The return to school desks, regular classes and meeting peers during the breaks are principal wishes of elementary and secondary school students all over Serbia expressed by the Institution’s Youth Advisory Panel members in a discussion with Ms. Jelena Stojanović, the Deputy Protector of Citizens for Child Rights.

“We wish to attend school daily and have regular classes. Those of us who enrolled in high schools this year have not yet met the other half of the class. If cafes and clubs are allowed to work, then we may attend school normally as well", states one of the participants in a meeting held via Zoom due to the current epidemiological concerns.

Most of the participants in the meeting confirmed that they missed going to school daily, in-person teaching, as well as the opportunity to immediately ask the teachers anything they were interested in. They also complained about the online classes’ organization, particularly the fact that in some schools, students from one group sent to friends from another group what had been taught at school that day, so the omissions occurred.

Another disadvantage is the fact that they have to prepare on their own for tests in different subjects scheduled in the same week.

Youth Advisory Panel representatives told the Protector of Citizens’ expert associates that due to the organization of classes via the Internet, they had little spare time for socializing and free activities. In their words, they mostly miss socializing at school.

Upon learning from the media about the alleged case of cannibalism in the vicinity of Belgrade, the Protector of Citizens launched, on his own initiative, an investigation to control the legality and regularity of the City Social Welfare Centre’s work with a view to being acquainted with the facts and circumstances relevant to the event.

The Protector of Citizens requires from the City Social Welfare Center to state, no later than 15 days, whether it was previously acquainted with the situation in the family, whether and on what grounds they were on the guardianship authority’s records, whether there have been reports of violence in the past period, with special reference to the measures and actions taken by the Center in order to provide adequate support and protection to the family.

The Protector of Citizens requires the Center to submit other information considered relevant and a copy of the documentation; and after that further course of the investigation will be decided upon.

Regarding the launching of the national event "Children’s Week”, the Protector of Citizens, Mr. Zoran Pašalić, reiterated today that it was necessary to amend the relevant legal and other regulations concerning child rights protection with a view to improving the position of the most vulnerable population category.

The Institution of the Protector of Citizens had been very successful in protecting the rights and best interests of the child since its establishment 13 years ago, and the new Law on the Protector of Citizens will significantly improve child rights protection in every sense, both in terms of prevention and protection, but also in terms of effectiveness of the protection implementation, Mr. Pašalić said.

Deputy Protector of Citizens for Child Rights, Ms. Jelena Stojanović, highlighted that during this year majority of problems in child rights protection had occurred during the state of emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

There had been problems because the competent Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs was not prompt in recognizing the needs of special categories of children, nor had it pointed out to other decision-makers the specific needs of e.g. children with autism; however, further to the urging by the Protector of Citizens, those omissions had been rectified, Ms. Stojanović said.

“We will continue to continuously and very carefully monitor the work of all competent state bodies and institutions tasked with protecting child rights and urgently react to all their omissions in the work in order to provide children with the highest degree of their rights and interests protection”, Ms. Stojanović stated.

On the occasion of "Children’s Week", the Protector of Citizens organized an online survey with the children from the Youth Panel of the Protector of Citizens as participants. The main impressions of the Youth Panel members regarding the state of emergency were the feeling of boundedness, isolation, fear, but also the acceptance of the new way of schooling, while most of the participants in the survey liked distance learning.

“I felt somehow closed, I can’t go anywhere when I would like to meet my friends”, “I felt closed, both physically and mentally, I was bored, I was listless and tired, deprived of freedom", "At the beginning of the state of emergency, I was a little nervous, everything that could be closed (schools, shopping malls, colleges, theaters ...) was closed,” - these were some of the inputs of the young about their experience regarding the state of emergency.

“The advantages are that they put less pressure on us, we may sleep longer, and as for the disadvantages I single out that it is harder to learn school subjects ", “It's an advantage that I don't have to study to get a mark and that we are at home ", "Distance learning can never be as good as in person learning," the representatives of the "Youth Panel" said.

The Protector of Citizens requested the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia to lift the ban on the alienation of the new vehicles 60 day from the day of purchase and was assured from the competent ministry that this measure would be withdrawn within 24 hours.

The Protector of Citizens learned from citizens that the Serbian Ministry of Interior banned new vehicles buyers to alienate the vehicles for 60 days from the day of purchase of the vehicle, and the measure was applicable to new vehicles purchased in car showrooms.

The Protector of Citizens asked the Ministry of Interior of Serbia to withdraw this measure because it is contrary to the laws and the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia as it restricts the property rights of new vehicle owners without any legal basis.

The measure prohibiting the alienation of vehicles will remain in force for the purchase of used vehicles.