BCHR Presents Its Right to Asylum in the Republic of Serbia 2020 Report

February 25, 2021 by Radomir Bojic

February 25, 2021

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights presented its annual report “Right to Asylum in the Republic of Serbia 2020” on Wednesday, 24 February 2021.

The 2020 Asylum Report was informed by the experience of the BCHR’s legal and integration team in extending free legal aid to asylum seekers and persons granted asylum. It provides an overview of statistical data, as well as an analysis of the implementation of national law on asylum and other regulations relevant to the status of asylum seekers and refugees and their integration in Serbian society in 2020.

A total of 2,830 people expressed the intention to seek asylum in 2020, whereas 12,937 expressed such an intention in 2019. The drastic difference can be ascribed to the fact that the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not perform the registration of people intending to seek asylum
as it would have ordinarily, mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rather than to a decrease in the number of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

In 2020, 144 people applied for asylum with the Asylum Office, which upheld 29 applications. The number of applications it received in 2020 was also much lower than in 2019. Health protection measures introduced in response to COVID-19 led to substantial restrictions of the fundamental human rights of refugees and migrants living in Serbia.

Migration was one of the main topics on the public agenda in 2020. The change in narrative led the BCHR team to analyse public discourse, including public opinion, and the proliferation of unverified theories and fake news, as well as widespread hate speech against migrants and refugees.

The Report was developed within the project “Support to Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Serbia”, which BCHR has been implementing with the support of the UNHCR Office in Serbia. As UNHCR’s implementing partner, BCHR has been providing legal aid to asylum seekers and persons granted international protection in Serbia since 2012.

The “Right to Asylum in the Republic of Serbia 2020” is available HERE.

The Report was presented by UNHCR Representative in Serbia Ms. Francesca Bonelli, BCHR Executive Director Ms. Sonja Tošković, the Report Editor Ms. Ana Trifunović, and the authors of the Report, Asylum and Migration Programme Legal Team Coordinator Mr. Marko Štambuk and Asylum and Migration Programme Coordinator Ms. Anja Stefanović.

The presentation of the Report is available here:

BCHR Holds Panel Discussion “Challenges in Refugee Integration in Serbia and Presentation of the Austrian Integration Model”

December 17, 2020 by Radomir Bojic

December 17, 2020

With the support of UNHCR in Serbia, the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) on 15 December held an online panel discussion entitled “Challenges in Refugee Integration in Serbia and Presentation of the Austrian Integration Model”. The BCHR has traditionally been holding events on refugee integration in Serbia’s society at the end of the year. This event was an opportunity to discuss the integration of refugees in Serbia, present the successful practices of other countries, exchange experiences and map problems.

In her opening remarks, BCHR Executive Director Sonja Tošković discussed the importance of refugee integration and BCHR’s years-long efforts to improve the national asylum system. BCHR’s Senior Refugee Integration Adviser Jelena Ilić presented the identified problems in refugee integration and BCHR’s experience in assisting refugees in the integration process.

Mirela Memić, the Head of the Values and Orientation Department of the Austrian Integration Fund (Österreichische Integrationsfonds – ÖIF), presented the ÖIF, its role in refugee integration and successful Austrian integration models. The Fund manages local integration centres across Austria, extending integration assistance to refugees through counselling, integration and language courses and provision of services by mobile teams.

Since it opened in 1961, the ÖIF has set the foundations for the successful integration of refugees, from those who fled the former Yugoslavia to the ones who arrived during the ongoing refugee crisis. The following three pillars are key in the work of ÖIF:
– Orientation and counselling at nine integration centres and 30 mobile centres across the country;
– German language courses;
– Media visibility of the Fund and publications it issues, as well as mentoring similar institutions abroad and the integration barometer with plans and recommendations for the next period.

Mirela Memić said that the success of refugee integration in Austria lay in the structured and carefully designed courses implemented for clearly defined groups – women, children, parents, etc. on topics related to the prevention of xenophobia and anti-Semitism, and specially designed courses to prevent violence against women. The goodwill ambassadors rallied round the ÖIF are an important element of its work. Goodwill ambassadors are former refugees who have successfully integrated in Austrian society, successful professionals who support the ÖIF and promote it in the media, giving motivational speeches in schools on multiculturalism and the role of refugees in creating a better and more colourful Austrian society.

