Opinions and Statements

Following press reports about the attempt to remove two children from Suvi Do village in the vicinity of Blace who live with their grandmother, the Protector of Citizens launched own-initiative investigation to control work legality and regularity of Blace Social Welfare Center.

The Protector of Citizens learned from the media that children’s mother had passed away, the father had abandoned them, that the grandmother had reported the father for violence against children on multiple occasions, and as she alleged the police reacted only at that moment and imposed urgent measure, and that the grandmother had applied for custody of the children.

Due to all the above, the Protector of Citizens has asked SWC Blace to submit a report within 15 days on whether the family, in which the children have been living, has been on the Center’s records, whether there have been reports of domestic violence and what activities the Center undertook to provide protection and support to family members.

The Protector of Citizens has also asked SWC Blace to provide him with data on the activities it undertook in the process of removing children, as well as data on cooperation with the police in this case.
Simultaneously with this procedure, the Protector of Citizens requested the Ministry of Family Care and Demography to control the work of SWC Blace and to submit a report on monitoring and activities undertaken within 15 days.

Considering the announcement of the Minister of Police covered by the media that the police activities on all reports of violence in this family will be investigated, the Protector of Citizens requested the Ministry of the Interior to submit data on police activities regarding the current report of violence against children, as well as on the activities undertaken regarding the previous reports of violence.

Mr. Zoran Pašalić, the Protector of Citizens, extends best wishes to all women on 8th March, International Women’s Day, underlining that despite the state's efforts to improve their rights in all segments of life, women and girls in Serbia are still not fully equal in our society. They are frequently faced with violence and insults in the family, in intimate partner relations, in the work place, in the public space. Unfortunately, the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic mostly affect women, who face an increased volume of unpaid housework, but also economic insecurity and exploitation in the workplace.

Due to frequent violations of women’s rights and dignity over the last year, the Protector of Citizens emphasizes that strengthening economic and social position of women must be included into states’ priorities, whereas the state and society need to provide particular support to women from intersectionally marginalized social groups - women victims of violence, elderly women, women with disabilities, single mothers, migrant women, refugees, as well as internally displaced women, women of different sexual orientation and gender identity, Roma women, and women in rural areas who face violations of their rights on a daily basis.

In October last year, the Protector of Citizens presented the Report on the work of groups for coordination and cooperation the City of Belgrade, whose data suggest that since the beginning of its implementation, the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence has brought improvements in the system of protection against domestic and intimate partner violence, primarily in terms of communication between bodies competent for recording, preventing and sanctioning domestic violence. However, there are still shortcomings in the Law implementation and the work of coordination and cooperation groups, the elimination of which is necessary in order to establish more efficient and effective systemic protection of victims of violence, and a serious problem remains the lack of professional staff in social welfare centers, so the Protector of Citizens initiated activities within his competence to address the identified problems, some of which have already been rectified, Zoran Pašalić has underlined.

With the aim of improving the position of LGBTI people in the Republic of Serbia, this year, the Protector of Citizens will conduct 15 trainings for local self-government units’ staff in order to facilitate the inclusion of this community into the activities of the environment they live in, said Ms. Jelena Stojanović, the Deputy Protector of Citizens for Gender Equality.

The Protector of Citizens, in cooperation with “Duga” Association, organizes the project of trainings in local self-government units, which envisages that local self-government units explicitly include LGBTI people in their local action plans, proscribe measures and activities for improving their position and allocate adequate budgetary funds for those activities, Stojanović has underlined at the Second Meeting of the Beneficiary Steering Committee of Horizontal Facility II for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022.

Within the online session “Promotion of diversity and equality in Serbia”, Stojanović has said that LGBTI people have been facing hate speech, threats and violence and that the Protector of Citizens has been advocating for a long time for systemic solution to the problems faced by LGBTI population.

