Towards the tenth conference of the International Society for Health and Human Rights entitled Mental Health, Mass People Displacement and Ethnic Minorities, which will be held in February next year, an introductory workshop on the topic "Health Implications of Transnational Human Migrations" was held in Novi Sad on 24 November. Praxis joined the workshop to participate in discussions on the experiences and insights gained through the work on urgent protection, accommodation and assistance to refugees and asylum seekers in Serbia.

In addition to exchanging the up-to-date information on the situation concerning accommodation, sanitary conditions of migrant accommodation and challenges related to the impact of mass transnational migrations on people's mental health, the workshop participants discussed recommendations for a potential improvement of the current situation in the region of Central and South-Eastern Europe. In the workshop, representatives of non-governmental and governmental sector, regional, provincial and national Public Health Institutes, as well as foreign experts, shared their knowledge and insights from their own practice, bringing them into connection with the existing and necessary measures of prevention and protection of mental and physical health of migrants and asylum seekers.

Although significantly reduced since the closure of the Balkan Route in March this year, the passage of refugees through Serbia has not been stopped. UNHCR estimates that there were about 6,400 of them in Serbia in November 2016, and according to some NGO estimates, this number is significantly higher. Although over 5,000 people are accommodated in different transit and reception centres and asylum centres, a large number of people still stay in the abandoned buildings, in the makeshift and unhygienic conditions, without access to health care and protection. This situation requires urgent action, systemic approach to the problem, intersectoral cooperation and coordinated, mutually supportive action of the state, civil sector and agencies active in this field of activity.

Ivana Stanković, Praxis Status and Socioeconomic Rights Programme Coordinator, participated in the show "Good Afternoon" and talked about legally invisible people and difficulties they faced in exercising their rights.  

You can see the show at this link.

Praxis published a statement on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. In that statement, Praxis pointed out to the problem of child, early and forced marriages, stressing that as a result of such harmful practice, women became victims of emotional, psychological and physical violence. It was also stated that 15 million girls under the age of 18 became victims of child marriages each year.

The statement was published in Blic daily at the following link.

“You have to suffer because of something. When you get children, your love moves on to them and you forget about beating…I hope I’ll be able to forget one day,” said A.A., a victim of forced marriage.

Today, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we would like to remind the public that the girls all around the world are still exposed to child, early and forced marriages. Every year, fifteen million girls under 18 become victims of child marriages.

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Roma girls in Serbia are “getting married” under the pretext that these marriages are a part of the tradition of the Roma community.  Child, early and forced marriages represent violation of the girls’ rights, they endanger their mental and physical health, expose them to a greater risk of domestic violence, lead to increased rates of school drop-out, and, later, to poverty and their economic dependence on a husband and the community. As such, they represent severe violation of women’s human rights.

Throughout 2016, Praxis has been conducting activities aimed at prevention and elimination of child, early and forced marriages. During the discussions about the causes and consequences of this harmful traditional practice, the Roma women shared their traumatic experiences with us:  

“My father sold me when I was 17. The story about violence is the story of my life. That’s it, what can I do.”

“Mistreatment occurs in marriage. Most women have experienced it, and each one of them keeps it to herself.”

“When you get married as a young girl, someone always mistreats you.”

Therefore, today, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we would like to draw attention to the fact that it is necessary to prevent further neglect and abuse of girls who become victims of the emotional, mental and physical violence due to this harmful traditional practice. 

The European Network on Statelessness is sending a petition today to members of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe to invite European leaders to change procedures to allow civil rights for children who do not have the citizenship of any state.

This was announced today by the Belgrade-based NGO Praxis, a member of that network. Praxis representative also said that the petition with 21,000 signatures was part of a wider campaign aimed at putting pressure on the European countries to reform their citizenship laws that prevented children from acquiring citizenship. Stateless children most often have limited access to health care, education and a range of other rights.

Read the news on the portal of news agency Beta.

Today the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) which represents over fifty civil society organisations from across Europe including Praxis will hand over a petition to members of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe calling on European leaders to work to end childhood statelessness.

The petition which received over 21,000 signatures highlights the need to protect thousands of children in Europe from the scourge of statelessness, and is a part of a wider campaign bringing together a broad spectrum of actors mounting pressure on European countries to reform their nationality laws which prevent children from acquiring a nationality. This campaign will see national level events in Italy, Poland, Slovenia, France, UK, Albania, Macedonia and Serbia among other countries.

Childhood statelessness remains an issue across Europe, and thousands of children are left without a nationality due to legal loopholes and states’ failure to properly apply relevant safeguards. Fewer than half of all European countries have fully incorporated necessary safeguards into domestic laws to fulfil their international obligation to protect the right of every child to acquire a nationality. 

Research carried out by ENS revealed that often children born to parents without a nationality are inheriting their statelessness. Abandoned and orphaned children where the parents’ nationality is not known can also be at risk, as can children who go through international adoption arrangements and those who have arrived in Europe as refugees. 

Stateless children often have limited access to healthcare, education and will experience a lifetime of restrictions when they progress towards adulthood. 

Chris Nash, director of the European Network on Statelessness emphasized:

“It is difficult to imagine what life is like for children growing up without nationality. For those affected this can mean missing out on healthcare, education and other opportunities, as well as result in unfulfilled potential and a sense of never quite belonging. It brings hardship and anguish to children and their parents alike.

Support for the #StatelessKids campaign across Europe, including over 21,000 petition signatures, shows a real appetite to end statelessness and the suffering that this causes to children and parents alike. The good news is that statelessness is a solvable issue so by working together, civil society actors and governments can put a stop to it once and for all.”

"I do not know how anyone thinks it is possible to have a country, a future, to make progress, if children do not attend school. Children are the future, yours and mine, and of the whole world. There is no future without school." A. K, a refugee from Syria said.

UNIVERSAL CHILDREN'S DAY. The day which is celebrated around the world. The day when we remind each other that children do have rights. The day when we examine what and how much we have done for the benefit of children, whether the rights of each child are respected and ensured without discrimination.

Today, 27 years after the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, we are still talking about legally invisible children, children without a name and date of birth, children without identity. "You exist, but as if you were not present in this world.”, legally invisible R. B. from an informal Roma settlement near Belgrade would say.

The violation of the rights of girls and boys to the development and timely education are still justified by the common law of the Roma community, and we tacitly allow that child, early and forced marriages are an everyday life for a significant number of Roma children, denying them thus an opportunity to enjoy their childhood and the freedom of choice. ”You are a child, and then you are a woman. You are never a girl!”, M. A., a young girl from an informal Roma settlement in central Serbia would say.  M. A. “got married” when she was 13, and became a mother for the first time when she was 14. Today, she dreams that her daughter has a childhood, finishes the university, becomes a successful woman who had a chance to choose her future.

Thousands of refugee children are still exposed to numerous risks and dangers every day. Hunger, cold, uncertainty and fear are the main companions on a daily route to a better future. Childhood, carefreeness, child's play, school and the family are only a part of their dream. Some have embarked on this journey completely alone. "I do not know what to do now, but I have no choice, I have to try to cross the border.", a sixteen-year-old unaccompanied minor, A. H. from Afghanistan said.

Children are children every day. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. They do not understand what legal invisibility means, they do not know what the common law is, nor why they have to flee from the war. Today, on Universal Children's Day, we want to remind that the rights of the child must be ensured and respected, regardless of the status of a child and circumstances in which it lives.