July 19, 2010: The Deputy Ombudsman, Dr Goran Bašić, attended the inauguration of the PROGRESS project in the city of Vranje. Signed by the Serbian Government, the European Commission and the Swiss Government, the project aims at stimulating the development of 25 municipalities in Southern and Southwestern Serbia.
June 24-25, 2010: The Ombudsman Professional Service members visited the city of Negotin to bring this institution closer to its citizens, to talk to them and collect their complaints. They also met the representatives of the local self-government, of the non-government organizations, and of the media and services with public authorities to review the exercise of human and minority rights in Negotin. During their public meetings in the premises of the Municipality and the Committee for Human Rights, they discussed on the possibility of introducing the institution of Municipality Ombudsman and establishing the Municipality Council for Interethnic Relations. Finally, several dozens citizens were also approached.
June 21, 2010: The Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić said the suppression of the causes of racism and chauvinism together with preventing their manifestations are not only the responsibility of the local self-government, but a matter of the state’s general attitude towards the complex problems of a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society.
Jabuka is not the local problem
Mr. Goran Bašić, the Deputy Ombudsman of the Republic of Serbia and a professor at the Faculty for Legal and Political Studies in Novi Sad:
It has been rightly questioned whether the state and its public administration possess the capacities for governing a multi-ethnic society.
The impoverishment experienced and the conflicts, institutional system decay, complex and often changes in value system – all together have caused a specific social disorientation that occasionally brings forth those forms of social behavior considered as being not characteristic to the Serbian citizens. The last example is the racist behaviour manifested in the village of Jabuka in Banat these days, and pointing to the numerous problems that must be quickly approached by our state and society. Otherwise, we are afraid that the “Jabuka case” will not stay an isolated, ugly example of unworthy social misbehaivour.
The reason why a part of Jabuka inhabitants is intolerant to their Roma neghbours is so tragic itself that it needed no further misfortune. A clash of young peers had the worst possible end – one was killed, the other is his killer. However, this tragedy did not trigger the reassessment of all conditions causing teenagers’ fights to end up in brutal clashes and murders more and more often, but a new tide of violence and the most terrifying type of thesis substitution: the institutional and individual responsibility for the crime were replaced by street calls for collective responsibility and lynching the innocent.
The most frequent question raised these days is that of the state and local authorities’ responsibility for the protests and their course. Without any wish to diminish the importance of this question, of their responsibility or possible mistakes, we would like to highlight that we seem to face a phenomenon whose destructive power exceeds the limits of governmental body acting. Moreover, by establishing the facts, we can conclude that the state authorities made no essential mistakes: the young man who commited murder was detained, the charges against him were brought and there is no doubt that the court would find in accordance with the law; the citizens protested under specific circumstances that were imbued with emotions, thus putting an objective obstacle to the police to act properly and disable the meeting that was not registered, in line with the law; finally, after the racist offences bursted, the police detained those who they believed to be responsible and took measures to contribute to the reestablishment of local security (transferring police station to Jabuka, collecting evidence, etc); the prosecutor bravely brought criminal charges pointing at the crime of inciting racial, national and religious hatred. There is no reason to doubt that the court is going to bring an impartial verdict founded on facts and evidence, and in accordance with the law.
Having analyzed the procedure, it can be objected that the police and local self-governemnt could have acted quicker and their internal communicatin should have been more efficient. Nevertheless, even if they had proceeded more professionally, their performance would not have removed the problem we all face now. To be precise, the manifested racism is not a state of mind of local people and their uncontrolled emotions, but a social phenomenon that occurs in various forms in different parts of Serbia, sporadically but constantly.
The suppression of the causes of racism and chauvinism together with preventing the occurrence of their manifestations are not only the responsibility of the local police and self-government, but a matter of the state’s general attitude towards the complex problems of a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. We can rightly ask if our state and its public administration possess the capacities for governing a multi-ethnic society. Our constitutional provisions are based on the international standards for the protection of human and minority rights. However, being applied in such a chaotic system of legal and sub-measures supposed to enhance the status of citizens belonging to national minorities they only lead to a new social disorientation that equally affects both the majority and minority population. As a consequence, the ethnic distance is not being reduced and the latent interethnic intolerance and prejudice are still firmly rooted, thus hampering the social development in spite of the Consutition, its solutions, various laws, regulations and institutions, the initiation of the system of minority self-governments and recognition of collective rights, the positive discrimination, the contribution of numerous non-governmental organizations and idependent media, and the establishment of independent state and provincial authorities responsible for the protection of human and minority rights.
Therefore, the “Jabuka case” is a profound motive for reassessing the current cultural and educational system, the media and all other systems that should take care of the social stability, integration and trust building both among citizens and in institutions. If we overlook the importance of the debate on identifying and marking a problem that provokes the fellings of chauvinism and racism, reducing the Jabuka tragedy to the local level, I am afraid this case will not be the last, just as it was not the first one in our social lives.
June 16, 2010: Mr Goran Bašić, the Republic Deputy Ombudsman and Mrs Eva Vukašinović, the Vojvodinian Deputy Ombudsman visited the Roma in the village of Jabuka with whom they talked about the events provoked by the tragic end of the young men clash. The two also had talks to the President of the Jabuka Community Council, Mayor of the City of Pančevo, the Chief of Police Administration and Higher Public Prosecutor who charged the leaders of the attacks on Roma people with inciting racial, ethnic and religious hatred.
