On 27 June 2013, Praxis was visited by a group of 10 Burma lawyers and activists within their two-week study visit to Serbia supported by Civil Rights Defenders. On that occasion, the visitors discussed with Praxis representatives about Praxis goals and mission, experience in relation to provision of free legal assistance, strategic litigation and advocating for changes or adoption of systemic solutions that would enable respect for human rights of the marginalized population groups.

The problems related to registration in birth registry books and exercise of the right to citizenship, and various strategies implemented by civil society organizations aimed at their solution were also the subject of discussion. In addition, the visitors expressed special interest in Praxis field work and organization of mobile legal teams. The use of methods of strategic litigation was presented through cases which Praxis conducted in the area of protection against discrimination and exercise of the right to adequate housing.

The participants assessed the visit as useful and presented experience as the basis for development of new legal strategies in their organizations.

On 27 June 2013, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Strategy for Prevention and Protection against Discrimination for the period from 2013 to 2018. The Strategy was presented as the complied system of measures and instruments of public policies Serbia needs to conduct with aim to reduce all forms and kinds of discrimination, particularly against the marginalized and social groups. Praxis participated in the elaboration of the Draft Strategy and transferred the experience and noticed problems in relation to discrimination against members of national minorities, women, children, refugees, internally displaced persons and other vulnerable migrant groups.

The clear strategy for prevention of discrimination is an important step towards strengthening and improvement of mechanism of control, promotion of tolerance and support to implementation of anti-discrimination regulations. At the same time, it is necessary to urgently adopt the action plan in order to define concrete and individual measures and deadlines for implementation of the strategy.

SeeStrategy for Prevention and Protection against Discrimination

Praxis signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the private research Northeastern University from Boston with an aim to establish the cooperation within Praxis Internship Programme.  

The cooperation between Praxis and Northeastern University dates back to 24 July 2012, when the students visited Praxis within their study visit to Belgrade. On that occasion, Praxis lawyers acquainted the students with the main objectives and activities of the organization and the students were most attracted by forced evictions of informal settlements and position of legally invisible persons.

Signing of the Memorandum of Understanding will give students an opportunity to get acquainted with the work of a non-governmental organization in the area of protection and improvement of rights of minority and marginalized population groups in Serbia and also to learn about its management process, advocacy and functioning.

For more information about Praxis Internship Programme, see here.

Open Society Foundations has published the report named Roma Health Rights in Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia: A Baseline for Legal Advocacy, which analyzes the current state of legal advocacy for Roma health rights in Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia. It seeks to establish a point of reference, and to develop an evaluation framework for the Open Society Foundations’ support for legal empowerment, documentation and advocacy, media, and strategic litigation. The report referred to Praxis data for the purpose of the analysis of the situation in Serbia.

Download the report: Roma Health Rights in Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia: A Baseline for Legal Advocacy

Coalition against Discrimination would hereby like to invite you to attend the presentation of the annual Report on Discrimination in Serbia for 2012 and Awards for Fight Against Discrimination for 2012 on Friday, July 5 2013, at 12 a.m. at Media Center, Terazije 3/I.

Members of the Coalition Against Discrimination will on that occasion present the seventh regular annual Report on Discriminatory Practice in the country.

The report will be introduced by:
- PhD Saša Gajin – coordinator of the Coalition Against Discrimination, and
- Dragan Đorđević, CHRIS Network of Human Rights Committees, Serbia

On the same occasion, “Awards for Fight Against Discrimination” will be granted to those, whose contribution to fight against discrimination in Serbia the Coalition members believe was the greatest during 2012. The Awards Ceremony will be attended by the representatives of the Coalition Against Discrimination’s members, as well as the European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia Jelko Kacin who will hand over the awards.

 This year too, the award will be granted in five categories:
-    Public authority (institutions of public authority, MPs, officials)
-    Civil society organizations (NGOs, unions, professional associations)
-    Media (public media, journalists, professional associations)
-    Business sector (enterprises, business people)
-    Public figures (artists, sportspeople, actors/actresses, singers, politicians)

The Coalition Against Discrimination established the annual “Awards for Fight Against Discrimination” as a recognition to individuals, organizations, institutions, companies and media which throughout one year made the biggest effort to fight discrimination against minority and marginalized groups, or contributed to promotion of equality of all citizens in Serbia. The awards laureates are decided by the Coalition Against Discrimination, based on the proposals submitted by individuals and organizations by the end of 2012.

We would hereby also like to ask you to RSVP by e-mail to: cups@cups.rsThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The Coalition Against Discrimination comprises: Centre for Advanced Legal Studies, Civil Rights Defenders, Labris – Organization for Lesbian Human Rights, CHRIS network, Association of Students with Disabilities, Gayten LGBT, PRAXIS and Regional Centre for Minorities.

Coordinator of the Coalition Against Discrimination
    PhD Saša Gajin

Download: HERE

Praxis has published the report Testing the Implementation of the Ombudsperson’s Recommendations as a part of the project Judicial Reform and Government Accountability funded by USAID.

Within the aforementioned project, Praxis, in cooperation with the institution of the Ombudsperson, monitored whether and to what extent the Ombudsperson’s recommendations were implemented, and gave the overview of the main obstacles to their implementation.

The goal of the project was to contribute to the establishment of a sustainable mechanism for monitoring the implementation of the Ombudsperson’s recommendations through the participation of the civil sector in monitoring the implementation of the Ombudsperson’s recommendations, in order to improve the protection of citizens’ rights, and particularly of vulnerable groups living in poverty on the margins of society.

The report is a comparative analysis of the results of monitoring of the implementation of the Ombudsperson’s recommendations. It gives a brief summary of the Ombudsperson’s role, defines the methodology of the monitoring of recommendations and proposes a model of sustainable mechanism for monitoring the implementation of the Ombudsperson’s recommendations.

Download the report: Testing the Implementation of the Ombudsperson’s Recommendation
Related news published at the USAID website: Praxis finalizes their grant activities

Download: HERE

Praxis published the report Analysis of the Main Problems and Obstacles in Access of Roma to the Rights to Work and Employment, prepared within the project “Contribution to Social Inclusion and Combat against Discrimination of Marginalized Population in Serbia”.

One of the biggest and most difficult problems that the Republic of Serbia should address is unemployment. The Roma population is among the most vulnerable groups in terms of employment opportunities. All available data show that the unemployment rate among Roma is much higher than in the general population, which inevitably results in widespread poverty of this population group. On the other hand, even if Roma manage to get employment, they often perform the lowest-paid jobs, in the most adverse conditions and exposed to health risks. The vast majority of Roma who have income are not employed, either under a fixed-term or permanent contract. They usually secure their livelihood by collecting recyclable waste materials. The situation of Roma in the labour market is only one of the indicators of their fundamental inequality in society and one of the many consequences of hindered access to basic human rights faced by this group of population. Some of the factors that hinder the Roma’s inclusion in the labour market are lack of education and lack of professional qualifications, ingrained prejudice against working habits of Roma and discrimination against Roma by potential employers, black-market employment above average, difficulties in obtaining required documents, and often also the lack of information about how to obtain a work booklet or to be registered with the NES.

The obstacles which hinder the exercise of the right to Roma are more thoroughly described in the report. Besides pointing at the basic problems in this area and at steps that should be taken in order to improve the position of the Roma in the labour market, the report also includes the results of the research conducted by Praxis on the period from February to August 2012with the aim to get a better insight in the position of Roma in the labour market, in particular the part of the Roma population that usually remains invisible to available statistics - the Roma living in informal settlements and the Roma who face difficulties in obtaining personal documents.

Download the report: Analysis of the Main Problems and Obstacles in Access of Roma to the Rights to Work and Employment

The attempts of S. S. and T. S, residents of the informal settlement, to register the permanent residence at the address of social welfare centre show that this legal possibility is still a dead letter.

The head of the Legal Service in the Social Welfare Centre Cukarica insisted that clients should first obtain the certificate of the Ministry of Interiors on the lack of registration of permanent residence in the territory of the Republic of Serbia (referring to the Instruction of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy) and only then should they address SWC with the request for registration of permanent residence at the address of SWC. However, Praxis lawyer referred to the legal obligation of this body to receive the request of the client, so the requests were submitted on that occasion with the note of the employee that they still did not have certain code for such cases.

In addition, S.S. and T.S.  addressed the Belgrade Police Department in Ljermontova Street with the request for issuance of the certificate on the lack of registration of permanent residence in the territory of the Republic of Serbia. The employee and the head of the Police Administration were confused about such request and referred the clients to address them through the office for receiving requests, because they had not acted upon such request so far. On that occasion, Praxis lawyer drew up written requests for issuance of certificates for S.S. and T.S. and the outcome will be probably known after consulting the Ministry of Interior in relation to the manner of acting.