Stojanović recalled that the Protector of Citizens had issued to all local self-government units the Recommendation to include LGBTI community members into their local action plans three years before and had repeated the Recommendation every year. She added that, due to the conditions imposed by Covid-19 virus pandemic, 7 trainings were held, attended by 47 representatives from 16 local self-government units.

Ms. Stojanović said that the Protector of Citizens, within the project activities in 2021, expected support for drafting and presenting a publication for children and youth on the rights of LGBTI people, in order to point out their rights and to acquaint children and youth with competencies of the Protector of Citizens and the way how to address the Institution.

All activities are held within the Council of Europe project "Promoting Diversity and Equality", financially supported by the European Union.

The trainings on raising awareness of LGBTI people’s rights in their local communities will not be a final engagement of the Protector of Citizens on the protection of the rights of minorities and particularly vulnerable groups, said Stojanović adding that within the same project the Protector of Citizens should conduct trainings for the Councils for Interethnic Relations in cooperation with the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government.

During today’s visit to the Belgrade District Prison, the Protector of Citizens, Mr. Zoran Pašalić, talked with detainee Mr. Miroslav Aleksić about the conditions of his stay and how he is treated in the prison during the detention imposed on him on charges of sexual assault and harassment.

Further to a complaint filed by Mr. Aleksić’s lawyer, Mr. Zoran Jakovljević, Mr. Pašalić talked to Mr. Aleksić who has been detained since mid-January on charges by former female students from the acting school for sexual abuse and harassment.

The Protector of Citizens visited the premises of detainees in Belgrade District Prison and talked with several other detainees about their accommodation and how they can exercise their rights.

Today, the Protector of Citizens, Mr. Zoran Pašalić, and the Deputy Protector of Citizens, Ms. Nataša Tanjević PhD visited the Belgrade District Prison and talked to detainees about their accommodation conditions and their rights protection.

Mr. Pašalić and Ms. Tanjević visited the premises where the detainees reside and talked to several detainees about their accommodation and the how they can exercise their rights.

The Protector of Citizens and the Deputy talked with the Belgrade District Prison management about further activities to step up the accommodation conditions and the possibilities for organizing as many as possible fitting activities during the detention measure.

Within the investigation initiated after learning from the media that there is suspicion of the omissions by the competent authorities, the Protector of Citizens was notified by the Foreigners Administration of Serbian MOI that the citizen of Rwanda, Ms. Ephrosine Stanković, married to our citizen Mr. Bojan Stanković, can be granted a temporary residence in Serbia on humanitarian grounds, after filing an official request to the Administration with the relevant documentation.

The Protector of Citizens informed Mr. Stanković in writing that the representatives of the Foreigners Administration informed him during the meeting in the premises of the Institution that Ms. Ephrosine Stanković could be granted a temporary residence in Serbia on humanitarian grounds, pursuant to Article 61 of the Law on Foreigners.

In the letter to Mr. Stanković, the Protector of Citizens stated that Ms. Ephrosine Stanković needed to file an official application to the Foreigners Administration of Serbian MOI - in person, by post or e-mail, and then enumerated all the documents that his wife was to enclose when filing the application, together with the notification on the payment of administrative fees.

The Protector of Citizens informed Mr. Stanković that the representatives of the Administration notified him that until the meeting in the premises of the institution, the citizen of Rwanda, Ms. Еphrosine Tuyzere Umotoni Stanković had not officially applied to the Administration with a request for temporary residence in the Republic of Serbia on any grounds, neither in person, nor through an attorney.

In the letter, the Protector of Citizens informed Mr. Stanković that temporary residence on humanitarian grounds is granted for a period of up to one year or less and that if his wife wanted to extend her temporary residence in Serbia, she can file a request to extend temporary residence no earlier than three months, and no later than 30 days before the expiration of the temporary residence.

Within the investigation instigated on the grounds of the violation of rights and interests of a child in certain media reports, the Protector of Citizens established that the Ministry of Culture and Information filed a request for launching a misdemeanor offence proceedings against the editor-in-chief of the internet portal www.novosti.rs Mr. Milorad Vučelić because he made the identity of minors identifiable in published media content.