Announcement: Jabuka
THE JOINT STATEMENT OF THE REPUBLIC AND THE VOJVODINIAN OMBUDSMEN
ON THE RACIST PROTESTS IN THE VILLAGE OF JABUKA
The shameful hatred and violence against Roma that manifested in the Banat village Jabuka in the last few days are the result of many problems to which our state and society did not too often find the right answers in the past.
What caused a part of the Jabuka residents to attack their Roma neighbours is so tragic that it needed no further malevolence. Unfortunately, it happened. The individual responsibility for a committed crime was replaced by the street persecution and violence against the whole ethnic group along with the calls to lynch the innocent.
The Prosecutor’s office in Pančevo reacted professionally and decisively. The police proceeded appropriate to the rules. The leaders of local self-government showed the ultimate responsibility. However, this was not enough to prevent the shameful attempts to lynch Roma because the hatred and violence from the past gain a sort of legitimacy that could not be changed over night.
The suppression of the causes of racism, hatred and intolerancy of the different, as well as the prevention of their manifestation is not only the task of the police or of the local self-government, but belongs to the general state attitude towards the complex problems of multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. The state and its public administration must rapidly build their capacities and enlarge their knowledge necessary to successfully perform their functions in the complex multi-ethnic society. The solutions, provided by our Constitution and based on the international standards for human and minority rights protection, must be more practically transposed to the lower normative frameworks and, what is the most important, must be consistently implemented in order to suppress this partial social disorientation that equally affects both majority and minority populations.
Despite all the constitutional provisions, laws, regulations, institutions, the system of minorities’ self-governments together with the admission of the collective rights and positive discrimination, the work of numerous non-government organizations, independent media, and despite the establishment of the autonomous state and provincial authorities responsible for the protection of human and minority rights, the ethnic distance is not being substantially narrowed, while the latent multi-ethnic intolerancies and prejudices still exist and hinder the development.
Therefore, the “Jabuka case” is a reason to reassess the work of every public authority, of the cultural and educational systems, the media and all others who should be the most active in building the social stability, integration and trust both among citizens and in the competent institutions. If we neglect the need to debate on identifying and clear signifying the problems that provoke the racist and chauvinist feelings, while leaving the social tragedy in Jabuka to remain at the local level, this case will not be the last, just as it was not the first in our social life.
June 14, 2010: Dr Goran Bašić spoke at the Conference of Association of Medierranean Countries Ombudsmen about the status of immigrants into the Central-European and the Balkan states and the related problems affecting the human rights in Serbia.
June 11, 2010: One of the priorities of both the Republic and the Vojvodina Province Ombudsmen is to improve cooperation and joint action on complaints – as it was concluded during the meeting of the Republic Ombudsman Deputy, Mr Goran Bašić and the Provincial Ombudsman, Mr Dejan Janča and his Deputy, Mrs Eva Vukašinović.
June 10, 2010: Dr Goran Bašić, the Deputy Ombudsman talked to Mr Vlajko Djordjevic, the President of Negotin Municipality and other representatives of local authorities on the exercise of human and minority rights, the possibilities of establishing the Municipality Ombudsman and Council for Interethnic Relations. With the support of local self-government, the Ombudsman is going to organize the Ombudsman Days in Negotin on June 24-25. The associates of the Ombudsman Professional Service will receive complaints (22 Knez Mihailova Street) and a round table on human rights will be held as well.
June 7, 2010: The issues of realization and implementation of the Strategy for Roma Integration and the Action Plans that were worked out by the competent authorities to address the Roma housing, employment, education, health and social protection were reasons for the Deputy Ombusman to talk to the representatives of the UN agencies in Serbia.
June 3, 2010: The Ombusman representatives met the relevant chiefs of the Ministry Interior of the Republic of Serbia on the subject of entering data into travel documents and explanations of the decision of police administration and stations to refuse the requests for residence obtaining in the territory of Republic of Serbia.
May 24-28, 2010: The Department for National Minorities of the Ombudsman Professional Service paid a four-day study visit to Hungary. The sudy visit, supported by the OSCE Mission in Serbia, was aimed at deepening the specific knowledge and exchanging experiences regarding the exercise and protection of human and minority rights. The discussions took place with the following officials: the Ombudsman for National Minorities (in the premises of the Ombudsman for Human Rights), the Commissioner for complaints against the police, the previous Hungarian Ombudsmen, the Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and Religious Communities of the Hungarian Parliament, the State Secretary (in the Cabinet of Prime Minister for National Minorities’ Rights), as well as with the representatives of Serbian, Slovac, Roma and German minorities’ self-governments and the Deputy Mayor of the City of Pecuj.
May 12, 2010: The Deputy Ombudsman Dr Goran Bašić talked to the Mayor of Novi Pazar, Mr Mahmutović about the need to initiate the Municipality Ombudsman and Council for Interethnic Relations. Mr Bašić informed him on the possibilities of the Ombudsman professional assistance for the city to establish these bodies.
May 11, 2010: The Deputy Ombudsman Dr Goran Bašić was awarded the prize “Rifat Burdžević Tršo” that the Bosniak National Council (the National Council of Bosniak National Minority in Serbia) grants to institutions and persons contributing to the protection and development of human rights and multiculturality. Mr Bašić received it on the occasion of celebrating “The Flag Day” - the official holiday of the National Council of Bosniak National Minority in Serbia.