The panellists discussed the problems in practice and the 2021 integration-related plans aiming to strategically improve the process. The event was attended by 49 representatives of state institutions, the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, the National Employment Service, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Veteran and Social Issues, the UNHCR Office in Belgrade, international organisations and CSOs. The event provided the participants with the opportunity to discuss possibilities of cooperation among the key stakeholders and concerted efforts to improve the integration of refugees. The presented Austrian integration model should motivate us to apply the ideas and lessons learned in Austria in order to help improve the lives of refugees in Serbia.

The panel discussion was organised within the “Support to Refugees and Asylum Seekers” project BCHR has been conducting with UNHCR’s support.

Memorial Lecture Devoted to Prof Dr Vojin Dimitrijević Held

October 6, 2020 by Radomir Bojic

October 6, 2020

The memorial lecture devoted to Prof Dr Vojin Dimitrijević, a law professor, intellectual, co-founder and long-standing Director of the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, was held on Zoom on 2 October 2020.

The lecture honouring Vojin Dimitrijević was delivered by Prof Dr Žarko Puhovski, Professor Emeritus of the Zagreb University College of Philosophy. Vojin Dimitrijević passed away in Belgrade on 5 October 2012. The participants in the event said that Serbia’s society and public arena have sorely been missing Vojin’s voice, the voice of reason and tolerance, for eight years now.

The recording of Prof Puhovski’s lecture, entitled “Idiotism of Human Rights” is available on BCHR’s YouTube channel.

BCHR’s Campaign against Fake News on social media

October 2, 2020 by Radomir Bojic

October 2, 2020

BCHR in Septemeber launched an online campaign against the many fake news about the number of migrants and their alleged large-scale settlement in Serbia, the “privileges” they enjoy, and many other untrue, incomplete or unverified information about them.

The campaign aimed to provide the public, especially people who get most of their news from social networks, with accurate information about the migrant population and its size, and to familiarise them with national and international legal documents governing refugee law and migration.

The campaign was launched on social networks and included a series of posts in the form of electronic posters or brochure on BCHR’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram profiles. The posts were short and simple and summarised various facts, regulations and statistics, providing the readers with links to sources where they could check the information or familiarise themselves with the issues in greater detail.

BCHR Holds Webinar on Recognition of Refugees’ Qualifications

September 30, 2020 by Radomir Bojic

September 30, 2020

With the support of UNHCR in Serbia, the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) on 30 September 2020held a webinar on the recognition of the refugees’ qualifications. The webinar aimed to familiarise the participants with the process of recognising the qualifications of refugees in Serbia based on the successful practice of the Council of Europe’s Education Department.

The event was opened by BCHR Executive Director Sonja Tošković, who recalled the importance of this issue for the integration of refugees in Serbian society. Panellist Samir Hećo of the CoE Education Department presented the European Qualifications Passport for Refugees (EQPR), while panellist Letizia Brambilla Pisoni from the CIMEA – National Academic Recognition Information Centre (NARIC) in Italy talked about the experiences of applying the EQPR in that country. The webinar was moderated by Jelena Ilić, BCHR’s Senior Refugee Integration Adviser.

The webinar was attended by 46 representatives of state institutions, the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, the Serbian ENIC-NARIC, regional school administrations, international organisations, the UNHCR Office in Belgrade and local CSOs, who contributed to the active discussion.

The panellists presented the EQPR, a document that lists the applicants’ highest education qualifications obtained, language skills and work experience. The initiative helps refugees restore their lives in countries they plan on settling in and in which they enjoy legal protection, providing them with the possibility of assessing their qualifications even when they do not have all the documents proving them. The EQPR thus supports the implementation of Article VII of the 1997 Lisbon Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region, which facilitates recognition of refugees’ qualifications even in the absence of all the documentation. The CoE elaborated the Convention together with UNESCO.

The refugees can use the EQPR when they wish to enrol in college, enter further studies and/or seek employment, ad apply for scholarships. The recognition process involves three steps: assessment, explanation and practical use of the passport in further integration. Part two includes information on the legal status of the document and a brief description of the project. Part three contains information on the next steps, contact details of state authorities and agencies, job-seeking steps and applications for continuing education. Although it does not constitute formal recognition, authorisation or licence to engage in a particular profession, the EQPR provides credible information that may be relevant to applications for jobs, internships, qualification courses and enrolment in college. The document is valid for five years. The goal is to provide refugees and migrants with the opportunity to improve their language skills, continue their studies, improve their employment prospects or apply for the formal recognition or approval of their education.

The webinar provided the participants with the opportunity to discuss cooperation and implementation of projects to improve the recognition of refugees’ qualifications in Serbia and other issues.

BCHR Issues Report on Human Rights in Serbia in the January-June 2020 Period

August 15, 2020 by Radomir Bojic

August 15, 2020

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) today published its Report on the State of Human Rights in Serbia in the first half of 2020, focusing on respect for human rights during the state of emergency. The Report concludes that democracy in Serbia has continued deteriorating and lists grave violations of human rights, particularly as of 15 March 2020, when the state of emergency was imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Decision on the Proclamation of the State of Emergency and all the subsequent measures were adopted by the executive rather than the legislative authorities. Resort to this possibility, although provided for by the Constitution subsidiarily and in exceptional cases, was unjustified. Grave violations of constitutionally guaranteed human and minority rights, including disproportionate restrictions of the freedom of movement, occurred during the state of emergency; numerous examples and accounts of citizens who were beaten up, arrested and detained for violating self-isolation measures they had not been properly notified of were registered.

The Constitutional Court was apparently hibernating during the state of emergency. Sixty-seven days passed from the day the state of emergency was imposed until it rendered its first decision. It only reacted publicly to criticisms of its dormancy. By mid-May, it received a total of 51 initiatives challenging the constitutionality and legality of regulations enacted during the state of emergency: 10 questioned the constitutionality of the Decision on the Proclamation of the State of Emergency and 41 the constitutionality and legality of other regulations adopted since 15 March 2020.

The media situation continued deteriorating in the first half of the year. The number of attacks and pressures against journalists increased, as did the authorities’ rhetoric against impartial outlets. The Government Conclusion of 28 March allowing only the COVID Crisis Headquarters headed by the Prime Minister to release any pandemic-related information was tantamount to centralisation of information and censorship. Violations of media freedoms climaxed with the arrest of Nova portal’s reporter Ana Lalilć on 2 April for causing public anxiety by reporting on the problems in the Vojvodina Clinical Centre during the pandemic.

International institutions and organisations alerted to grave problems with respect to democracy, rule of law and reforms in Serbia in the first half of the year. In its Non-paper, the European Commission noted serious delays and the need to accelerate reforms in the key areas of judicial independence, the fight against corruption, media freedom, the domestic handling of war crimes and the fight against organised crime, specifying that the pandemic created additional challenges. In its Freedom in the World 2020 Report, Freedom House classified Serbia as a hybrid regime, citing data coinciding with BCHR’s annual human rights reports.

The judiciary, as a separate branch of government, did not fulfil the standards and expectations related to the improvement of its efficiency, fairness of access to justice and protection of civil rights. Introduction of “Skype” trials during the state of emergency, denying the defendants a public explanation of the decisions against them, and case law discrepancies resulting from the imposition of different penalties for the same offences committed during the state of emergency, further eroded legal insecurity and public trust in the judiciary.

The Protector of Citizens, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection and the Anti-Corruption Agency were not particularly active in the first half of the year either, especially during the state of emergency, when citizens needed and, indeed, expected greater protection. The parliament’s failure to promptly initiate the procedure to elect the new Equality Commissioner was particularly concerning: this institution has not been performing its duties conferred by law to protect the citizens from discrimination since May, when the prior Commissioner’s term in office expired.

The Report on Human Rights in Serbia in the January-June 2020 Period is available HERE.

This publication is the product of our team, comprising Lazar Stefanović, Snežana Lazarević, Vladica Ilić, Luka Mihajlović, Vesna Petrović, Dušan Pokuševski, Ivan Protić, Goran Sandić, Anja Stefanović, Milena Ančić, Bojan Stojanović, Aleksandar Marković, Ana Trifunović i Duška Tomanović.

The publication of this Report has been supported by the United Nations Human Rights Team in Serbia. The Report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations.