The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights today presented its new annual report  “Youth Rights in the Republic of Serbia in 2020” at an online event.

The Report shows that youth in Serbia faced numerous challenges in exercising their human rights in the year behind us, including their rights to work, education, freedom of movement, information and, in particular, their right to health and access to healthcare amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic. Paradoxically, no data are available on the number of youth tested, infected by or treated for coronavirus although they were stigmatised as the main carriers of the disease since it struck.

“Neither the Public Health Institute nor the Health Ministry were able to provide us with data on the number of youth tested, infected by or treated at home or in hospital for coronavirus last year. This additionally complicates the situation in view of the fact that the media have been targetting youth as the main carriers of the disease. Our analysis of media reports in 2020 shows that the greatest number of claims that youth were to blame for the spread of COVID-19 came from the Crisis HQ,” said Nevena Nikolić, BCHR’s Youth Programme Coordinator and one of the authors of the Report.

Restrictions of the youth’s freedom of movement in the context of the pandemic in 2020 included, notably, the curfew, quarantine and ban on entering or leaving the country. Long lockdown periods, coupled with prohibitions of movement in parks and other sites designated for recreation, impinged on the youth’s mental and physical health. Data show that as many as one-third of the fines for violating the curfew were levied against young people and that youth (18-30 years old) were on average imposed higher fines than the other generations.

The year behind us also showed that youth attached key importance to environmental protection, aware that the resolution of these challenges would impact on the quality of their lives in the long term. Assessments are that at least 44% of youth are as interested in environmental topics as in other political issues and that they qualify environmental protection as the greatest value for society. Around 1,250,000 youth live in Serbian cities and muncipalities registering excessive pollution levels.

Youth employment levels dropped even more due to the pandemic – only half of youth between 20 and 29 ears old have jobs, compared with nearly two-thirds of their peers in EU Member States. Many youth working from home and so-called freelancers lack awareness of the legal provisions on remote work or their employers’ obligations.

The closing down of schools and colleges impinged the most on poor youth and youth from rural areas, who did not have access to the Internet, computers or other devices for communication, information and remote learning.

Roma youth faced even greater challenges during the pandemic than their non-Roma peers, especially given that most of the Roma population was unable to comply with epidemiological measures since numerous informal Roma settlements lack access to drinking water, a sewage system and electricity. Roma youth’s access to education was particularly undermined due to lack of technical prerequisites for remote learning (lack of electricity, the Internet, computers, tablets and smart phones).

The pandemic particularly impinged on the lives of youth with disabilities, who are not independent and are living with their parents who are over 65, and youth with HIV or other chronic or systemic illnesses. Education of youth with disabilities was further fraught with challenges when the pandemic struck, due to the lack of clear procedures, needs assessments and additional support in inclusive education.

Participants in the event at which the “Youth Rights in the Republic of Serbia in 2020” Report was presented were addressed by Gordana Čomić, the Minister of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue; Snežana Klašnja, the Youth Policy Adviser of the Minister of Youth and Sports; Milan Marković, the Head of the UN Human Rights Team in Serbia; Sonja Tošković, the BCHR Executive Director; and the Report authors Nevena Nikolić, Goran Sandić, Luka Mihajlović and Marina Simeunović. 

The research, translation and publication of the “Youth Rights in the Republic of Serbia in 2020” Report were supported by the UN Human Rights Team in Serbia. The Report includes an analysis of the youth’s realisation of their civil, political, economic, cultural and social rights. The Report focuses on 15 rights and freedoms, the human rights situation of youth with disabilities and the status of Roma youth.

The Report is available HERE.

The video recording of the online presentation of the “Youth Rights in the Republic of Serbia in 2020” report is available here:

Call for Applications for the COOLTOUR TUBE Programme, an intercultural workshop for local and refugee and asylum-seeking youth CoolTour Tube is back after a brief break! We’ll be exploring how much we can achieve, learn and benefit together! 