While thanking for the award, the Deputy Ombudsman highlighted that it is very significant and stimulating for him and for the whole institution when citizens recognize that the performed work contributes to their prosperity and quality of life. In this sense, the prize awarded by Bosniak minority self-government is an honour, but also an impetus for his further work, he said.
May 7-9, 2010: The representatives of Ombudsman took part in the regional round table “More Effective Participation of Ethnic Groups Vulnerable to Racial Discrimination in the Public Life of Western Balkans”
The representatives of Ombudsman and of the non-governmental organizations from all the Western Balkan countries presented their legal frameworks for protection and exercise of the individual and collective rights of national minorities, as well as the achieved results and problems they encountered while implementing them. The aim was to search for the best answers, strategies, policies and action plans to practically improve the national minorities’ individual and collective rights. A special focus was placed on the protection and status improvement of the members of Roma, Egyptian and Ashkali communities, their participation in decision making at the local level, the measures to prevent and combat discrimination on racial grounds and to strengthen the position and rights of female members of these communities.
The round table was organized by the Federation of Balkan Egyptians with the support of the European Commission, and held in Struga from May 7-9.
April 30, 2010: The Deputy President of Albanian Council for Interethnic Relations, Fehmija Bejić, visited the Ombudsman Office in Medvedja. In a conversation with Mrs Violeta Ćorić, Head of Department for National Minority Rights, he emphasized how good interethnic relations they have and indicated the problems of citizens in terms of scheduling and submitting the application for identity documents issuance, as well as the need for resolving the unemployment of members of the Albanian community. It was agreed that the Council for Interethnic Relations would influence the Medvedja Municipality to adopt a decision on a fee redemption when applying for changes of personal data in the register, which eventually would improve the right of citizens to have their personal data in the identity documents entered in the Albanian language and alphabet.
April 27, 2010: During the round table “Corruption and human rights – establishing linkages” organized by the Open Society Fund in Media Center, the Deputy Ombudsman Dr Goran Bašić reported on the previous activities of Ombudsman regarding the advancement of the work of state and public administration. While illustrating the institution’s specific working methods, such as work on the complaints of citizens, or providing opinions and recommendations, the Deputy underlined the importance of closer cooperation with the state and local government bodies for increasing their transparency and openness and raising citizens’ awareness of their rights. He also stressed that, in order to fight corruption, the data of public significance must be available to the citizens in accordance with the law.
The aim of the round table was to cast light on the possibilities of strengthening the capacity of civil society for preventing and eliminating corruption, by both non-governmenal organizations primarily engaged in the research on and fight against corruption and those whose mission is oriented toward human rights.
Speeches were also delivered by Dr Slobodan Beljanski, a member of Committee of Anti-Corruption Agency, Dr Julio Bacio Terracino, an expert of the International Council for Human Rights, and Dr Dejan Milenković, an assistant professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade.
April 26, 2010: The experts of the Ombudsman Department for National Minority Rights talked to the representatives of Praxis organization who revealed their rich multi-years’ experiences of representing citizens in cases of personal documents obtaining. The discussants emphasized the importance of engaging all competent institutions in the process of the improvement of normative solutions. They also agreed on their further cooperation in providing more efficial process of subsequent registration in the birth register as a basis to obtain personal documents, especially of the members of Roma community. Considering that there has been an increase in the citizens’ complaints submitted to the Ombudsman about the non-exercise of the right to residence registration, the issue of new legal solutions that would regulate this area was discussed too.
April 17, 2010: The Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić spoke at the conference “Strategies for the Political Participation of Roma in the Western Balkans” organized by the Forum of socialists and democrats at the European Parliament in order to address: a) the status and measures to include Roma in the public life; b) the enhancement of the Roma influence on solving the problems concerning the social-economic aspects of their integration, as well as their identity preservation and protection; c) the current issues in the process of minorities self-governments elections in Serbia.
April 16, 2010: The representatives of the Ombudsman Department for National Minorities’ Rights, Violeta Ćorić, its Head, and Jelena Ivanović attended the round table “Sustainable Solutions for Internally Displaced Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians with Policies on Advancement of Reintegration of the Roma Being Repatriated to Serbia”, which was organized by the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and OSCE in Belgrade, April 16, 2010.
A significant progress has been made in the recent years, however, the discussants pointed out that it is necessary to take additional measures and activities at all levels to improve these citizens’ position, their access to rights and sustainable integration in Serbia.
From the Ombudsman standpoint, a special attention should be paid to the improvement of the legal solutions and process of entitlement to their personal documents, i.e. the processes of subsequent birth data enters in the birth register and of residence registration, which are an essential precondition for the exercise of all other human and minority rights and freedoms.
April 8, 2010: Dr Rajko Đurić, the Ombudsman Higher Advisor on the 8th of April – International Roma Day:
The International Roma Day on the 8th of April was established in 1971 at the first world congress of this ethnic community, whose historic destiny could be stated in words: a nation with neither home nor grave. As said by history, the Roma nation was a victim of cruel persecution and discrimination. From the 15th century, when the “cross of racism” began to rise, many Roma ended on that cross because of the constructed accusations. Finally, the Holocaust brought the most extensive and terrifying chapters on Jewish and Roma victims in the history and written knowledge. If we neglect the consequences of those previous barbaric centuries, then it is hard - even impossible - to explain and comprehend why today the status of this minority is similar and often identical in different European countries that show different levels of political, economic, social and cultural development. On the other hand, the attitude towards Roma and “their problems” reveals that there has not yet prevailed a conviction that the truth is always on the side of those who are least privileged. It has not prevailed anywhere, not even in our country although Belgrade of the last century’s seventies and eighties was a “beacon” of ideas and initiatives to solve the problem of Roma not only in the former Yugoslavia, but also in Europe. After the frightening consequences testified by the historical experience, each form of discrimination must worry, especially discrimination in education that is an integral part of enlightenment and is – as it is often heard – “a break from the vicious circle” of Roma.
