Civil Rights Defenders and the AIRE Centre (Advice on Individual Rights in Europe) organised the Sixth Regional Rule of Law Forum for South East Europe. The Forum gathered over 170 participants from Albania, BiH, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey and Hungary, including presidents and judges of supreme and constitutional courts, members of judicial councils, directors of judicial academies, representatives of NGOs and prominent legal experts in the field, as well as nine current and former judges of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. As a representative of NGO Praxis, Jasmina Miković, Deputy Executive Director took part in the Forum.

The aim of the Forum was to promote the implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights at the domestic level, to encourage regional cooperation in the continued development of the rule of law and the protection of human rights, and to assist the process of EU integration across the region.

The topic of the 2019 Forum was child rights, focusing on the protection of children as an integral and essential part of the rule of law and marking 60th anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child. Children are amongst the most vulnerable members of our societies and the protection of their rights is of fundamental importance to the rule of law. The topics forming the basis of the Forum discussions included domestic violence (with children as victims and witnesses), human trafficking, asylum, migration, custody and care of children, and access to justice for children.

For more information, see the announcement here.

At the initiative of UNICEF and the Coordination Body for Gender Equality, the National Coalition to End Child Marriage was established with the aim of contributing to ending child marriages in Serbia by eliminating institutional and social barriers to law enforcement and promoting good practice of partnership between local communities, the media, non-governmental, governmental and private sectors. At the same time, the Coalition should work on safe choice options for Roma girls and on empowering Roma boys and girls to change the existing harmful practices.

The first founding meeting of the Coalition was held on 21 February 2019 in the building of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. On this occasion, UNICEF Representative in Serbia Regina De Dominicis pointed out that early and child marriages constituted a serious violation of the rights of girls, who were more at risk from this phenomenon.

"The story of every early married girl I met is full of pain and regret. Tradition is not harmful in itself, but the question is how society perceives this tradition and how it stimulates stereotypes. One of the most important aspects of child protection is precisely prevention of child marriages", said De Dominicis.

Assistant Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Jovana Atanacković, noted that marriage before the age of 18 was a serious violation of human rights and affected the girls' right to health, education and life without violence.

"Therefore, we are establishing the National Coalition in order to contribute, through our joint efforts, to creating intervention models, empowering young Roma women to get educated, strengthening local Roma communities and establishing better coordination at all levels in order to eradicate child marriages," said Atanacković. Silvija Nešić, a representative of NGO Ternipe, stressed that no Roma woman had a future without support.

"Therefore, UNICEF's support is extremely important for us, Roma organisations. Support and cooperation are the only way of fighting", said Silvija.

The Coalition represents a community of individuals, institutions and organisations, including representatives of the Coordination Body for Gender Equality, UNICEF, the Office for Human and Minority Rights, the Administrative Districts of Nišava, Jablanica and South Banat, the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality and the Committee on the Rights of the Child of the National Assembly. The members of the Coalition are also representatives of the Protector of Citizens, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, the City of Belgrade, civil society organisations Bibija, Ternipe, Praxis, Indigo, the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Team, the Roma Inclusion Office, the Association of Roma Novi Bečej, the Republic Institute for Social Protection and UN agencies.

The first meeting of the Children’s Rights Council of the Government of the Republic of Serbia this year was held on 12 February 2019 in Belgrade. Jasmina Miković, Praxis Deputy Executive Director and MODS Management Board President, who is also a member of the Children’s Rights Council, participated in the meeting on behalf of MODS.

The Council’s Annual Activity Plan for 2019 was adopted and the participants were informed about developments in the field of children's rights. Ines Cerović, Director of Child Rights Center, informed the members of the Council about the development of indicators for monitoring the recommendations that the Committee on the Rights of the Child had given to Serbia.

In addition, Suzana Paunović, Director of the Office for Human and Minority Rights, informed the participants about the planned activities on the drafting of the Common Core Document in accordance with the agreed guidelines for reporting on international human rights treaties.

UNICEF presented the initiative for the establishment of the National Coalition to Eliminate Child Marriage, with the aim of motivating relevant actors who, through coordinated action, would contribute to the elimination of this harmful phenomenon. After the constituent meeting to be held on February 21st, the coalition will be open to the participation of individuals, public institutions, independent bodies, non-governmental organisations, private sector and the media, or those ready to commit to addressing this problem.

Nadjat Madjid from Morocco, guest participant, spoke about the experiences and good practices in formulating national policies for children, focusing on good practices from Ireland, Kenya and Mauritius.

Finally, UNICEF presented the results of the conference System Cooperation in Supporting Children with Developmental Risks and Disabilities and Their Families - Towards Integrated Early Intervention Services.

See the footage by Tanjug.

On 5 December 2018, Terre des hommes Regional Office for Central and Southeast Europe and partner NGO Center for Children's Rights of Montenegro organised an event on the occasion of the beginning of the Child Protection Hub project in Montenegro, in Podgorica. The main goal of the project is to strengthen and connect the community of professionals in the field of child protection. Special attention within the project is given to the prevention and ending violence against children. Thanks to the support of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, the Child Protection Hub has the opportunity to extend its activities to Montenegro in partnership with the Center for Children's Rights of Montenegro.

As a ChildHub resource person from Serbia, Jasmina Miković from Praxis participated at the event which brought together over 50 professionals from various sectors dealing with prevention  of violence and protection of children. On this occasion, the Head of the World Health Organization Office in Montenegro, Mina Brajović, presented the INSPIRE package of strategies for the prevention and protection of children from violence. Representatives of the UNICEF Office in Montenegro presented the ways in which four of the seven INSPIRE strategies are implemented, as well as  various forms of support provided by UNICEF to national partners in protecting children from violence, abuse and neglect. On 6 and 7 December, fifteen Resource Persons from the South East Europe gathered in Bečići, Montenegro, to improve their leadership and coaching skills, in preparation of ChildHub's new activity "peer-to-peer support". Experienced executive and business coach Srđan Vukčević, Founder and CEO of Blue Coach helped participants review their own leadership styles, and work through their strong traits and those they needed to improve. During the training, participants also discussed how the ChildHub team/community could become stronger and more efficient, and fulfill its objectives better. After a lecture on the latest neuroscience of learning new habits, participants also had a short session on mindfulness, a practice that helps both children and adults to reduce stress, and which can facilitate learning in a very effective way.

After a discussion on how the peer-to-peer activity could be put in place, agreement was reached that each country team of Resource Persons would discuss and develop their own system, keeping in mind the overall aim and philosophy of voluntarism.

The Annual Assembly Meeting of the Network of Organisations for Children of Serbia (MODS) was held in Kragujevac on 16 and 17 November 2018. This was another opportunity for the members of the Network to meet, consider and adopt proposals relevant to the MODS's work and to admit new members.

The MODS Assembly also elected a new member of the Supervisory Board. The Assembly unanimously elected Nataša Raičević, Programme Director of the Center for Social Preventive Activities GRiG, a new member of the Supervisory Board. The members of the Supervisory Board are now: Radomir Jevtić (A Step Forward, Kruševac), Ana Jovanović (Center for Creative Development Knjaževac) and Nataša Raičević (GRiG, Belgrade).

One of agenda items was voting for the admission of new organisations into the Network. A total of five organisations presented themselves to the Assembly, after which the Assembly unanimously decided to admit all of them into its membership. Presently, MODS has 101 member organisations.

The Assembly discussed, among other things, the ways in which MODS could further enhance its capacities and increase the visibility of the work of organisations. There were also some new suggestions that MODS would seek to implement in its work. 

For more information, see the announcement here.

On Monday, 5 November 2018, the Fifth Meeting of Children’s Rights Council of the Republic of Serbia was held.   The meeting was attended by Jasmina Miković, Praxis Deputy Executive Director and MODS Management Board President, who is also a member of the Children’s Rights Council, and Saša Stefanović, MODS Director.  

Saša Stefanović, MODS Director, presented the Recommendations for the development and improvement of measures, services and programmes for preventing the separation of children from families or returning of children to the primary family if the separation occurred. These recommendations derived from the conclusions of the national conference "Strengthening the Family - A Look at Opportunities", and the basic message is that existing resources in different sectors should be used to strengthen the family and support the child’s staying in the family.

At the meeting, the Preliminary Draft Law on Child’s Rights and Child Ombudsman was discussed. It was pointed out that this Law contained the provisions confirming all rights of the child and instruments of independent control and protection. Adoption of this Law represents a major step in the improvement, promotion and provision of control over the protection of child’s rights in the Republic of Serbia. Also, by adopting this Law, the Republic of Serbia fulfils its obligations contained in the recommendations from the latest Universal Periodic Review of the state of human rights in Serbia as well as in the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Action Plan for Chapter 23. A representative of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs presented also a plan for further work on the adoption of this Law, expected in the first quarter of 2019.

The Council members were informed about the guidelines and practices of UNICEF-supported Child Friendly Cities Initiatives around the world and the continuation of the project "Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour".

The Universal Children's Day will be celebrated in Serbia on November 20th, under the slogan "Let's Paint It All Blue, for Every Child", and on that day all the most important institutions in Serbia will be lighted in blue as a mark of respect for the rights of children and adolescents, as stated at the meeting of the Children's Rights Council.

On 29 October 2018, Praxis held a consultative meeting with representatives of institutions in Zemun to discuss the prevention and elimination of child, early and forced marriages, as part of the project "Legal Assistance to Persons at Risk of Statelessness in Serbia", financed by UNHCR. 

The goal of the meeting was to bring together local stakeholders to try to jointly identify possible solutions for the prevention and elimination of child, early and forced marriages. A total of 13 representatives of social welfare centres, schools, prosecutors' offices, health care institutions, as well as Roma activists, participated in the meeting. After the introductory presentation, the attendees were informed about the activities conducted by Praxis in the field of elimination and prevention of child marriages, with particular focus on the conclusions reached. Praxis provided an overview of the problems of child, early and forced marriages in Serbia, the region and the world, with special emphasis on national and international regulations governing the rights of the child, marriage and family relations, as well as the role and responsibility of competent authorities to prevent the neglect of children and violence against children. Through an interactive approach to the topic and examples of good practice, the participants discussed possible solutions and the eradication of child marriages, which, among other things, is closely related to the problem of statelessness in Serbia. Accordingly, the Statelessness Index, which assesses how countries in Europe protect stateless people and what they are doing to prevent and reduce statelessness, was presented.

The participants demonstrated a high level of interest in the topic, regardless of whether they had encountered cases of child marriage or not. The presence of representatives of almost all relevant institutions at the level of local self-government, as well as representatives of the Roma community, initiated a quality interactive discussion, which showed the necessity of cross-sectoral cooperation and preventive work with parents in the form of educational and advisory sessions. However, although the participants were fairly aware of the seriousness of the problem of child marriages, they still perceived it primarily as part of the Roma culture and tradition, and expressed concern that imposing the culture and tradition of the majority would compromise cooperation with the Roma community. Despite being obliged to act in accordance with national and international regulations, representatives of institutions expressed their dilemma of whether dealing with this issue inevitably meant interfering with the tradition of the Roma community, while ignoring the fact that child marriages were primarily a serious violation of the rights of girls. Health sector representatives denied that the body of a 15-year old female was unprepared for reproduction and stated that the girls of that age were considered women, and not girls, which substantially differed from the views of national and international experts. This meeting demonstrated that it was necessary to continue with such or similar meetings aimed at raising awareness about the harmfulness of child marriages and stressing that child marriages should be seen as harmful traditional practices, endangering primarily the psychophysical health of girls and their overall development. 

In November 2018, Praxis will hold another consultative meeting in Zemun.

On 26 October 2018, Praxis held a consultative meeting with representatives of institutions in Požarevac to discuss the prevention and elimination of child, early and forced marriages, as part of the project "Legal Assistance to Persons at Risk of Statelessness in Serbia", financed by UNHCR. 

The aim of the meeting was to gather representatives of all relevant institutions in Požarevac to discuss this issue and give proposals of the policies for eradicating child, early and forced marriages. The meeting was attended by representatives of social welfare centres and schools, while representatives of the police, health sector and prosecutors did not respond to the invitation. After the introductory presentation of the speakers, the meeting participants were informed about the activities conducted by Praxis in the field of prevention and elimination of child, early and forced marriages, thus getting a better insight into the problem and Praxis’ suggestions for its solution. After a brief overview of the state’s responsibility in the prevention and elimination of child marriages, the meeting participants were also informed about national and international legislation in this area. It was followed by a discussion about what each of us could and must do, and what we expected from other links in the chain of cooperation. Real-life case studies were also discussed in order to prevent the problem of child, early and forced marriages, which are closely related to the problem of statelessness in Serbia. Accordingly, the Statelessness Index, which assesses how countries in Europe protect stateless people and what they are doing to prevent and reduce statelessness, was presented.

One of the conclusions of the discussion was insufficient and uncoordinated cooperation of competent institutions, i.e. transfer of responsibility from one institution to another. Representatives of social welfare centres pointed out that it was necessary to establish agreements on cross-sectoral cooperation as well as to consistently apply the existing protocols on action in case of child abuse and/or neglect. They considered that one of the main obstacles was the lack of support from the relevant Ministry and disregard by the court and prosecutor’s offices. School representatives reported poor cooperation with parents as the main obstacle in solving the problem of child marriages. Despite being rather aware of the seriousness of this problem, professionals are still insufficiently sensitive to the problems of the Roma population; their actions continue to be guided by prejudice and they continue to perceive this problem through the lens of cultural tradition. Consequently, it is necessary to continue with this or similar education with constant awareness raising about the fact that the problem of child marriages must not be ignored and that traditional practice should not be an excuse for violating the rights of the child. 

By the end of 2018, Praxis will hold two more consultative meetings in Belgrade.

On Thursday, 23 May 2019, the newly established Thematic Group on Early Childhood Development and Education of Children, coordinated by the Network of Organisations for Children of Serbia, held its first meeting. 

The meeting was dedicated to the formal establishment of the Thematic Group on Early Childhood Development and Education of Children, agreement on future work, dynamics, ways of cooperation, possible joint activities, identification of stakeholders, relevant decision makers and the media.

The meeting participants shared current information in the field of early childhood development, about relevant initiatives such as Call for Action of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, supported by UNICEF, development of early intervention models, creation of Internet Platform for Parents and Practitioners.

As a member of the newly-established Thematic Group, Jasmina Miković, Praxis Deputy Executive Director, shared the experience and findings of Praxis, especially pointing out the importance of investing in early childhood development without discrimination, which should be one of the important priorities because it would allow each child to fully enjoy the guaranteed rights. In addition, she stressed the importance of promoting the registration of every child into birth registry books immediately after birth, providing adequate living conditions, as well as working on the prevention and elimination of harmful practices such as child, early and forced marriages.

Why do some children leave school, what are marital obligations, what is your future occupation and why should we say STOP to child marriages– are some of the questions we asked children of higher grades in four primary schools in Serbia (Primary School “Jovan Cvijic” in Kostolac, Primary School “Bosko Palkovljevic Pinkic, Primary School “Sutjeska” in Belgrade and Primary School “Aleksandar Stojanovic – Leso” in Novi Pazar).

Within the activities performed on the project “Legal Assistance to Persons at Risk of Statelessness in Serbia”, funded by UNHCR, during 2017 and 2018 we talked to more than 200 boys and girls about the importance of education, causes and consequences of school leaving, future professions, gender roles and marital obligations, causes and consequences of child marriages, and how important it is to prevent them.

Child marriages are a gross violation of the rights of children.  They harm the mental and physical health of girls and expose them to the risk of statelessness, domestic violence and trafficking in human beings. The research shows that child marriages are one of the key reasons why Roma girls drop out of school, leaving them thus in the vicious circle of poverty and leading to their economic dependence. The practice indicates the lack of sensitivity among professionals and the presence of discriminatory attitudes and prejudices against Roma population. 

Children say that child marriages need to be stopped because girls are immature to be mothers, they do not manage to finish schools, have no chance to find a job, and because they do not seize their youth.

In order to eradicate this serious social problem, a holistic and coordinated approach of relevant stakeholders, both on national and local levels, is a necessity. It is extremely important that a state has consistent laws which prescribe 18 years as the minimum age for marriage, because if the law does not recognize children as children, they cannot enjoy full protection. It is equally important to empower the children and respect their opinion, because they are one of the key drivers of change in the prevention and elimination of child marriages.

For more information, see the announcement here.