Two BCHR programmes (the Asylum and Migration Programme and the Youth Programme) have  joined forces years ago to implement CoolTour Tube, a programme engaging hundreds of young people in its activities. CoolTour Tube is a programme for integration, intercultural learning and solidarity of youth, encouraging communication and active exchange among youth from different cultural, ethnic and/or religious backgrounds and advocating the full integration of all youth in society! The programme brings together youth from Serbia and young refugees from Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Pakistan and other countries.

This year’s CoolTour Tube will include:
– Workshops on identity, interculturality, stereotypes and prejudice, which will help us understand the main concepts and become interculturally sensitive;
– Joint activities and social events. You will have the opportunity to go together to various cultural and social events and get to know each other;
– Being a buddy! You will have the opportunity to be a buddy and yourself support the inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers in society!
– Workshops you will implement! Those of you motivated to share what you’ve learned will have the opportunity to conduct your own workshops. The workshops will be led by pairs, a youth from the local community and a refugee or asylum-seeking youth.

Three two-day workshops will be held in April and May. The joint cultural and social events will take place in June and the workshops conducted by youth will be implemented in September and October.

The first workshop will be held on 8 and 9 April, from 5 to 7 pm in the Human Rights House. The participants will have to comply with all anti-COVID-19 measures. The dates of the subsequent workshops will be agreed on with the group.

If you are:
– young
– between 15 and 30 years old
– interested in learning about other cultures, revisiting your opinions and learning in contact with those different from you
– keen on supporting the integration of refugees in society
– motivated to attend the workshops and joint events in the above-mentioned period
                                                                                                     … we encourage you to apply!

If you want to join us and/or have any additional questions, write to Demir at [email protected]. 

The workshops are part of the Support to Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the Republic of Serbia project, implemented by the BCHR in tandem with UNHCR in Serbia.

Join our intercultural learning channel so we can be together again! 

See you!

Refugees for Refugees – R4R is a pilot project activity that the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights has been implementing within the project Support to Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Serbia in an executive partnership with the UNHCR Office in Serbia. R4R involves the exchange of experiences between integrated refugees and refugees and asylum seekers who need additional support in integrating in Serbian society.

The integration process is a complex and long road which each refugee has to take in a new environment. However, where there is adequate support and motivation, familiarisation with the local culture and acceptance of the new social environment can yield great mutual benefits.

BCHR recognised the need for additional support to this specific group in the form of refugee assistants, who have themselves gone through the asylum procedure and the integration process and are keen to help people in a similar situation integrate and inform themselves about their rights and obligations in the most efficient way.

With their experience and advice, refugee assistants can familiarise interested clients both during the asylum procedure and after they are granted asylum, in a friendly and simple way with their rights and obligations, regarding employment, education, health care, easier navigation through new system of social rules and values, as well as high-quality and meaningful leisure activities. Assistants help empower other refugees by sharing with them their personal experience and a variety of skills and knowledge they need to cope better and communicate in Serbia.

R4R has been launched with the ultimate goal of helping refugees and asylum seekers to live in dignity in Serbia.

The three-hour online event “Comfort of Togetherness – a Step towards Intergenerational Cooperation,”organised by BCHR’s Youth Programme on Thursday, 25 March 2021, provided young people and people over 65 participating in our Solidarity First Aid (SOFA) Programme with another opportunity to share their insights and experiences with a view to establishing new models of intergenerational cooperation and fostering community solidarity.

“Intergenerational cooperation is a fundamental social contract without which humankind cannot survive,” said Equality Commissioner Brankica Janković, who participated in the event. Assistant Representative and Head of Office at United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Borka Jeremić said that the COVID-19 crisis exacerbated the intergenerational communication gap. 

“This is why we embraced the opportunity to creatively support the exchange of knowledge and information between youth and the elderly,” she said in her remarks about the SOFA Programme implemented by UNFPA and BCHR’s Youth Programme since last October.

Youth Programme Coordinator Nevena Nikolić said that the SOFA Programme was a new challenge prompting the team to leave its comfort zone in work with youth and that, thanks to its spontaneity, intuition and commitment to the needs of both the young and the old, it demonstrated that we could hear and understand each other regardless of our age.

