Opinions and Statements

The Protector of Citizens determined that the measures of the prohibition of movement, during the state of emergency caused by the pandemic of contagious COVID-19 virus, had negative impact on the exercise of different rights of children and that they had particularly negative impact on the realization of the rights of children with disabilities, but also on their further psychophysical development.

In “Protector of Citizens’ Special Report on the impact of the regulations and measures for curbing the spread of COVID-19 infectious disease on child rights”, which was presented today in Palata Srbija (Palace of Serbia), the right to maintaining personal relations with the parent with whom the child does not live and right to use the service of social protection (day care) were mostly subject of violations during the state of emergency as well as after it terminated.

Due to the impossibility of using the day care service, children with developmental disabilities withdrew into themselves, and according to the parents’ statements, the introduced measures had negative medium-term and long-term impacts on the child: hindering development, lasting negative effect, slow return to routine and deterioration of mental development, shows the Special Report of the Protector of Citizens.

In the Special Report in the Recommendations for rectifying the shortcomings, the Protector of Citizens stated that prior to adopting similar measures, the decision makers should consider potential negative impacts on certain categories of children, and take into account parents’ professional responsibilities and in compliance with that provide adequate support to children with developmental disabilities.

In addition, competent authorities should include, in adopting similar measures, children, parents and employees in social welfare institutions, while the competent Ministry should ensure that employees in day cares make individual plans of support to children in case of re-imposed prohibition of movement and that the work in such circumstances should be organized via online platforms.

Prior to the presentation of the report, Zoran Pašalić, the Protector of Citizens, said that both during the state of emergency and nowadays, the Institution he headed placed the focus of its activities on the protection of the most vulnerable part of population – children, elderly, people with disabilities and poverty-stricken.

"Our Special Report summarizes all activities carried out by the Protector of Citizens during the state of emergency to protect the rights of the child and refers not only to children with special needs but to all children who were endangered in such a situation," said Pašalić.

Pašalić emphasized that emergency situations required emergency response, change of work methods and adjustment to new conditions, and that epidemiological measures had changed during the state of emergency and, accordingly, the problems of citizens, which the Protector of Citizens reacted to, advised and submitted initiatives for changes in regulations.

Before the presentation of the report, UNICEF Director Deyana Kostadinova said that the measures of the Republic of Serbia to prevent the spread of the pandemic had been prompt and decisive, but that they had limited some children's rights and expressed confidence that the competent institutions would implement the recommendations contained in the Special Report in order to avoid possible similar situations.

Deputy Protector of Citizens for Child Rights Jelena Stojanović said while presenting the report that the reasons for restricting children's rights during the state of emergency included complicated procedure for obtaining a movement permit during movement ban, poor coordination of authorities and the inability to transform the day care needed to preserve and develop child's potential into activities that can be carried out remotely.

The Special Report of the Protector of Citizens has been compiled in cooperation with the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC) supported by the UNICEF Office in Belgrade.

The Deputy Protector of Citizens for Gender Equality, Ms. Jelena Stojanović, stated today that in addition to poverty, discrimination and violence, main problems faced by the women from rural areas included the lack of special services and support services, as well as more difficult access to healthcare institutions.

At the event “Position of women in rural areas, discrimination and violence against the elderly women and the importance of seeking protection “organized in Sirogojno on the occasion of International Women’s Day – 8 March, Stojanović called on all attendees to approach the Protector of Citizens if they believe that their rights have been violated.

“Approach the Protector of Citizens when the competent authorities do not act upon violence reports, when you have problems with “administrative silence”, if you do not receive a decision on the right to pension within two months, if the cadaster does not act within two months on your request for registration, if you cannot go to a specialist check-up for which you have obtained referral or for any other reason which you believe calls into question the exercise of your guaranteed rights” Stojanović said at the event organized by the Associations “Zlatiborski krug” from Čajetina and “Snaga prijateljstva – Amity” from Belgrade.

The Chair of the Association “Snaga prijateljstva – Amity”, Ms. Nadežda Satarić indicated that the practice showed that the elderly women were in a worse position than the elderly men because their pensions were lower, they did not own property, they were more often victims of violence and neglect and added that their right to access the healthcare services was endangered.

The representative of the Council for Gender Equality of Čajetina Municipality, Ms. Brankica Rajović, presented the plans for holding workshops with women from rural areas on health preservation, as well as the procedures to report domestic violence.

The representative of the Association” Zlatiborski krug” Ms. Zorica Milosavljević said that the Association existed for 20 years and that their target groups were the elderly, the young and the women, with particular focus on women aged 70 and 80.

The participants of the forum, women from the villages of Sirogojno, Rožanstvo, Kriva Reka and those from Zlatibor emphasized that up until several years ago they had not had health station, dental hospital and local transportation, but that it was no longer the case.

