ECRI report on Serbia: Segregation of Roma increasing, law on same-sex unions needed

Since 2017, progress has been made in Serbia and good practices have been developed in a number of fields, but some issues still give rise to concern and should be addressed, said ECRI in its new report published Thursday.

This Council of Europe (CoE) human rights monitoring body observed progress in the following areas: “discriminatory content was removed from textbooks and teaching material. Initiatives aiming at promoting LGBTI equality at the workplace have been taken. In December 2020, the National Assembly introduced a Code of Conduct for Members of the Parliament. Hate crime training programme for prosecution services has been developed. Special measures have been taken to diversify the police force by employing persons belonging to minority populations,” ECRI said in a media release.

As regards Roma inclusion, the report says that some progress has been made.

“Progress has overall been made in securing better preschool and school attendance of Roma pupils. The authorities have also introduced the Unique Educational Number for each pupil, and supported the enrolment of Roma students in secondary schools through special measures and scholarships. Significant progress has been achieved towards resolving the problem of lack of personal identity documents for Roma,” read the ECRI report conclusions.

“Social Card Law impacts the most vulnerable”

At the same time prejudice against LGBTI persons remains widespread, says ECRI. The authorities should submit a draft law on same-sex unions to the National Assembly without undue delay and also ensure that the curricula and textbooks address LGBTI issues in a sensitive manner, it adds.

“Hate speech against Roma and other ethnic minorities, LGBTI communities and refugees/migrants is persisting in political and other public discourse. Authorities should step up their efforts in encouraging public figures to refrain from hate speech themselves and to condemn its use by others. De facto segregation of Roma in education is relatively increasing and the school attendance and completion rates remain far lower for Roma children than for the general population. The housing situation of Roma remains very tense due to serious gaps in the implementation of an otherwise robust legal and policy framework,” reads the media release.

Important problems continue arising in respect of identification documents available for refugees and asylum-seekers, says the report. ECRI recommends that authorities should take further action to ensure that these people are provided with appropriate documents.

The Social Card Law, adopted in 2021, and its implementation have raised serious questions over its impact on the most vulnerable, in particular Roma, who were most impacted by the withdrawal of social assistance. The authorities should fundamentally review the decision-making process involving algorithmic systems in the provision of social assistance with a view to ensuring that Roma and other groups of concern to ECRI have equal opportunities in benefiting from social assistance and are not subjected to discrimination.

The general conclusion of ECRI is that Serbia should address discrimination against Roma and LGBTI persons, and address hate speech in political discourse.