VOIVODINA CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (VHRC) VOIVODINA/ SERBIA Alternative Report submitted pursuant to Article 25 Paragraph 1 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities September, 2007 Supported by the FUND FOR AN OPEN SOCIETY – SERBIA 2 The basic idea of the Voivodina Center for Human Rights1 in drawing up the Alternative Report on the Implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities2 was directly to include in its compiling representatives of national minorities’, national councils of national minorities, NGO representatives and experts dealing with this issue, for the purpose of obtaining a more objective presentation of the position of minority communities. In view of this, the report represents a synthesis of the individual reports of the following protagonists: Experts: • Prof. Marijana Pajvančić, Ph.D. (Analysis of the constitutional and legal framework for national minority rights) • Prof. Saša Kicošev, Ph.D. (Demographic data) • Dubravka Valić-Nedeljković, Ph.D. (Media) • Aleksandra Vujić, M.A. (The synthesis of all reports, a review on the Opinion of the Advisory Committee and the Resolution of the Committee of Ministers on the first State Report). • Janoš Oros (Official use of the language and script) • Stanislava Pribiš (Education) Organizations: 1. Voivodina Center for Human Rights 2. National Council of the Hungarian national minority 3. National Council of the Romanian national minority 4. National Council of the Slovak national minority 5. National Council of the Ruthenian national minority 6. National Council of the Roma national minority 7. National Council of the Macedonian national minority 8. National Council of the Bunjevac national minority 9. Croatian Cultural and Educational Society «Matija Gubec» 10. Croatian Cultural and Educational Society «Tomislav» 11. Roma Educational Center 12. Radio Sunce – Voice of Southern Banat, Bela Crkva 13. Society of Slovenians “Kredarica”, Novi Sad 14. German Association “Donau”, Novi Sad The normative part of the report does not contain a detailed analysis of the provisions of the new Constitution, since it will be dealt with in the state report. The Law on the Protection of the Rights and Liberties of National Minorities3 is not mentioned either, as its analysis is given in the first Alternative Report on the implementation of the FCNM in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina4. The normative part of the report presents only the legislative solutions that were not mentioned in the first alternative report of the VCHR, i.e. those that are inconsistent, contradictory and create problems in their practical implementation. Apart from the parts of the Report that directly concern APV, the rest refers to the entire territory of the Republic of Serbia. The stands and opinions of VCHR are reflected only in the parts of the report written by this organization. 1 Referred to herein as: VCHR 2 Referred to hereinafter as: FCNM 3 Referred to hereinafter as: LPRLNM 4 Referred to herein as: APV 3 INTRODUCTION Since the first State Report on the implementation of the FCNM on the territory of what was then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was written, the normative framework has considerably changed. The Constitution of FR Yugoslavia ceased to be valid with the adoption of the Constitutional Charter of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro5, while the disintegration of the state union also marked an end to the validity of the CCSU S-M and the Charter on Human and Minority Rights and Civil Freedoms6. The changes that occurred in the period which this report refers to, and which are of importance for the realization of the rights of persons belonging to national minorities concern several crucial issues: Montenegro’s separation from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, in May 2006, had an impact on this sphere as well. The Federal Ministry of Human and Minority Rights ceased to exist, while this ministry’s duties in Serbia were transferred onto the Service of Human and Minority Rights, which does not have the status of a ministry. LPRLNM has been taken over from the federal level and is now being applied in Serbia. In this sense, the law has not been innovated nor have the lacking provisions been added. At the moment, Montenegrins in Serbia also have the status of a national minority. The National Assembly of Serbia adopted the new Constitution7 in October 2006. Persons belonging to national minorities and their organizations (political parties, national councils of national minorities) did not participate in the drafting of the new Constitution, no matter what they publicly drew attention to. In view of the manner in which the Constitution was adopted, and which the Venice Commission had objections to (it was prepared and adopted in only a few weeks; the public was not informed about the constitutional process; there was no public debate; the text of the Constitution was distributed to the members of parliament at the session at which the Constitution was adopted; there was no debate in the Assembly), the