Out of many cases showing the appearance of discrimination in our schools, the most drastic is the statement of a psychologist (!) in a special primary school in Belgrade: “We, psychologists, internally among ourselves, name the IQ tests’ results of Roma children the Gypsy IQ. It means that they show retardation on our white tests”.
In addition to such a statement of the psychologist who claims to be “legally covered when the Roma children IQ is considered” and that “they can not score more than 70 on IQ tests, which ranks them in the group of slightly mentally retarded”, we cite another psychologist who also works in a special school in Belgrade: “I ask them what they will do when they see the smoke from a house. The correct answer would be to call the fire department… As a rule, Roma child answers that the furnace should be cleaned carefully or better fix the shuttle not to smoke a lot. This is why I have to give this child the zero mark on the test.”
To conclude, we will quote a psychiatrist from a health center in New Belgrade, who is “responsible” for the schooling problems of Roma children. “When asked where we get bread from, these children answer ‘from the garbage can’; and when asked where we get milk from, they say ‘from the shop’”. (This statement reminds of the famous anecdote from the American social psychology textbooks. Namely, when an urban child saw a horse for the first time, he asked where its “engine” is, while a rural child, fascinated by a car, inquired where the “car’s” legs are.) The above mentioned accounts of psychologists, who got their diplomas at our universities, can be a good reason for an “anatomy class”, i.e. anatomical examination of the special schools in our country, in which Roma children comprised more than 50% pupils two years ago, but there is 24% of them this year! (The children of majority population comprise 2%).
Even if Roma children, under unequal and harsh conditions, succeed in acquiring their university diplomas or scientific degrees, they wait for years to find employment, with small chances to reach it at all.
We could mention numerous examples from both our country and other European countries that testify that “proofs” of belonging to mankind are, publicly or covertly, required from Roma people. There are also examples showing how masks are put on their faces that make them “invisible” or “faceless”. This evokes memory of the comment on a slave by a famous European thinker: “Slave is a person if he/she is observed in his/her natural state, but is ‘faceless’ due to his/her civil status”.
Those criterions from the far history are being applied to the Roma today. The overall position of this national minority, which has features of ethnic class, has led us to treat the “Roma problems” more and more often as “ours”, that is as a political and social problem primarily.
However, it should be mentioned that the rights of Roma in Serbia have been improved with the adoption of several laws. As a further step, it is necessary to fully implement and develop institutions that can competently care about the protection of Roma identity and culture. This spirit is also confirmed by a new resolution of the European Parliament, which announced that the Roma issue will be more and more often on the European institutions’ agendas. The second Summit of the European Roma in Cordoba, April 8-9, will be devoted to this topic. Our delegation will participate in it.
March 24, 2010: The expert meeting “Support to the Strengthening the Institution of Ombudsman in the Republic of Serbia” was held within the twinning project of the Dutch and Greek Ombudsmen aimed at the Serbian Ombudsman capacity building.
March 23, 2010: The Ombudsman Professional Service Capacity Building – Providing support for the Ombudsman capacity building, the representatives of Greece and the Netherlands’ Ombudsmen trained the members of Serbian Ombudsman Professional Service.
March 16, 2010: The Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić and the advisor Nina Janić participated in the meeting at the Commissariat for Refugees of the Republic of Serbia, during which the Commissioner explained to the refugees from Croatia sheltered in the collective centre - former construction company “Planum” that they must opt for a solution provided by the National Strategy for Resolving the Problems of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons as the company intends to enter its real estate.
February 26, 2010: The Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić delievered a keynote speech at the round table “Interculturality and the young” organized by the non-governmental organization “Group 484” in Bela Crkva.
February 1, 2010: the Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić talked to the Head of Police Station in Temerin and the representatives of non-governmental and other organizations about interethnic incidents there. The Ombudsman issued a statement on the events.
LINK to
THE STATEMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OMBUDSMAN ON
THE MULTI-ETHNIC RELATIONS IN TEMERIN
Having considered the work of the Police station in Temerin, having talked to the representatives of the local community, and keeping in mind the reactions of the non-government organizations, media and the public opinion regarding four fights in which the culprits or victims were the citizens – members of different ethnic groups, the Ombudsman would like to point out the following.
There was no basis on which the Ombudsman could detect any failures of the Internal affairs’ or other public administration’s authorities, and the proceeding against the culprits of violence is being brought by the prosecution and courts. Nevertheless, the public polemic together with the similar recent incidents in Temerin and other Vojovdinian places, about which the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted the special recommendation, refer to the existence of some latent multi-ethnic tensions that must not be neglected.