On 4 February 2021, the Protector of Citizens initiated own-initiative investigation to control work legality and regularity of the Ministry of Culture and Information from which it requested to launch applicable procedures to ascertain whether certain media outlets have violated the rights and interests of two children by reporting on the abuse of the children in the vicinity of Kovin, and to take the necessary measures within its remit.

The statement that the Ministry submitted to the Protector of Citizens reads that, in the procedure of monitoring the implementation of the Law on Public Information and Media, the Ministry determined that the editor-in-chief of the internet portal www.novosti.rs made the identity of a minor recognizable in the information that might harm his right or interest in the media content that was published on the website of the newspapers on 3 February 2021, which was not compliant with the provisions of Article 80, paragraph 2 of the Law.

The Ministry of Culture and Information further stated that it had filed a motion for initiating misdemeanor proceedings against the editor of the internet portal www.novosti.rs Mr. Milorad Vučelić, the Protector of Citizens determined.

In the same control investigation, the Protector of Citizens requested the statement from the Kovin Social Welfare Center which notified the Institution that the children’s family has been on the Center’s record as a beneficiary of social allowances, as well as that it had no knowledge that the violence existed or that it was reported.

The Center’s statement reads that two children were placed in a foster family immediately upon learning that the father abused them, whereas the other children were urgently removed to a relative's family, which reported the accident, and they were subsequently provided with foster care.

In an investigation initiated upon social networks posts about the removal of a child from Vratarnica near Zaječar from parental family, the Protector of Citizens determined that, due to neglect, the father was fully deprived of parental rights and that the child has been on mutual adaptation in the family of prospective adoptive parents who are Serbian citizens since September 2020.

In an investigation to control work legality and regularity of the Zaječar Social Welfare Center and the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy, the Protector of Citizens determined that the child’s family has been on the Center’s record since March 2015 following the inquiry by the Zaječar City Administration to assign the name to the child because parents failed to do it within the legal deadline.

From the statements and documentation submitted by the competent Ministry and the Center, the Protector of Citizens determined that Zaječar SWC received reports of neglect from the patronage outreach service, and it was determined through field inspection that the baby was not gaining enough body weight and that the hygienic conditions were not satisfactory.

Thus, the Protector of Citizens determined that a three month old baby was placed under temporary direct guardianship and that during the monitoring period the family has received different types of support – one-time financial assistance for home adaptation, sanitary packages, child paternity has been acknowledged, the child had surname changed, has been vaccinated, issued a health card; and cooperation with the Red Cross was established, which provided support in kind and hygiene packages.

The child’s mother was fully deprived of legal capacity in 2016 and is currently under direct guardianship of the SWC in Zaječar, while during the monitoring period, the father was found to have been violent against the mother and to have grossly neglected the rights and needs of the child, the Protector of Citizens determined.

Due to endangering life and health of a child of low calendar age and the mother, the SWC decided to urgently remove the child to a foster family and place the mother in a foster family for adults and the elderly.

Zaječar SWC states in the report that while working on the case, it filed two criminal charges against the child’ father, as well as a motion for full deprivation of parental rights in mid-2016. By a final court decision of the Zaječar Basic Court from March 2020, the father was fully deprived of the parental right, and in late May that same year, the child was placed under the direct guardianship of the SWC in Zaječar.

Subsequently, the Center registered the child in the Single Personal Register of Adoption and after selecting the adoptive parent - a citizen of the Republic of Serbia, the child was placed in the family in September 2020 for mutual adaptation, the Protector of Citizens determined.

The Protector of Citizens also ascertained that the SWC in Zaječar filed a criminal charge against Mr. Saša Borojević, who in a video on the social network expressed suspicions that the child was taken illegally from the parents, for the criminal offense of unauthorized publication and display of other people's writings, portraits and recordings, unauthorized collecting of personal data and harming business reputation.