citizens’ were not enabled to participate in the process of its adoption, nor was it possible for representatives of national minorities to participate. The Decision8 on the Provincial ombudsman in APV was adopted in 2002. This act establishes a new institution in APV within the system of the protection of human and minority rights. According to this regulation, the Provincial ombudsman has five deputies, three of whom are specialized in certain fields of human rights (national minority rights, the rights of the child and gender equality). The choice of the Provincial ombudsman and his deputies was made in 2003. The Provincial ombudsman regularly presents his report on the state of human and minority rights to the Assembly of the autonomous province once a year.9 The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Law on the Protector of Citizens’ Rights in 200510, but it was only two years after the Law was adopted11 that the protector of citizens’ rights (ombudsman) was elected. The law does not envisage the election of a special deputy for the rights of national minorities or any other deputy with specialized competencies. 5 Official Gazette of Serbia and Montenegro, no. 1/2003, referred to herein as: CCSU S-M 6 Referred to herein as: CHMRCF 7 The New Constitution of Serbia was adopted at a constitutional referendum held on October 28 and 29, 2006, and it was proclaimed by the Serbian National Assembly on November 8, 2006. The part of the Constitution pertaining to human rights guarantees is entitle “Human and Minority Rights; referred to herein as the New Constitution. 8 ‘Decision’ is the name of the highest legal act which the APV Assembly adopts within its competencies. A Decision regulates issues within the APV’s competencies, and which are defined by the Constitution, the Law determining the competencies of the autonomous province and the APV Statute. 9 In this report, the assessments and remarks presented in the report of the provincial ombudsman, especially of the deputy for national minority rights, will be repeated, but we do refer the readers to this report as a relevant source of information about the realization of the rights of national minorities. See WWW. ombudsman-apv.org.yu. 10 Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia no.. 79/2005. 11 On June 29, 2007, even though the law stipulates that the electon of the Ombusdman must be made within 6 months from the day the law comes into force, while his deputies must be elected within 3 months from the day the Ombusdman assumes office. 4 For the first time, the legislation includes special measures12 whose goal would be to enable the realization of the right of national minorities to representation in assemblies. After the adoption of the Law on Determining the Competencies of the Autonomous Province13, the APV adopted, within its competencies, a number of regulations – decisions regulating in greater detail the rights of persons belonging to national minorities14. As part of the observance of the Decade of Roma, a number of special activities aimed at improving the position of the Roma have been initiated: • The Republic of Serbia signed the Declaration on joining the Decade of Roma in 2005. • Strategy for the integration and empowerment of the Roma was drawn up. • Action plans for the integration of the Roma were drawn up (in the fields of education, employment, health care and housing) which the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted. • Strategy envisages the opening of an Office for Roma issues. • Office for Roma Inclusion has been opened at the provincial level15 In the legal system, the Decision on gender equality16, adopted by the APV Assembly in 2004, recognizes for the first time multifold discrimination. This regulation lays special emphasis on measures that need to be taken in the educational system, starting from primary school education, so as to overcome the multifold discrimination of Roma women in the educational process. Constitutional framework of national minority rights Among the general principles defining the framework for guaranteeing human and minority rights the new Constitution of Serbia mentions: • The direct implementation of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. • Defines the purpose of the constitutional human rights guarantees. • Sets the criteria for the limitation of human rights. • Explicitly bans discrimination. • Defines the non-discriminating nature of special measures being taken for the purpose eliminating discrimination. • Guarantees the protection of human and minority rights. The principled provisions on human and minority rights also include the general constitutional norm banning discrimination. The essence of the norm banning discrimination is to ensure the basic preconditions for all the other human rights guaranteed by the Constitution to be realized under equal conditions. In line with international standards, the Constitution explicitly bans every form of direct or indirect discrimination for any reason and due to any personal characteristic of an individual, among which national affiliation is explicitly stated.17.