Whether the motive for these attacks was to inflame the ethnic hatred and intolerance or not, the competent judicial organs will decide. However, regardless of the fact that the police did their job properly and conscientiously and that the judicial authorities continue to work in the same spirit, the Ombudsman thinks that the Temerin citizens alone can not deal with overcoming the ethnic distance and misunderstandings caused by it. Moreover, there are local communities that can resist such problems using their own resourses exclusively. In order to inherit the richness of multiculturality, it is not enough for our society to have the rights and protection guaranteed by the Constitution, but also a real social integration based on mutual trust and understanding. Laws and institutions should be a part of the responsible social policy that actively involves all relevant actors - civic society, churches, religious communities, national minorities’ self-governments, and especially media – to contribute to the integration building. The graffiti in Serbian and Hungarian provoking chauvinism and hatred certainly do not contribute to the stability of community and the citizens’ social security, as well as certain media reportings that sensationally and uncritically convey the news to the broader community, sometimes even out of context.
The responsibility for such a state of multi-ethnic relations in Temerin, but also in any other multi-ethnic community, is certainly born by the competent state authorities - those in charge for the issues of education and culture above all. It is their responsibility to design a multicultural policy that would embrace ethnicity as both the part of overall civil identity of individuals and of the groups they belong to, then to envision the methods of its long-term implementation, and to provide funds for its effective realization. The current multi-ethnic relations in various parts of Serbia point to the fact that, regardless of the developed normative and legal framework, there is a hard work waiting for the public administration, civil society and minorities’ self-governments to achieve a full integration of national minorities.
February 1, 2010: MEDIATION - The municipality of Stara Pazova continued the mediation in resolving the refugees’ status. All the previous participants took part again, but the solution which came in sight during the first mediation, was now threatened by the refugees’ unrealistic expectations in addition to the problems identified by the municipality representatives.
January 29, 2010: Panels “The Importance of the Participation of Minority National Community in Local and State Governments” and “Kosovo from the other side – how to continue after the conflict” - the Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić, Mr Ronald van Dartel, H.E. Ambassador of the Netherlands, Mr Veljko Džakula, the President of Serbian Democratic Forum from Croatia, and Mr Petar Miletić, the Secretary of Independent Liberal Party participated in the discussions during the two panels co-organized by the Center for Democracy and Southern Serbia Development and the Regional News Agency “Jug Press”.
January 17, 2010: The National Holiday of Ruthenians – The Ombusman Professional Service Associate attended the central ceremony on the occasion of the Ruthenian minority national holiday that took place in the city of Šid.
January 15, 2010: MEDIATION - the Deputy Ombudsman mediated in the status problems of refugees from Croatia sheltered in the former collective centre “Planum”. Besides him and his associates, the dispute was also mediated by the representatives of refugees, then of the Commissariat for Refugees of the Republic of Serbia, the Municipality of Stara Pazova, the Construction Company “Planum” and the Refugees’ Associations. They mediated a settlement over reactivating electricity and water supplies in the refugees’ barracks together with reviving the dialogue between the refugees, the Commissariat and the Municipality.
January 12, 2010: the Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić talked to the refugees in Stara Pazova who are sheltered in the former collective centre “Planum”.
January 11, 2010: Goran Bašić, his associates Violeta Ćorić and Nina Janić talked to the Commissioner for Refugees of the Republic of Serbia, Mr Vladimir Cucić and his deputy, Mrs Svetlana Velimirović on the status of refugees.
Activities in 2009
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December 24, 2009: the Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić talked to Mr Ljubodrag Pavlović, the Executive Director of Construction Company “Planum” about providing the basic living conditions to the refugees sheltered in the company’s property.
December 22, 2009: Goran Bašić, the Deputy Ombudsman, and Nina Janić, the associate, talked to the refugees from Croatia who found their shelter in the former collective centre “Planum” in Stara Pazova.
December 17, 2009: Scientific meeting “The 2011 Census and the Problem of National Minorities’ Statings on Nationality and Native Language” – having supported the amendments of the National Minorities’ Parliamentary Group in the National Assembly by announcing his Opinion, the Ombudsman Saša Janković organized an expert discussion on the problems of ethnicity stating for the forthcoming census in 2011. Besides him, the representatives of the Republic Agency for Statistics and the National Assembly Deputy Balint Pastor spoke on the issue as well.
December 10, 2009: The Deputy Ombudsman visited the Roma residing in the Barajevo settlement erected after their resettlement under the bridge “Gazelle”. In a conversation with the inhabitants, the Deputy Ombudsman was informed that their living conditions are more favourable, the children attend school and a part of the adults are involved in the educational system, and that the Centre for Social Work and the Municipal Government put their efforts into curbing the causes of these citizens’ poverty. Nevertheless, there still are the problems of obtaining identity documents, as well as of the spatial segregation and unemployment. All the more it is important to point out that the taken measures can be meaningful only if they are peristed in and accompanied by the affirmative action for improving the inhabitants living conditions and social-economic intergration.
November 25, 2009: Working meeting on the problems of the exercise of national minorities’ rights to the official use of their language and alphabet – it was a discussion about the socio-linguistic problems hampering the exercise of rights to the official use of languages and alphabets of national minorities.
November 23, 2009: The Chief of Department for National Minorities Violeta Ćorić and her associate Nina Janić attended a meeting at the Commissariat for Refugees. In accordance with the Ombudsman’s Recommendation, it was suggested to visit the refuges in collective centres again and propose them solutions for their sustainable status.
November 18, 2009: The Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić talked to Miodrag Lint, the president of Coalition of Refugee Associations in Serbia about the question of status of refugees from Croatia sheltered temporarily in the former collective centre “Planum” in Nova Pazova.
November 16, 2009: The Deputy Ombudsman, prof. dr Goran Bašić delievered a speech at the opening of the regional online educational programme “School of tolerance – the ethnic and religious communities in the promotion of minority rights” at Belgrade Open School.
