Donor: UNIFEM
Duration of the project: August 2008 – February 2009
Belgrade Centre decided to conduct this project believing that the significance of this problem does not correspond to the way in which it is being addressed by Serbian judicial institutions and public. Serbia has ratified major International Conventions important for protecting women labour right. Although domestic legislation has guaranties on gender equality on work and gives protection in the cases of violation of human rights, in 2008 Serbia still lacked Law against abuse on work and Law on gender equality. There are new state institutions such as an Ombudsman Deputy for gender equality and person with disability and Department of Gender Equality Ministry of Labor and Social Protection that ought to help in women rights protection in the future.Centre conducted comprehensive research of domestic and international legislation, court decisions and media sources. The final results of the research are published in the printed publication. The publication “Women Labour Rights in Serbia” was printed in 700 copies. Electronic version of the publication is available o Serbian language.
The results of the research pointed to a bad economic situation, wars, lack of support from the state and society, inadequate activity of trade unions, as well as many other factors, in the first place inefficient implementation of laws by state authorities for example, labour inspection, contributed to the fact that women in the period of transition, establishing a market economy and heavy competition in the labor market is not good enough befallen.
During the implementation of the project research was conducted on level of public awareness about women labor rights and mobbing believing that this kind of research was never conducted before. The results of the survey provided for precise focus on problems and determination of the target groups. Questioner that was drafted gave us useful and current results. Questioner was drafted after thorough research and with the assistance of The Strategic Agency‘s experts.
BCHR sent requests for information to Serbian courts what gave accurate insight in trials, how many exists, and what stage are they in and what are the main problems in court praxis. This made it possible to create a reliable data base of the jurisprudence of Serbian courts in relation to certain issues (mobbing, discrimination, sexual harassment). Some of the court decisions were chosen, edited and published in the publication as an example of good practice and guidelines for victims and legal practitioners. Requests and received answers from the courts with judgments are available in hard copy in BCHR.
Data base has been created from domestic and international legislation, and media press release. The domestic and international legislation collected and analyzed for the purpose of the Project are Serbian Constitution and 8 crucial laws regarding women labor rights and mobbing, 5 major international treaties and 10 ILO Conventions. Press clipping material for 2007 and 2008 is collected, analyzed and being published periodically on the web page.
The results of the project were presented on the Press conference was held in Media centre, Belgrade in January 2009. At this moment there are 40 documents available for download (1 Publication “Women labor rights in Serbia”, 1 Opinion poll results presentation, 2 Official National Statistics Report, 3 summaries of media reports, 9 National Law, 15 International Treaties, 4 draft laws, 4 more relevant documents for download) and 27 links to relevant national and international institutions, organizations and legislation on Serbian language.