They stated that there were systemic problems regarding the approach to healthcare and social welfare services, education, transport in rural areas and that amendments to regulations were needed in order to address them.

After the investigation of the Protector of Citizens, the competent Commission of the City of Belgrade for solving housing needs of national liberation wars (NOR) participants, military disabled people and family members of fallen and dead soldiers and war military disabled people has acknowledged the time spent in war as special doubled work service, increasing in this way his number of scores in the ranking list.

In September 2021, acting upon the complaint filed by a person with disabilities the Protector of Citizens launched an investigation to control work legality and regularity of the Secretariat for Property and Legal Affairs of the Belgrade City Administration, Joint Commission for solving housing needs of NOR participants, military disabled people and members of the families of fallen and dead soldiers and war military disabled people and Commission for Housing Issues of the Belgrade Mayor.

In this investigation, the Protector of Citizens established that during the drafting of the preliminary ranking lists for solving housing issues, and despite the submitted documentation, the Competent Commissions failed to grant to the complainant time spent in war as a separate working service of double duration, more precisely that they failed to act in accordance with the Law and the decisions of the Administrative Court which annulled several of their decisions.

After an urging intervention by the Protector of Citizens, the Secretariat for Property and Legal Affairs, in mid-December 2021, submitted a notification that a new Commission for Housing Issues of Belgrade Mayor was established and its competence covered the non-finalized procedures of the Joint Commission for Solving Housing Needs of NOR participants, military disabled people and members of the families of fallen and dead soldiers and war military disabled people.

At the end of December 2021, the complainant informed the Protector of Citizens that his case had been resolved in a positive manner, that his objection to the Draft Preliminary Ranking List was adopted, more precisely that the competent Commission issued a decision determining his additional scores on the grounds of participation in armed actions and that he now ranks higher on the ranking list.

Today, the Protector of Citizens, Mr. Zoran Pašalić, within the practice of "Open Doors", which he introduced in 2017 after coming to the head of this institution, personally talked with citizens from all over Serbia about the problems they have regarding the exercise of their rights in contact with competent authorities.

Today, the citizens mostly complained to the Protector of Citizens about the problems they had in exercising family and property-legal rights, about the work of courts, although this institution does not have the possibility to control the work of courts, as well as about other issues that pose obstacles for them to exercise their rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the law.

The reception of citizens at the seat of the Institution of the Protector of Citizens, which was going on uninterruptedly for more than four years, was temporarily suspended during the state of emergency imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, but when it ended, the practice of personal meetings and interviews of the Protector of Citizens with citizens was restored.

Deputy Protector of Citizens, Jelena Stojanović, stated today, after signing the Agreement on continuing cooperation on the eradication of statelessness in Serbia that she expected the issue of citizens of the Republic of Serbia who did not have personal documents to be fully resolved as soon as possible.

"It is very important for the Roma community that the exercise of the right to personal documents is always in the limelight for the competent authorities. I expect that the implementation of this third Agreement of Understanding will fully resolve the issue of legally invisible people," said Stojanović.

Today, Stojanović signed the third Agreement of Understanding on continuing cooperation on eradicating statelessness in Serbia with the Head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representation in Serbia, Francesca Bonelli and Minister of State Administration and Local Self-Government, Marija Obradović.

The Deputy Protector of Citizens stated that the Ombudsman institution paid particular attention to the protection of the rights of the Roma national minority, and that in previous years, the Protector of Citizens had visited dozens of Roma settlements in order to get acquainted with the problems they faced and provide concrete assistance.

Head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representation in Serbia, Francesca Bonelli, said that the organization had launched a global campaign #Japripadam (#IBelong) in order to eradicate statelessness in the world and that joint efforts were needed to address the remaining problems of people at risk of statelessness living in informal settlements who still did not have all personal documents.

“It is estimated that the number of people facing risk of statelessness in Serbia has decreased from approximately 30,000 in 2010 to about 2,000 in 2022. Therefore, we stand convinced that the Republic of Serbia will be one of the countries to eradicate statelessness and achieve the goals of the UNHCR campaign "I belong" in the next 1,000 days," Bonelli added.

"Institutions in Serbia have stepped up the legal framework and created mechanisms for smooth registration in the birth register, especially for children whose parents do not have personal documents, which provides legal security for those children and for the system as a whole. In cooperation with the Protector of Citizens and the UNHCR, special emphasis was placed on solving the problems of one of the most vulnerable groups in our country, and that is Roma population and on the promotion of other rights regarding personal status, “said Minister Marija Obradović.

Obradović added that the UNHCR study on the prevalence of statelessness among Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians living in informal settlements in Serbia showed that cases when of someone not being registered in the birth register at the moment appeared as an exception and that this agreement would help total eradication of statelessness in Serbia by the end of 2024.

