UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 6) The following laws were also adopted, namely: Law on Gender Equality ...

Para 7) In the past the following strategies were adopted, namely: National Strategy for Improving Position of Women and Promoting Gender Equality (2009) ...

Para 42) RS created a normative and strategic framework for strengthening the position of women by adopting the Law on Gender Equality, National Strategy for Improving the Position of Women and Promoting Gender Equality with the Action Plan for its implementation for the period 2010-2015, as well as National Action Plan for the implementation of UN SC Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in RS for the period 2010-2015.

Para 43) The Law regulates the general principle of equal opportunities, representation and access to bodies of executive authorities and possibilities of political actions. Accordingly, the Law on Amendments and Addenda to the Law on Election of Deputies, which
stipulates that for every three candidates on the electoral list, in the order they are listed (first group of three places, second group of three places and so on until the end of the list), there shall be at least one candidate of the gender less represented on the list. The same solution was envisaged by the Law on Amendments and Addenda to the Law on Local Elections. These solutions have for the first time been applied in national and local elections scheduled for 6 May 2012.

Para 44) According to the Law, political parties shall be obliged to adopt an action plan every four years with specific measures for encouraging and promoting equal representation of women and men in party's organs, in nomination of candidates for deputies and aldermen, and they shall be obliged to upload the plan on their official website.

Para 45) The National Strategy includes areas that affect participation of women in creating policies and decision-making in the field of economy, education, health, violence against women, and issues related to the media and public opinion.

Para 46) The Provincial Secretariat for EEGE adheres to the implementation of the Law on
Gender Equality and Decision on Gender Equality. By conducting activities related to
raising awareness and informing about and promoting the gender equality concept, the Provincial Secretariat for EEGE advocates greater involvement of women in decision- making processes.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 4) AWC stated that Serbia had established legislative framework related to the prohibition of discrimination, gender equality and protection from gender-based violence. However, insufficient attention was paid to the implementation of this legal framework in practice. The Gender Equality Law, after two years of implementation, had no effect on the actual equality of men and women. There were no publicly available reports on the effects of the implementation of the law.

Para 15) AI noted a number of positive measures taken to tackle discrimination, including the adoption of an Anti-Discrimination Law in March 2009 and the establishment of the Office of Commissioner for the Protection of Equality in May 2010. At the same time, AI stated that in practice, vulnerable groups, including minority communities, continued to suffer from discrimination and faced difficulties exercising their rights.

National Report Annex:
In order to provide efficient implementation of the law, trainings were provided for employees in the public sector, civil society and local self-governments. The capacities for treating vulnerable social groups have been strengthened for employees in public administration, police, courts and prosecution.
The courts provide protection from discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, the Anti-Discrimination Law, the Law on the Prevention of Discrimination of Persons with Disabilities, the Law on Preventing Workplace Abuse.
Aiming to sanction the incitement of national, racial or religious hatred, amendments to the Criminal Code of RS introduced a new Article 54a, introducing special circumstances for issuing a penalty for a criminal offence committed through hatred. […]
The new Law on Public Assembly came into force in February 2016, harmonized with contemporary standards of police work in the field of public assembly, and supporting the law to the freedom of peaceful assembly, emphasizing this right under Article 2 of the Law.
All prosecutors’ offices, under their regular competence and with the aim of protecting fundamental human rights and freedoms, act on criminal reports of violations prescribed by the Criminal Code. Endangerment of security as per Article 138 of the CC, as well as Racial and other discrimination as per Article 387 of the CC incriminate violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms based on differences in race, colour, religion, nationality, ethnicity or another personal characteristic.
Aiming to assess the need for potential preventive measures for the prevention of violence, incitement to violence and online hate speech, supervision was implemented over groups on social networks known for previous cases of displeasure with the organization and holding of the Pride Parade.
Members of the police took part in several meetings organized on the topic of improving the status of the LGBTI community. Measures and activities have been implemented regarding the safety of sexually diverse persons, further activities were considered in this field with representatives of 15 non-government organizations working on the protection of the rights of sexually diverse persons, the Ombudsman, Commissioner for the Protection of Equality and representative of the Negotiation Team.
Activities aimed at implementing the recommendation are being continuously implemented.

National Report:
Para 45) All government officials publicly condemned all assaults on LGBT persons and attacks on Roma. All forms of violence, discriminatory behaviour and graffiti with hate speech prompted a public reaction in both print and electronic media, in addition to the prosecution of the perpetrators of such acts.

UN Compilation:
Para 13) … The UN country team asserted that, regarding the recommendations made during the previous review on the right to peaceful assembly of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons, Belgrade had successfully held annual pride events in three consecutive years (2014-2016).

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 20) CoE stated that CoE-Commissioner, while acknowledging the progress made in advancing the rights of LGBTI persons, noted that homophobia and discrimination.

National Report Annex:
Starting from the obligations of the state provided for by the Istanbul Convention as well as the measures provided for in the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Strategy for the Prevention and Protection against Discrimination, CBGE initiated the adoption of the National Strategy for the Prevention and Suppression of Domestic and Intimate Partnership Violence against Women and Girls for the period 2017-2020. For the analysis of the previous strategy and development of a new one, as well as for the implementation of numerous awareness-raising activities, the necessary funding was provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) within the project "Integrated Response to Violence against Women and Girls II". The project began in July 2016 and will last until July 2018, with a total value of $ 940,000. The project has been implemented in cooperation with all UN agencies in Serbia and relevant line ministries. Its implementation will contribute to the further development of the social and institutional environment in Serbia with zero tolerance for violence.
In order to encourage women to report cases of domestic and sexual violence by raising awareness about the criminal nature of such actions, the Ministry of Justice organized a national media campaign of raising awareness called "Off Violence".
Activities aimed at implementing the recommendation are being continuously implemented.