“Understanding each other is very important, we need to hear the elderly, their knowledge and experience,” said youth activist Živkica Milojković, who has been volunteering for years, because, in her opinion, volunteering is “learning for solidarity contributing to both personal and social progress.” National Association of Youth Workers (NAPOR) Programme Coordinator Nemanja Obradović discussed the importance of open intergenerational cooperation free of prejudice. 

“Youth are primarily depicted as a problem rather than as a resource, and we need to change such perceptions," said Obradović, prompting Miloš Grabundžija, the Chairman of the Nezavisnost association of pensioners, to remark that the lack of space and a budget for both the youth and the elderly did the most harm and was the greatest danger to our society because both generations needed to be much more visible.

The three-hour ZOOM event was moderated by youth activists Demir Mekić and Ivana Antonijević. In addition to the main part, over 60 participants took part in virtual Working Groups that explored various aspects of intergenerational cooperation: the needs of youth and the elderly and the ideas, methods and techniques that would genuinely contribute to intergenerational cooperation and understanding.

“I feel that both the young and the elderly have similar needs but different capacities and that we need to bring them together. Both generations need attention, respect, conversation, exchange, contact…,” said Vesna Petrović, a facilitator of the first Working Group. She went on to describe some good practice examples in the local communities. For instance, the youth in Dimitrovgrad are constantly in touch with the residents of the local old people’s home; the youth and the elderly in Kula stage performances and celebrate their birthdays together and the elderly teach the youth to write letters and the youth teach the elderly digital literacy; in Novi Sad, hiking and walking tours are organised for people of all generations.

The second Working Group highlighted the importance of ensuring that both the elderly and the youth have access to all institutions and information relevant to the realisation of their rights. However, “the greatest problem is that there are not too many places where youth and the elderly can get together, either in urban or rural communities,” said Jasmina Ristić, the Working Group facilitator. She alerted to the importance of providing more physical and media space and quality initiatives linking generations. 

The event ended with the presentation of guidelines and ideas for continuing intergenerational rapport and turning the SOFA Programme into a concept of cooperation and understanding among all generations.

The Comfort of Togetherness event was organised within the SOFA Programme. This Programme, encouraging intergenerational solidarity and exchange, has been implemented since end October 2020 by the BCHR with UNFPA’s support.

The event is available on BCHR’ s YouTube channel:

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights presented its annual Human Rights in Serbia 2020 report on 4 March 2021. 

The Report was presented on ZOOM by the Report editors Vesna Petrović and Dušan Pokuševski and one of its authors, journalist Ivan Protić. Head of the UN Human Rights Team in Serbia Milan Marković provided an overview of respect for human rights in Serbia from the UN’s perspective, while Daniel Mohseni, the Political Officer at the German Embassy in Belgrade, spoke about the EU accession process, notably Chapters 23 and 24. Vida Petrović Škero, the former President of the Supreme Court and chair of CEPRIS, CRTA’s Tamara Branković, Dragan Popović from the Policy Centre and Sanja Radivojević from the BCHR took part in the debate that followed, focusing on rule of law and the judiciary, parliamentary elections, the status of civil society and the July protests in Belgrade and Novi Sad.

The Human Rights in Serbia 2020 report provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of the human rights situation in Serbia in the year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has given rise to numerous challenges and resulted in restrictions of human rights and freedoms. The threat coronavirus posed to the life and health of Serbia’s population apparently overwhelmed the Serbian authorities, which often failed to respond adequately to the challenges.

The Report is available HERE.

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights has for years now been alerting not only to the serious problems in realising and protecting human rights, but also to the threat to the fundamental principles the Republic of Serbia is based on – rule of law, social justice, civil democracy and commitment to European principles and values. Economic difficulties, widespread crime and corruption, populist rhetoric lying at the heart of political activity have all turned Serbia into a deeply polarised community of widespread prejudice and stereotypes and great social distance towards specific groups of the population, and resulted in a deluge of hate speech in public discourse. 

The research, translation and publication of the Report Human Rights in Serbia 2020 were supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany through the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Belgrade and by the United Nations Human Rights Team in Serbia. The Report does not necessarily reflect the official position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany or the views of the United Nations.

Watch the presentation of the Report HERE: