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Acting upon Praxis’ complaint, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality established that the President of the Municipality of Kanjiza expressed a series of discriminatory views at the press conference held on 12 August 2015, which insulted the dignity of refugees and migrants. A day later, the statement was published on the website of the Municipality of Kanjiza under the name Standpoint of the Local Self-Government towards Migrants.

President of the Municipality of Kanjiza stated, among others, that “these foreigners do not possess the basic elements of common intelligence and culture…”, appealing to citizens to be ready when they are called to express their dissatisfaction. Praxis filed a complaint to the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, stating that this statement causes humiliating and insulting environment for refugees and contributes to spreading of prejudice, bigotry and intolerance. Praxis also noted that this statement has special significance since it is given by the public authority.

The Commissioner for Protection of Equality recommended to the President of the Municipality of Kanjiza to issue a public apology, not to give or publish statements which insult dignity and support prejudices against refugees and to contribute by his acting to reduction of xenophobia, racism and discrimination and increase of tolerance towards refugees. Acting upon the recommendation of the Commissioner, the President of the Municipality of Kanjiza published the apology on the website of the Municipality of Kanjiza, which reflects the efficiency of this anti-discrimination protection mechanism.

The Commissioner’s opinion is important because it reminds the public authorities that they need to be aware of the responsibility for publicly spoken word, as well as of the obligation not to incite bigotry and intolerance in society. 

Kristina Vujic, Praxis legal analyst, presented the "Research on Access to Socio-economic Rights for Roma Women in Serbia", which has been prepared as part of the project entitled Legal Aid and Advocacy – Access to Rights  and  Combating  Discrimination  against  the  Roma, supported by Civil  Rights  Defenders and    Swedish  International Development  Cooperation  Agency.

Watch the video at TV Kopernikus.

On 19 November 2015 in Media Centre in Belgrade, the final conference was held within the project “Empowering Civil Society to Improve the Implementation of Anti-discrimination Laws in Serbia”, implemented by Praxis and Equal Rights Trust (ERT) from London with the support of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, funded by the European Union. On that occasion, the participants pointed at the rights of LGBT persons, Roma, migrants, children, persons with disabilities and at gender equality.

Read the whole statement at thelink.

On 19 November 2015 in Media Centre in Belgrade, the final conference was held within the project “Empowering Civil Society to Improve the Implementation of Anti-discrimination Laws in Serbia”, implemented by Praxis and Equal Rights Trust (ERT) from London with the support of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, funded by the European Union.

Watch the video at RTS.

Within the project “Legal Aid and Advocacy – Access to Rights and Combating Discrimination against the Roma”, implemented by Praxis with the support of Civil Rights Defenders in the period from January 2015 to 31 December, the final roundtable was organized for the representatives of institutions and civil society from ten municipalities in which project activities were carried (Leskovac, Bojnik, Prokuplje, Kursumlija, Bor, Aleksinac, Bela Palanka, Krusevac, Lebane and Knjazevac).

This meeting was preceded by a series of activities aimed at providing an insight into the problems faced by Roma in access to socioeconomic rights and problems in the lack of legal framework and practice. The goal of the meeting was that representatives of all relevant institutions and civil sector in local communities may formulate conclusions and recommendations related to steps that need to be taken in order toe solve the existing problems, through coordinated activities and comprehensive approach to existing problems.

During the project period, over 700 beneficiaries were informed, counseled and provided with legal aid in order to exercise the right to personal documents, permanent and temporary residence, social protection and health care, employment, education and housing. A total of 30 field visits were performed to 53 Roma settlements in order to make legal aid available to a wider range of the most vulnerable beneficiaries. Meetings were held with representatives of relevant institutions in ten municipalities where activities aimed at improving their mutual cooperation and cooperation with civil society organizations were conducted, with an aim to improve the access to socioeconomic rights for Roma. Development and strengthening of this cooperation should provide equal access to justice for Roma, contribute to the quality of provided services and to the improvement of general situation of Roma national minority.