UN Compilation:
Para 56) The UN country team noted that girls and women in Serbia were still frequently exposed to gender-based violence, such as violence in family and partner relationships, sexual harassment and rape.
Para 57) The UN country team noted the adoption in 2016 of a law on the prevention of domestic violence, as well as amendments to provisions of the Criminal Code on rape and related non-consensual sex, stalking, sexual harassment, forced marriage and genital mutilation.
Para 58) CEDAW remained concerned about the increasing number of women murdered by their husbands, ex-husbands or partners and the significant disparity among the number of police interventions, the number of criminal charges filed and the number of persons convicted of domestic violence against women.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 8) POC stated that the protection of women against violence was not efficient enough.
Para 58) JS4 underscored the high number of women murdered in the context of domestic and intimate partner violence. It asserted that the State had no system for monitoring and analysing this phenomenon, a new National Strategy to prevent all forms of violence against women 2016-2020 had not been adopted, and a systematic approach to combatting stereotypes and discrimination of women, promotion of gender equality and elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls in the education system, had not been established.

National Report Annex:
The fact of birth is entered into registries regardless of whether it is a child whose parents are known or not, a child without parental care, adopted child or child whose parents have no documents.
In addition to the improved normative framework (Law on Registries, amendments to the Law on Republic Administrative Fees and amendments to the Law on Extrajudicial Proceedings) systematically providing for the exercise of rights in this field of personal status, the resolution of this issue was significantly contributed to by activities under the implementation of an Agreement between the Ombudsman and line ministries with the support of the UN High Commissariat for Refugees. These agreements served to establish a mechanism for the cooperation of state bodies, the non-government sector and international organizations, providing positive results and ensuring improved exercise of rights of members of the Roma national minority for entry into the registry of births and exercise of rights based on the personal status of citizens.
The amendments to the Law on Extrajudicial Proceedings and the implementation of the agreement made it possible to resolve the issue of personal documents within the period relevant for this report for more than 25, 000 persons of Roma nationality.
The highest number of requests for subsequent entry of the fact of birth into the registry of births was received in 2009 - 9,573 and 2010 - 7,996 requests. During 2011 the number of requests was 774, in 2012 it was 1,552, in 2013 there were 784 requests, in 2014 there were 419 requests for subsequent entry of the fact of birth into the registry, in 2105 there were 1,072 requests for subsequent entry of the fact of birth into the registry resolved, and in 2016 there were 1,330 requests under the procedure of subsequent entry of the fact of birth into the registry of births, as well as 2,807 requests on the procedure of renewing the entry of the fact of birth into the registry of births. Other entries into the registry of births during the above years were conducted within the legal deadline for registering this fact.
Likewise, a certain number of persons unable to prove the fact of birth under an administrative procedure have made use of the right of entry into the registry of births in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Extrajudicial proceedings (establishing the time and place of birth). According to data obtained from the Ministry of Justice, in 2014 there were 149 proposals for establishing the time and place of birth resolved, in 2015 - 264, in 2016 - 291 proposal for establishing the time and place of birth.
Regarding the above number of resolved requests, it is impossible to disaggregate the cases related to Roma national minority members, since the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia guarantees the freedom of expression of national affiliation, as well as the lack of obligation to do so, therefore the registry of births does not contain data on national affiliation.
Likewise, in addition to the improved normative framework providing a systematic way for exercising rights in this area of personal status, a significant contribution to resolving this issue was provided by activities under the implementation of the Agreement on Understanding concluded in 2012 between the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, the Ombudsman and United Nations High Commissariat for Refugees - Office in Serbia, serving as a basis for the cooperation of all competent state bodies, the non-government sector and international organizations, resulting in a significant improvement of the exercise of the right of entry into the registry of births, as well as other rights from the area of personal status (such as the right to citizenship, the right to personal name, ID card, registration of residence, etc.)
This agreement was implemented on 31 December 2016, with all participants in the process assessing that all the measures and activities achieved to date under the cooperation of all relevant bodies have contributed to fully overcoming the problems in exercising the right to entry into the registry of births, as well as other rights under the personal status of citizens.
The introduction of the “Welcome, baby, to the world” service in April 2016 simplified the procedure of entering babies in the birth registry, the registration of citizenship and residence, as well as electronic registration for health insurance, while the baby is still at the birth centre.
Activities aimed at implementing the recommendation are being continuously implemented.

UN Compilation:
Para 36) CRC was concerned that there were currently approximately 8,500 persons who had not been registered at birth, with the vast majority declaring themselves as Roma. It was concerned that those people had limited access to the enjoyment of basic rights, including to health care, education and social protection.
Para 88) The UN country team stated that there were about 2,400 persons at risk of statelessness in Serbia, of whom several hundred lacked birth registration. An overwhelming proportion of those were Roma.
Para 89) The Special Rapporteur on internally displaced persons indicated that a considerable proportion of Roma internally displaced persons did not have birth certificates. UNHCR stated that Serbia had adopted new legislation that simplified subsequent birth registration and procedures related to registration of residence. It welcomed efforts to find solutions to problems relating to access to late birth registration, which had resulted in a significant decrease in the number of Roma at risk of statelessness in the country.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 87) JS2 stated that the groups most at risk of statelessness were those who were not registered in the birth registry, … ERRC highlighted the lack of birth registration documents for many Roma in Serbia, stemming from social exclusion, discrimination and forced movement in the 1990s and recommended that Serbia amend the Law on Registries to ensure that all births are registered immediately.
Para 88) JS3 affirmed there was still no legally binding instrument that would provide Roma children born from undocumented mother to be registered in birth registry books immediately after birth.