The agreement stipulates that the parties make joint efforts to address the remaining cases when Roma national minority, or anyone else facing these problems, have not exercised the right to registration in the birth register or other rights from personal status, with a special focus on the registration of their newborns in this official record.

The Protector of Citizens has requested Bucko Preschool Institution in Sokobanja to urgently enroll a child from that town, who was not vaccinated since birth and whose inoculation was postponed for a certain period following the doctor’s opinion, in the preschool preparatory program in accordance with the Law in order to enable the child to exercise the right to education.

In the investigation to control legality and regularity of the competent authorities’ work, which was launched further to the complaint of the child’s parents, the Protector of Citizens identified omissions in the work of Bucko Preschool Institution and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development that violated child’s right to education.

According to the Opinion of the Protector of Citizens, the preschool institution, made an omission in its work as it rejected, contrary to the Law, a request to enroll an unvaccinated child whose vaccination, according to a report from November 2021, was postponed for additional three months following a recommendation of immunologist, whereas the line ministry made omission because it failed to take measures to rectify the omission of the preschool institution upon learning that the child was not enrolled in the preschool institution.

The Protector of Citizens states that the Law on Protecting the Population from Infectious Diseases and Rulebook on Immunization and Protection Using Medicines do not specify that it is necessary for the parent or guardian to submit a separate document when enrolling the child in a preschool institution, but it is emphasized that a certificate by the chosen pediatrician proving the vaccination status is needed for the stay of the child in the group.

In the Recommendations for rectifying the omissions, paired with a request to notify the Protector of Citizens within 15 days on acting upon Recommendations, the Protector of Citizens requested the preschool institution to enroll a child without further delay and to contact the Ministry of Health immediately upon enrollment in order to determine whether the certificate submitted by the child’s parents represents a suitable document for the child’s stay in the institution.

The Protector of Citizens requested the line ministry to carry out inspection of Bucko Preschool Institution in order to determine whether the enrollment of the child was completed pursuant to the Law on the Fundamentals of Education System and to notify the Protector of Citizens on the outcomes within 30 days.

The Protector of Citizens requested the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media to act in accordance with the Law in its future work and to pronounce adequate sanctions against providers of media services at all times when it determines that they committed omissions and broadcast inappropriate content.

After learning that the horoscopes of a teacher of acting and the actress who filed a criminal charge in January 2021 and accused him publically of raping her as a teacher of acting in the acting school when she was 17, were interpreted in morning program of TV Happy, the Protector of Citizens launched own-initiative investigation to control work legality and regularity of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media.

In the investigation of control, the Protector of Citizens determined that the REM committed omissions in the work by not imposing appropriate measures to sanction Happy Television for broadcasting the contentious content as well as by halting the proceedings about this content even though it was concluded that the broadcaster had committed the violation.

In its notification to the Protector of Citizens, REM explained that it decided not to issue sanctions to media service provider because it had already issued a warning to TV Happy for identical content, and because the TV did not repeat the same violations subsequently.

In the Recommendation for eliminating the omissions, the Protector of Citizens requested REM to act in accordance with positive-legal regulations in the future and when deciding on the reports regarding the program content, to pronounce appropriate measures on media service provider with a view to sanctioning it at all times when the omissions are determined.

With a view to respecting the languages of national minorities recognized in the Republic of Serbia, the Protector of Citizens has requested the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development to withdraw by the beginning of next school year the Serbian language textbook for 8 grade Elementary School in which the existence of the Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin languages is being denied.

In early October 2021, following a complaint filed by the Croatian National Minority Council about discrimination and Croatian language denial, the Protector of Citizens initiated an investigation to control work legality and regularity of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development and the Institute for Improving Education of the Republic of Serbia.

Within the investigation of control, the Protector of Citizens determined that line Ministry approved the publication of a Serbian Language textbook for 8 grade Elementary School in which the definition of South Slavic languages split reads that Croats, Bosnians and Montenegrins are using the Serbian language, naming it Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin languages respectively.

In the Opinion issued to competent authorities, the Protector of Citizens states that approving the textbook with such a definition violated the rights of national minorities because the existence of these languages, of which Serbian and Bosnian are used in the official use of languages and scripts in the Republic of Serbia, is denied.

At the same time, when evaluating the manuscript of the textbook, the Institute for Improving Education needed to take into account that the manner in which the Board for Standardization of the Serbian Language defined the split of South Slavic Languages may result in violation of national minorities rights and put recognized languages of national minorities in an unequal position, reads the Opinion by the Protector of Citizens.

In the Recommendations for rectifying the omissions, the Protector of Citizens has requested the competent Ministry to take all measures to withdraw the textbook by the beginning of 2022/2023 school year, and notify the Protector of Citizens within 60 days on acting upon the Recommendation.