As part of the same project, the Research on access to socioeconomic rights for Roma women in Serbia conducted and published with an aim to provide information about the access of Roma women to health, education, employment, social welfare and housing conditions. The research also deals with gender perspective, examining the situation of Roma women compared to men in the same community. The research was presented to participants of the roundtable and published on Praxis website.  

The results of conducted activities, including identified problems and obstacles and their character, were presented to representatives of local communities at the final roundtable. Together with Praxis team, the participants of the round table took an active part in defining recommendations that will be a guide to local institutions and civil society in finding adequate responses to problems.

A ten-member family S was forcibly relocated from Leskovac to Aleksinac after the fire in which their shack they had lived in for past few years burned down.

The family lost their personal documents in the fire, and therefore Police Department Leskovac inactivated their addresses. The reason for this was the fact that the family did not live at the address where they had their permanent residence registered, and had nowhere to stay in the territory of Leskovac and was thus without an opportunity to register permanent residence at the address of social welfare centre. In addition, CSR Leskovac suspended them the right to cash social assistance declaring that it had no territorial jurisdiction, and due to the fact that one member of the family had permanent residence registered in the Municipality of Aleksinac, CSR organized their relocation. Due to the lack of adequate cooperation between competent institutions and insufficient capacities at their disposal, the family S did not receive adequate reception in the new community. It is important to emphasize that the family had not been consulted in regard to whether they wanted to move to Aleksinac, which is contrary to all international standards.

The family has been residing for several months already in one room without basic living conditions, given to them by a relative, which endangers their health. With the help of SWC Aleksinac, the procedures for registration of permanent residence were initiated and are still ongoing. In the meantime, none of the family members has an ID card, four children interrupted their regular education, and they will be able to exercise their right to social protection only when they register permanent residence and obtain ID cards.

The case of this family shows all deficiencies of the social protection system. The state of social needs in which this family has been for long has worsened severely and led the family into the problem of multiple social exclusion. Now, the way out of this situation is far more complex, the consequences suffered by the family members unforeseeable and damage is irreparable.

A new toolkit published today by the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) on the use of immigration detention warns that stateless persons are often detained for months and even years, without any real prospect of being removed or their status resolved. This is due to the fact that immigration systems and detention regimes do not have appropriate procedures in place to identify statelessness and protect stateless persons.

The toolkit is intended as a call to action to all stakeholders to help hold European government to account by insisting that they comply with their international human rights obligations that would prevent this practice. The lack of protection on the one hand and the growth of the immigration detention industry on the other have left many persons currently residing in Europe vulnerable to arbitrary detention.

The toolkit “Protecting Stateless Persons from Arbitrary Detention” is the most recent in a series of publications forming part of a Europe wide research and advocacy effort by the European Network on Statelessness to investigate the law, policy and practice related to the detention of stateless persons. Detention of stateless persons is a disturbing trend across Europe and is happening despite the fact that protection against arbitrary detention is well entrenched under international and regional law. ENS is committed to raising awareness and finding effective solutions to ensure proper protection and respect for human rights.

Chris Nash, Director of the European Network on Statelessness said that "across Europe a failure by states to put in place effective systems to identify stateless persons leaves thousands exposed to repeated and indefinite detention. These vulnerable individuals fall between the cracks, finding themselves denied either the opportunity to return “home”, because no country will recognise them, or to re-build their lives in Europe. This is eminently preventable, and our toolkit is launched as a call to action for states to honour their international human rights obligations, and as a resource to help other stakeholders hold their governments to account”.

***The European Network on Statelessness (ENS) is a civil society alliance with 103 members in 39 countries. It is committed to ending statelessness and ensuring that the estimated 600,000 people living in Europe without a nationality are protected under international law.

ENS is undertaking a 3 year project aimed at better understanding the extent and consequences of the detention of stateless persons in Europe, and advocating for protecting stateless persons from arbitrary detention through the application of regional and international standards. The project will deliver a series of country reports investigating the law, policy and practice related to the detention of stateless persons in selected European countries and its impact on stateless persons and those who are ‘unreturnable’ and therefore often at risk of statelessness.

The project has developed a regional toolkit for practitioners on protecting stateless persons from arbitrary detention. The toolkit is intended to serve as a resource to a range of actors from lawyers, NGOs, judges to legislators and policymakers, and later as a basis for ENS training and ENS strategic litigation programmes. 

Download the toolkit here.

Acting upon Praxis complaint, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality established that the article “Asylum Seekers Even Pluck Their Eyebrows for Europe”, published by Vecernje novosti Daily on 6 August 2015, does not contain any violation of rights in accordance with the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination.

Relying on national and international legislation, Praxis pointed that disputable text contributes to spreading of fear, creating of hostile environment and deepening of social distance of the citizens towards asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, who are currently one of the most vulnerable groups in Serbia. Creating a prejudice that all migrants have huge amounts of money does not contribute to understanding their difficult situation, nor the attitude of the journalist that refugees “destroy all the beauty of this part of the city”, and that “the sight that will welcome the visitors of Belgrade when they step out of the bus or train is not pleasant” because of the presence of refuges in the immediate vicinity of the bus and railway station. 

The Commissioner for Protection of Equality is of the opinion that the text largely consists of quoted statements of entrepreneurs and employees who provide services. “The author of the text quoted and cited the statements, opinions and observations of persons who met refugees as customers and therefore the responsibility of the journalist/editor-in-chief for the statements given by another person is not justified…”. In the conclusion, the Commissioner, among others, relies on international sources and practice and cites particularly the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, which implies that restriction of the freedom of expression must not be such to “discourage the open discussion about the issues of public interest”.

Despite the opinion of the Commissioner that there is no violation of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination in the disputable text, Praxis believes that that responsibility of media cannot be excluded or diminished by the fact that opinions of third persons are “just” transmitted in the text. The lack of conviction of writing by Vecernje novosti Daily is yet another missed opportunity to clearly indicate the responsibility of media in reporting.

Acting upon Praxis complaint, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality established that the article “An Increasing Number of Refugees: Migrants will Soon Islamise Serbia”, published by Kurir Daily in the e-issue as of 2 August 2015, does not contain any violation of rights in accordance with the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination.

In its complaint, Praxis pointed that disputable text contributes to spreading of fear, creating of hostile environment and deepening of social distance of the citizens towards refugees and migrants, who are currently one of the most vulnerable groups in Serbia. Groundless emphasizing that refugees will soon Islamise Serbia and highlighting that “special risk is the fact that those with combat experience were found among the refugees entering Serbia“ creates atmosphere of fear, incites discrimination and intolerance, which is contrary to national and international regulations. It is stated in the text that “an increasing number of migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia takes not only the risk of islamisation of Europe, but it will soon make Serbia one of their permanent habitat”. In this way, refuges and migrants were marked as holders of “risk” of islamisation, and at same time it is suggested that due to assumed religious affiliation, Serbia should not be a place of their permanent habitant.

The Commissioner for Protection of Equality is of the opinion that the text contains mainly the opinions and attitudes of analysts and “given than media have the right to report on different phenomena, give and transmit different information and attitudes, it would be unacceptable to hold the author/editor-in-chief accountable for transmitting the opinions of other people on phenomena in society that are the subject of public discussion”. At the same time, the Commissioner states that there is no distinction or unequal acting towards refugees and migrants on the basis of religious affiliation.

Despite the opinion of the Commissioner, Praxis believes that that responsibility of media cannot be excluded or diminished by the fact that opinions of other persons are “just” transmitted in the text. We agree that democratic society needs freedom of expression, but not at the cost of xenophobic, disturbing and discriminatory allegations, opinions and attitudes.

Concluding that writing of Kurir Daily does not represent unequal acting towards refugees on the basis of personal characteristic, an oportunity is missed to clearly indicate the responsibility of media when reporting and obligation not to contribute with writing to discrimination and spreading of xenophobia.