The Protector of Citizens, Zoran Pašalić, congratulated the Christmas Eve and Christmas to the citizens who celebrate this great Christian holiday according to the Gregorian calendar.

"May the joy of Christmas fill homes with warmth and happiness, and encourage believers to mutual respect, solidarity and care for others. I wish you to spend this holiday of joy and love in the circle of your family, surrounded by your loved ones, in good health and well-being", Pašalić said in his congratulatory message.

The Protector of Citizens, Zoran Pašalić, said today that the number of legally invisible persons in the Republic of Serbia has significantly decreased, but that there are still citizens and children who are not recognized by the system, especially from Roma communities in informal settlements.

At the conference organized by the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, the Protector of Citizens and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on the occasion of the eighth anniversary of the #JaPripadam (#Ibelong) global campaign for the complete eradication of statelessness, Pašalić stated that residents of informal settlements are still in a difficult situation and at risk of statelessness.

Pašalić appealed to the competent authorities to make additional efforts in order to mitigate the consequences of the pandemic, which are still visible in the social and economic segment of the life of members of the Roma community in informal settlements.

The Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Aleksandar Martinović, stated that systemic solutions enabled smooth registration in the birth register and improved other rights from personal status, and added that cases of a person not being registered in the birth register now only occur as an exception.

Martinović stated that the ministry's focus in the future will be on solving the remaining cases, but also preventing new cases of legally invisible persons, especially when it comes to members of the Roma community.

The acting head of the UNHCR Representation in Serbia, Stefanie Krause, pointed out that the number of Roma without identity documents in Serbia has significantly decreased since 2014, when the #JaPripadam campaign was launched, and added that Serbia could become one of the first countries in Europe to eradicate the risk of statelessness in the next two years, until the end of the campaign.

The Deputy Protector of Citizens for Children's Rights, Jelena Stojanović, stated today that in the Republic of Serbia, the protection of children from violence in schools is mainly based on responding to violence and that schools often do not recognize their role in protecting children, and assessed that prevention is a prerequisite for combating violence in schools.

"The system for protecting children from violence is more focused on response and protection than on prevention. Prevention programs are rare and usually do not have a large scope. Continuous, comprehensive and systematic prevention of violence is not implemented, and the Protector of Citizens believes that prevention is a prerequisite for suppressing violence in schools", Stojanović said at the meeting "Serbia tailored to the child – infrastructure and challenges in implementation".

At the gathering, which was organized by the OSCE Mission to Serbia and the civil organization "Centre for Children's Rights", Stojanović said that the data obtained by the Protector of Citizens in the control investigations against the competent authorities show that a large number of schools in Serbia still do not have a functional Team for the protection against violence, abuse and neglect, as well as that students have no knowledge of its existence.

As a worrying fact, Stojanović stated that violence against students by employees continues to occur in schools, especially in the lower grades of elementary school, but also that parents are often not ready to cooperate with schools and accept the educational measures imposed on their children due to violence.

Stojanović reminded that in September 2022, the Summer School of the Protector of Citizens on children's rights was held for the first time, attended by 20 children and young people from all over Serbia aged 13 to 17, which was organized with the aim of improving children's knowledge of their rights and available protection mechanisms, as well as recognition of different forms of violence and methods of protection.

The Protector of Citizens, Zoran Pašalić, assessed today, on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day – 10 December, that the greatest achievement in the area of human rights is the awareness that in addition to the rights that everyone seeks for themselves, there should also be a need to help all those whose rights are threatened.

"The key word is solidarity, more precisely mutual support and the need to help each other. Solidarity represents the tradition of people from this area, which has been shown in the most critical situations, even in recent history", said Pašalić.

Pašalić said that solidarity means respecting the rights of each person and strengthening their potential through support and assistance, and reminded of the importance of the well-being of each person because we are all connected in numerous ways, especially in times of crisis.

"Every day, we should keep in mind that each of our fellow citizens, neighbors or colleagues, each person has the same rights that we recognize for ourselves. We should all respect these rights individually, but also protect them and help in cases where some of them are threatened", stated Pašalić.