of an unregistered union. In addition, the draft law is burdened with numerous other flaws.

As the body responsible for the protection of human rights on the basis of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, the Protector of Citizens also informed the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue about the above-mentioned shortcomings in the opinion he issued.

Human rights organizations demand that the Ministry take into account the recommendations of the Protector of Citizens and civil society and remove the shortcomings of the draft Law on Same-Sex Unions. We expect the Government of Serbia to ensure that the above-mentioned shortcomings are removed before making any final decision on the text of the draft law. We appeal to the members of the National Assembly (MPs) to remove the identified shortcomings of the draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination through the submission of amendments. 

This request has been supported by: Center for Advanced Legal Studies (CUPS), Civil Rights Defenders, Praxis, Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS), Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina (IJAV), Heartefuct fund, Pride Society, Association of Students with Handicap, Geten, Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR), Humanitarian Law Center, Sandzak Committee for Protection of Human Rights, CHRIS Network of Human Rights Committees in Serbia, Labris, Child Rights Centre, Standing Conference of the Roma Associations of the Citizens (60 orgnisations), The Network of Organisations for Children of Serbia (103 organisations).

Praxis’ submission to the European Commission regarding Serbia 2021 Annual Report gives an overview, inputs and recommendations regarding Political Criteria and Rule of Law chapters, specifically state of civil society, pulic administration reform and rule of law and fundamental rights.

Space for civil society in Serbia is constantly shrinking. According to a research Praxis conducted in 5 local self-governments in Serbia in 2020, local civil society organizations are facing continuous weakening of their capacities, they are almost entirely dependent on funding from the local self-governments and are under constant pressure as they do not want to confront the authorities. There are more and more undemocratic practices which cause numerous irregularities in public calls for funding of civil society organizations. The space for civic participation is objectively small or practically does not exist.

As for public administration reform, respectively policy development and coordination and accountability of administration, Praxis findings show that the weaknesses of the system and insufficiently developed mechanisms for participation in the development of policies at the national level are even more pronounced at the level of local self-governments where there is almost no transparency and participation, except in exceptional cases. With reference to citizens’ free access to information of public importance, there is still no full implementation of the regulations relating to this right, while regarding openness towards the public, local self-governments are the most transparent in terms of information and data for which there is a clear legal obligation in terms of disclosure, which certainly does not mean that the local self-governments publish all legally prescribed information.

With regards to the Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights, Praxis’ focus was on the access to free legal aid and Roma inclusion. In addition to pointing to shortcomings of the Law itself, Praxis’ inputs show that an effective system of free legal aid, which will enable all socially vulnerable citizens to access justice through easily accessible and professional free legal aid has not been established yet. The experience of Praxis’ beneficiaries who tried to obtain legal aid in this way in the first year of application of the Law is extremely negative. Furthermore, there was no appropriate campaign at the beginning of the implementation of the Law, due to which most marginalised and socially vulnerable citizens still do not know that they have the right to free legal aid or where to seek assistance.

Regarding Roma inclusion, Praxis pointed out the shortcomings regarding access to personal documentation. The report identifies problems with timely birth registration, since, in cases when parents do not possess an ID card or a birth certificate, it is still not possible to register the new-born child with all the necessary data entered (including the child’s name) right upon birth. Furthermore, the inputs identify the latest challenges in the implementation of the procedure for determination of time and place of the birth, problems in acquisition of citizenship for otherwise stateless children born in Serbia, but also in residence registration.

When it comes to access of Roma to the right to social protection, Praxis inputs point to the challenges related to the Law on Financial Support to Families with Children and the Law on Social Protection. Regarding access to humanitarian aid during the state of emergency, Praxis pointed out that persons without documents, which are mostly members of Roma national minority, were denied systemic social support, because they are invisible to the system, while the consequences of the impact of the epidemic and the applied restrictive policy measures further worsened their situation.

A significant number of Roma children are still facing a series of obstacles in access to education. According to the research Praxis conducted, completion of primary education and transition into secondary education is recognized as the most critical point, since the drop out in this period is the most frequent. There are numerous reasons for this: stereotypes and discrimination inside the educational institutions that Roma students are facing, coverage of Roma children in pre-school activities is significantly lower than in majority population, lower coverage and lower level of completion of primary education, insufficient knowledge of a number of children of the language in which they are being educated, lower quality of knowledge acquired by Roma children and lower achievements, as well as segregation of Roma students. The already difficult position of Roma students was additionally aggravated since many Roma families lie in absolute poverty, without electricity, access to internet and without necessary devices needed for attending online schooling.

Discrimination against Roma is a problem addressed by institutions and public policies, but the persistence of discriminatory treatment and behaviour towards them indicates that it is necessary to strengthen existing resources and build new capacities through a comprehensive anti-discrimination policy. Employment, exercising the right to work, social protection and health care and education, spatial segregation and segregation in education, as well as hate speech, are forms of discrimination that, despite the established institutional protection, make exercising the rights of Roma more difficult.

Due to poor qualifications, marginalization and prejudices, the Roma face difficulties in finding employment. Access to work and sources of income is the key area in which the risks for Roma have increased during the restrictive measures and response of the State to the epidemic.

Finally, Praxis also specified the problem of child, early and forced marriages in Serbia that mostly affects the Roma population. Adequate addressing of child marriages by relevant government institutions is still missing, despite the domestic and international regulations that bind them, mainly because they still see child marriages just as a part of Roma culture and tradition, and not as a serious violation of the rights of children, particularly girls.

Praxis’ Contribution to the European Commission’s Serbia 2021 Annual Report can be found HERE

Within the project „Legal Assistance to Persons at Risk of Statelessness in Serbia, funded by UNHCR, Praxis prepared the report “Child, Early and Forced Marriages in Serbia – regulations, response and prevention”.

Child marriage represents a gross violation of child rights, especially the rights of girls, child neglect, deprivation of the right to childhood, education, proper and full development and freedom of choice, and it often includes child abuse. International and national regulations provide a satisfactory legal framework for the prevention and response to child, early and forced marriages, but the fact that as many as one third of Roma girls are currently in child marriage indicates a clear failure to implement numerous international conventions that Serbia has ratified, as well as domestic legislation.

The report, on the one hand, presents the results of the research on practical implementation of the Instruction on the manner of work of social welfare centres - guardianship authorities in the protection of children against child marriages which regulates the manner of work of social welfare centres in the protection of children from child, early and forced marriages in situations where there is a risk of entering such a marriage or where such a marriage exists. On the other hand, the report also provides an overview of Praxis activities and findings from 2020 relating to child, early and forced marriages, primarily prevention activities in the work with primary school children, as well as the views and attitudes of children about this issue.

Praxis research showed that less than half of the social welfare centres keep separate records on child marriages (43%). The centres detected only 313 cases of the risk of child marriage or child marriage in the previous two years, while current data from UNICEF (MICS 6 – Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey from 2019) indicates that 34.1% of Roma girls in the age group 15-19 are currently married or cohabiting. The centres immediately intervened in only 29% of these cases, i.e. assessed that in less than a third of cases there was a threat to the life, health and development of a child in need of protection, although the children were married or at risk of child marriage. The centres did not have an answer about the evaluation of undertaken measures and provided services for more than a third of the cases (36%) and they managed to return only 21% of the children to their primary families by applying the available measures and services.

Through workshops organized with children, it may be concluded that they are well aware of the existence of this harmful phenomenon in their community and that they make a distinction between voluntary and forced marriages. As regards forced marriages, a distinction was made between those involving the sale of a bride, arranged marriages and, finally, marriages as a type of punishment for children. In addition to the mentioned forced marriages, the children also gave examples of voluntary marriages, but these marriages also involved paying a certain amount for the child. In fact, the only type of marriage where there was no payment for the bride are those for which children do not have the support of their families and have to run away from home. The children were not aware that the child selling they talked about and the coercion of minors to marry were criminal offences. The children expressed complete distrust in institutions, because they were not aware of any situation where the mentioned bodies responded appropriately or prevented a child marriage.

In the communities where examples of child marriages were most common there were many responses such as: "Nobody can do anything to parents." "Whether she wants it or not, she MUST." "Nobody asks her anything." "She cannot try anything!

The report indicates that there is no necessary systemic response of all competent institutions and that it is urgent to intensify the activities aimed at preventing child, early and forced marriages through a networked and multidisciplinary approach of all actors that should be continuously trained, informed and held accountable.

The report may be found HERE

Evropska mreža za pitanja apatridije (ENS) objavila je ažuriran Indeks apatridije, koji sadrži nove informacije o situaciji u Srbiji. U Indeksu se ocenjuje da uprkos određenim naporima da se spreči i eliminiše pojava apatrdije, u zakonodavstvu i praksi u Srbiji i dalje postoje nedostaci.

Tako i dalje nije moguć upis u matičnu knjigu rođenih odmah nakon rođenja dece čiji roditelji ne poseduju dokumente, a odredbe zakona čija je svrha da spreče pojavu apatridije među decom rođenom u Srbiji ne primenjuju se na adekvatan način u praksi. Pored toga, u Srbiji i dalje ne postoji postupak za utvrđivanje statusa lica bez državljanstva, koji bi apatridima omogućio punu zaštitu koju im garantuje međunarodno pravo.

Ažurirani Indeks apatridije sadrži i dodatne informacije o lišavanju državljanstva u Srbiji, kao i nove statističke podatke.

Indeks apatridije je onlajn alatka koja procenjuje kako zemlje u Evropi štite lica bez državljanstva i šta rade na sprečavanju i smanjenju apatridije. Indeks je prva takva alatka koja pruža sveobuhvatnu komparativnu analizu i trenutno obuhvata 27 evropskih država, uključujući Srbiju. On omogućava korisnicima da lako uoče koje oblasti zakona, politika i prakse države mogu unaprediti.

Nacionalna koalicija za decentralizaciju (NKD), u saradnji sa ,,Ujedinjeni protiv kovida’’ organizuje onlajn Napokon Korisnu Debatu "Vakcinom za život" u sredu, 14. aprila od 19 sati putem Zoom aplikacije.

Svesni da je tema vakcinacije od neprikosnovene važnosti, kako u Srbiji, tako i na globalnom nivou, želimo da, kroz razgovor sa stručnjacima iz sveta medicine, razbijemo predrasude o imunizaciji, mitove o ,,čipovanju’’ kroz vakcinu, čujemo od stručnjaka zbog čega bez kolektivnog imuniteta nema povratka normalnom životu.

Ko sme, a ko ne sme da se vakciniše? Da li su vakcine (ne)dovoljno dugo ispitivane? Kada ćemo poljubiti roditelje, zagrliti bake, deke, unuke ili otići kod prijatelja na veselje? Ovo su neka od pitanja na koja će na onlajn tribini ,,Vakcinom za život’’ odgovarati:

• Doc. dr Emina Milošević, specijalista imunologije
• Dr Ivana Prokić, doktor nauka u oblasti epidemiologije
• Dr Bojan Dereta, specijalizant opšte medicine
• Dr Miloš Bojović, specijalizant fizikalne medicine i rehabilitacije

Moderatorka Antonela Riha

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