November 11, 2009: The Deputy Ombudsman, prof. dr Goran Bašić spoke at the Law Faculty, at the presentation of the books “Contributions to the emergence of state-ecclesiastical law in Serbia” by prof. dr Sima Avramović and “Restauration of the Serbian state- ecclesiastical law” by prof. dr Milan Radulović.
October 15, 2009: The Ombudsman Saša Janković and his Deputy in charge of national minorities’ rights talked to Angel Josifov, the president of the National Council of Bulgarian Minority and Predrag Ivanov, the president of newspaper publishing company “Brotherhood” from the city of Dimitrovgrad about the rights of Bulgarian national minority to the cultural autonomy.
October 13, 2009: The Ombudsman Deputy for national minorities’ rights, dr Goran Bašić attended the opening of branch departments of the Legal Faculty and the Economic Faculty of Niš University in Medveđa.
October 10, 2009: Seminar “Capacity building through direct cooperation between the Council for Interethnic Relations and non-government organizations and independent bodies” - The Ombudsman Deputy dr Goran Bašić spoke on the issues of establishing and functioning of the local independent bodies, especially of the Councils for Interethnic Relations.
October 9, 2009: Talks in the municipalities of Kučevo and Bor - The Ombudsman Deputy dr Goran Bašić met the leaders of municipalities’ governemments and police administrations, the representatives of the National Council of Vlach Minority, media, and non-government organizations.
September 30, 2009: Visit to the municipality of Medvedja – The Head of Department for National Minorities Violeta Ćorić continued to talk with the representatives of public administration, the municipal self-government and municipality court in Medvedja, as well as its citizens on the exercise of rights of national minorities in the southern Serbian municipalities.
September 29, 2009: Visit to the municipality of Preševo –Violeta Ćorić talked to the representatives of the municipality self-government and non-govenrmental organizations on the exercise of rights of the Albanian national minority and other civil rights.
September 28, 2009: Visit to the municipality of Bujanovac - The Chief of Department for National Minorities Violeta Ćorić and her associates conducted conversations with the representatives of municipality government, the chief of police administration and the president of municipality court on the exercise of right to the official use of language and alphabet of national minorities.
September 24, 2009: the seminar“Capacity building through direct cooperation between the Council for Interethnic Relations and non-government organizations and independent bodies” was attended by the Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić and associates Ljiljana Stević and Nina Janić. In his report on “The Ombudsman role in protecting national minorities – the effects of supporting multi-ethnic communities”, dr Bašić highlighted that the Ombudsman is devoted to the development of local democracy and strengthening of local self-government, during which the decisive factor is the intensification of local ombudsmen and bodies under municipalities’ assemblies with the control role – the Council for Interethnic Relations, the Commission on Gender Equality, etc.
September 18, 2009: Seminar“Capacity building through direct cooperation between the Council for Interethnic Relations and non-government organizations and independent bodies” - Goran Bašić attended the seminar organized by the Centre for human rights in Priboj and spoke on the issue of the exercise of national minorities’ rights in the local communities.
September 17, 2009: Meeting with the Mayor of Priboj Municipality Lazar Rvović and the President of Municipal Assembly Vitomir Pjevac – On the issues of the official use of language and alphabet of the Bosniak national minority in Priboj, the Deputy Ombudsman talked to the municipality leaders, and afterwards to the representatives of municipal administration too.
September 16, 2009: Meeting with the Mayor of Novi Pazar Municipality Meho Mahmutović and the municipal self-government - the Deputy Ombudsman and his associates held a meeting with the mayor, the president of city assembly, the city chamber and committee members during which they discussed the exercise of national minorities’ rights, the interethnic relations, as well as the social and other issues both in the region and Novi Pazar.
August 21, 2009: Meeting with Marcel Dragan, the Secretary of the National Council of Romanian Minority in Serbia was dedicated to the exercise of right of the Romanian national minority to officially use its language in Serbia.
August 20, 2009: Meeting with the Provincial Secretariat Expert in Regulations, Administration and National Minorities – The Ombudsman Associates had a talk with Danica Lučić about the research into exercising the right to the official use of language and alphabet of national minorities.
August 20, 2009: Meeting with the Provincial Ombudsman – On the subject of protecting and exercising the rights of national minorities, there was a meeting with the Vojvodinian Ombudsman, dr Petar Teofilović and his Deputy Zoltan Gobor.
August, 10, 2009: Inception of the project dedicated to the problems of official use of national minorities’ languages and alphabets – With the support of OSCE, the Ombudsman started a research aimed at determining the legal and factual situation related to the exercise the right to the official use of languages and alphabets of national minorities in Serbia. The project is being realized by the Ombudsman Department for National Minorities, with the assistance of dr Ljubica Djordjević.
August 4, 2009: The Ombudsman Saša Janković made the Decision (act no. 48-263/09, register no: 5595) on the formation of the Ombudsman Council for National Minorities Rights. The Council was established as an expert advisory body of the Ombudsman. Its members are as follows: assistant professor dr Ljubica Đorđević, professor Milan Vukomanović, professor dr Ranko Bugarski, dr Slaven Bačić, academicians Tibor Varadi and Vojislav Stanovčić. The Council provides the expert and advisory support to the Ombudsman, and especially to his Deputy responsible for the rights of national minorities. Both the council, collectively, and its members, individually, give opinions and proposals, raise questions, discuss standpoints and the practice, strategies and plans of the institution of Ombudsman in the field of minority rights.
July 31, 2009: Panel on the Law on Social Housing –The Chief of Departmant for National Minorities’ Rights Violeta Ćorić participated in the round table on the issues of social housing. It was organized by the NGO “Group 484” in order to discuss the provisions of the Social Housing Law and the process of drafting National Strategy for Social Housing Development.
July 17, 2009: Conference “Implementation of Local Action Plans for the Roma Inculsion (Education) Through the Work of Roma Health Care Workers and Roma Teaching Assistants”.
Ljiljana Stević and Nina Janjić, Advisors of the Ombudsman Professional Service participated in the work of conference.
July 1, 2009: The Deputy Mayor of Belgrade, Jovan Krkobabić talked to the Ombudsman Saša Janković and his deputies on the problem of Roma resettlement and other social and economic rights of the Belgrade citizens.
June 30, 2009: The Democratic Centre organized a stand on the current Roma issues in Belgrade – Introductory speeches delivered by prof. dr Dragoljub Mićunović, dr Rajko Đurić, PhD, and dr Goran Bašić.
June 30, 2009: Round table “Improving the Roma Status and Safety Protection” – the Interior Minister Ivica Dačić explained the role of the Ministry in improving safety of the Roma population in the Republic of Serbia, while highlighting the increase in number of national mainorities’ members employed in the public administration and especially in the Interior Ministry. The Ombudsman Higher Advisor Ljiljana Stević participated in the work of round table.
June 11, 2009: Visit to the Municipality of Topola – at invitation of the Mayor of Topola Dragan Jovanović, the Ombudsman experts Krcun Dragović and Zorica Zelen attended the presentation of solution to resettling Roma from their unhygienic settlement to a sustainable one.
June 9, 2009: The Deputy Ombudsman for national minorities’ rights Goran Bašić talked on the panel “The Legal Status of Churches and Religious Communities in Serbia – the Implementation of Existing Laws” organized by Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Prof. dr Sima Avramović, prof. dr Milan Radulović i dr Dragan Novaković also participated in the panel.
May 26-27, 2009: The Deputy Ombudsman and his associates paid a two-day visit to the municipalities of Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa where they received the citizens’ complaints and met the representatives of municipal administrations, schools, institutions entrusted with public authorities, centres for social work, NGOs, and media.
May 12, 2009: Together with the Agency for cooperation with NGOs and the National Council of Roma Minority, CEKOR organized a debate on the plan to resettle Roma living under the “Gazelle” bridge. The Chief of Department for National Minorities’ Rights Violeta Ćorić participated in it.
April 29, 2009: Ombudsman talked to the scientific meeting participants – On the particular issues of the legal status and recognition of churches and religious communities, the Ombudsman and his deputy Goran Bašić talked to Nonka Bogomilova, Stevan Bugarski, Slivo Devetak, Srđan Vukadinović, Nenad Đurđević, Dragoljub Đorđević, Jovan Živković, Petar Lastić, Vojislav Stanovčić, Sergej Flere and Milan Radulović who participated in the scientific meeting the day before.
April 28, 2009: Scientific meeting “The Legal Status of Churches and Religious Communities and the Legal Entity Obtaining” – on the basis of citizens complaints regarding the unsolved status of Jehovah’s Witnesses and CPC, the Ombudsman made a thorough analysis of situation of churches and religious communities and the related law, as well as of the Rule Book of Ministry of Religions according to which unrecognized churches and religious communities acquire their legal entity. Given that this is an exceptionally sensitive issue of highest social importance, the Ombudsman called for an expert meeting to consider the regional experiences and specific questions related to recognition of churches and religious communities. The meeting was attended by His Grace Bishop Irinej of Bachka (of the Serbian Orthodox Church), Monsignor Andrija Kopilović of Subotica Bishopric (of the Roman Catholic Church), the Mufti of the Islamic Community of Serbia Adem Zilkić, the Belgrade Imam Muhamed Jusufspahić, the representatives of other churches, as well as experts: academician Ivan Cvitković, prof. dr Silvo Devetak, prof. dr Sergej Flere et al.
April 25, 2009: The Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić talked to the textile workers who went on strike in the city of Novi Pazar. He discussed the problems of strikers with the city mayor Mirsad Đerlek too.
April 20, 2009: The Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić published a text on the Roma housing problems in the daily newspaper “Politika”.
April 8, 2009: In an interview tothe“Forefinger” at B92 Radio, The Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić said that “the recent demolition of Roma hovels in the unhygienic settlement in New Belgrade has not been done in accordance with the rules”.
April 8, 2009: In the daily newspaper “Danas”, the Deputy Ombudsman published a text on the resettlement of Roma hovels
March 31, 2009: Meeting with the National Councils of National Minorities - The Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić held a meeting with the representatives of the National Councils of National Minorities.
March 26-28, 2009: the Conference “Churches, Religious Communities, and Civil Society to Strengthen Human Rights and Democracy in Serbia” was organized by Belgrade Open School and the Christian cultural centre. The Chief of Department for National Minorities Rights Violeta Ćorić took part in its work.
March 20, 2009: The International Anti-Racism Day – To celebrate it, the Ombudsman organized a public discussion with the students of Faculty for European Legal and Political Studies in Novi Sad, during which dr Rajko Đurić gave a lecture “Racism – yesterday, today, tomorrow”.
March 20, 2009: On the occasion of the International Anti-Racism Day on March 21, the Ombudsman Saša Janković and the Ombudsman of the City of Belgrade Dušanka Gaćeša proposed an initiative the Assembly of the City of Belgrade to name one primary school after Dušan Jovanović, a fourteen year old boy who was beaten to death in downtown Belgrade in 1997, only because he was Roma. On this tragic event, the ombudsman issued a statement: “We proposed this initiative in the belief that the permanent suppression of ideologies and behaviours based on the racial or ethnic exclusion can not be realized only by the administrative prohibitions and court proceedings. To accomplish the final goal, that is to eliminate any form of racist, chauvinistic bahaviour and discrimination rooted in such ideas, it is of vital importance in addition to severe sanctions to take and implement measures aimed at reinforcing social values, such as restoring the value of education and schooling in conjunction with their betterment and availability, fighting discrimination and protecting the diginity of all citizens everywhere under every circumstance. A symbolic example and a part of the comprehensive policy on stamping out racism and chauvinism is to name one of the Belgrade elementary schools after Dušan Jovanović, the child who was killed solely because of the insane hatred of several individuals for his nation.
March 19, 2009:The Ombudsman Saša Janković met the Priština students – the Ombudsman talked to the students of Pristina University about their problems of education, diploma recognition and integration into the social system.
February 19, 2009: Meeting in the municipality of Novi Pazar – the Ombudsman had a discussion with the Mayor of Novi Pazar, Mr Đerlek, on the topics regarding launching of the Council for Interethnic Relations, exercising the right to official use of the minority language, as well as the right to educate and inform national minorities.
February 18, 2009: Meeting in the municipality of Tutin – The Deputy Ombudsman visited Tutin where he met the municipality authorities and NGOs and continued the debate on the rights of national minorities and the attitude of local administration towards multiethnicity and the incorporation of independent bodies into it.
February 17, 2009: Talks in the municipalities of Prijepolje and Priboj – In relation to the exercise of the right to officially use the language and other rights of national minorities, the Deputy Ombudsman talked to the President of Municipal Assembly of Prijepolje, the Presidents of Priboj Municipality and Municipal Assembly, as well as to the principles of municipal and police administrations, and NGOs leaders.
February 13, 2009: On the initiative of the Ombudsman Saša Janković, it was held a meeting with the local ombudsmen on the issues of Roma resettlements and their status in Serbia. The introductory speeches were delieverd by the Ombudsman, his Deputy in charge for national minorities and dr Rajko Đurić, higher advisor in the Ombudsman Professional Service.
February 12, 2009: The Ombudsman Saša Janković talked to the leaders of the municipalities of Bujanovac, Medveđa, and Preševo about the exercise of human and minority rights.
February 4, 2009: Meetings in the municipalities of Bečej and Srbobran – In cooperation with the Bečej Ombudsman, the Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić had a discussion with the heads of municipal self-governments, citizens, NGOs, and the chief of police administration about the exercise of national minority rights. In the primary school “Šamu Mihalj“, the Deputy learnt about the problems related to thier communication with the Ministry of Education and the right to earn wage.
January 30, 2009: Meetings in the municipalities of Kula and Vrbas - the Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić talked to the representatives of National Minority Councils, citizens, and leaders of municipal administrations about the status of the members of Ruthenian, Hungarian, Roma and other national minorities.
January 29, 2009: Meetings in the Municipalities of Senta and Novi Bečej - the Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić had talks with the mayors, the members of municipal councils and assemblies, the representatives of schools’ administrations, NGOs and citizens with regard to the problems of exercising the rights of national minorities.
Activities in 2008
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December 10, 2008: HUMAN RIGHTS DAY – Celebrating Human Rights Day, the Deputy Ombudsman with his associates visited the municipality of Topola and talked to the mayor about the resettlement of Roma from the unhygienic commune in the municipality centre. The Deputy also visited the local Roma and their NGO “Đurđevak“.
December 8, 2008: Meeting with the reprentatives of Romanians in the settlement of Ovča - the Deputy Ombudsman Goran Bašić and the Ombudsman Professional Service Advisor Zorica Zelen talked to the Romanians living in Ovča about the problems related to the announced planned resettling of Roma from various Belgrade settlements to Ovča that is traditionally inhabited by Romanians.
November 28, 2008: The Deputy Ombudsman started to collect data on the exercise of national minorities’ rights in the local self-governments. The questionnaires on various aspects of exercising the national minorities’ rights have been sent to the institutions and facilities in 68 multi-ethnic cities and municipalities. The goal is to establish, according to the collected and verified data, a database of the exercise of national minorities’ rights that would serve as a basis for planning and undertaking activities aimed at promoting both the protection of national minorities’ rights and good governance in the local multiethnic communities.
November 14, 2008: The Deputy Ombudsman dr Goran Bašić had talks with the representatives of the municipal self-government in Novi Pazar about exercising the Bosniak national minority rights. The Deputy also met the representatives of elementary schools’ and the Gymnasium administrations.
November 13, 2008: “Problems of Education in the Minority Languages” - The Deputy Ombudsman met the representatives of National Councils of National Minorities to discuss problems related to the education in the languages of national minorities.
November 10, 2008: The Deputy Ombudsman for the rights of national minorities, dr Goran Bašić visited the multi-ethnic municipality Kovačica and talked to the teachers and administrators of the schools in which courses are run in the languages of national minotities.
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