Minority Policy – Fostering Integration in Serbia

2 2017 2 2017

Minority Policy – Fostering Integration in Serbia Policy Paper: Challenges and Achievements in the Implementation of the Action Plan for the Realization of the Rights of National Minorities in the Republic of Serbia

MINORITY POLICY – FOSTERING INTEGRATION IN SERBIA Policy Paper: Challenges and Achievements in the Implementation of the Action Plan for the Realization of the Rights of National Minorities in the Republic of Serbia

Belgrade, July 2017. Minority Policy – Fostering Integration in Serbia Policy Paper: Challenges and Achievements in the Implementation of the Action Plan for the Realization of the Rights of National Minorities in the Republic of Serbia

Belgrade, July 2017.

Kraljice Natalije 45/VII 11000 Beograd, Srbija +381 11 36 20 804 [email protected] • www.fer.org.rs

The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Belgrade.

FORUM CIP - Каталогизација у публикацији Народна библиотека Србије, Београд Year 7, issue nr. 2

323.1 Publisher Forum za etničke odnose, Beograd FORUM : the magazine of FER / editor in chief Nenad Đurđević. - Year 1, iss. 1 Editor in chief (2002)-year 2, iss. 4 (2003) ; 2013, no. 1- Nenad Đurđević . - Belgrade : Forum for Ethnic Relations, 2002-2003; 2013- (Belgrade : Dosije studio). Translation - 30 cm Agencija TOUCH TWO

Povremeno. - Ima izdanje na drugom jeziku: Prepress Forum (Forum za etničke odnose) = ISSN Atelje, Beograd 2335-0490 ISSN 1451-6357 = Forum - Forum for Ethnic Printing Relations Dosije studio, Beograd COBISS.SR-ID 25690639 Published periodically Contents

Introduction...... 5 PART ONE: The accession negotiations and improvement of the minority policy in the Republic of Serbia...... 7 Dušan Janjić, PhD

PART TWO: The analysis of the Action Plan for the Realization of the Rights of National Minorities...... 25 Eva Vukašinović

PART THREE: Comparative overview of the activities envisaged in the Action Plan for the Realization of the Rights of National Minorities and the Platform for the Strategy for Integration of National Minorities in the Republic of Serbia...... 61 Nenad Đurđević PART FOUR: Analytical report on interviews with representatives of NCNMs...... 89

Recommendations...... 123 Special recommendations of representatives of NCNMs...... 127

Appendices...... 133 Literature...... 143 Introduction

This Policy Paper is the result of the “Minority Policy – Fostering Integra- tion in Serbia” project, implemented by the Forum for Ethnic Relations with the support by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Belgrade. The Policy Paper is prepared by: Dušan Janjić, PhD; Eva Vukašinović and Nenad Đurđević. The Policy Paper is based on the results of the following activities: Desk research - theoretical, political and legal research and analysis of the Government’s Action Plan for the Realization of the Rights of National Minori- ties in the Republic of Serbia (hereinafter: Action Plan), the Platform for the Strategy for Integration of National Minorities in the Republic of Serbia, developed by the multidisciplinary expert team of the Forum for Ethnic Relations (hereinafter: Platform), relevant documents, policy papers and other sources, such as: domestic governmental, independent and non-governmental organizations, relevant bodies of the European Union (hereinafter: EU), domestic and foreign experts, and the media; Field research - analysis of attitudes of representatives of national councils of national minorities (hereinafter: NCNMs) towards the key issues and challenges in the implementation of the Action Plan. Field research was conducted in May 2017, using an in-depth interview method with an open-ended survey (pre- written questionnaire) of representatives of the NCNMs and other organizations dealing with the status of national minorities in the Republic of Serbia; Expert - political consultation with key stakeholders of the minority policy, including representatives from the parliamentary, governmental and independent institutions, based on pre-written “indicative list of questions” (Appendix 1), organized by the Forum for Ethnic Relations on May 17, 2017, in the Media Center, Belgrade, and 5 6 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

Round-table/conference: The EU Accession Process and Improvement of the Minority Policy and Interethnic Relations in Serbia, organized by the Fo- rum for Ethnic Relations, in Media Center Niš, on June 1, 2017. PART ONE: THE ACCESSION NEGOTIATIONS AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE MINORITY POLICY IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

Dušan Janjić, PhD

Serbia is a multi-ethnic country with numerous national minorities. It has a satisfactory but not necessarily fully harmonized legal framework with the EU legislation when national minorities are concerned. This situation is com- pounded with a lack of comprehensive minority policy that would lead toward integration of national minorities in the society and facilitate Serbia’s European integration. Thus, the accession of Serbia to the EU is the process that will take many years, which gives the Serbian authorities an opportunity to thoroughly prepare for all chapters and be fully prepared for accession and interaction with the EU (Beckman, 2017). The Republic of Serbia as the successor state to the FR Yugoslavia has not advanced much in the process of its social and democratic transformation process, which was initiated in the early 90s and stopped during the wars and the government of Slobodan Milošević, to be restored in October 2000. At the same time, all governments of the Republic of Serbia call for democracy and negotiating with national minorities, because the “legislative reform pertaining to the protection of national minorities” is a precondition set by the European Community member states (before the creation of the European Union) for the international recognition. Therefore, the normative frameworks for protecting national minorities in Serbia and in all post-socialist countries are in compliance with international standard-setting documents of the UN, Council of Europe and OSCE (Analiza, 2016:4). Yet, the real status of national minorities in the respective countries is not always satisfactory. The current status of national minorities in Serbia shows a high level of agreement among the representatives of national minorities, as they consider not being equal to the majority population in terms of preserving their own national identity. Despite of that, representatives of national minorities feel that the status of minorities in Serbia is far better than in the 90s of the last century. The most frequent explanation for the improved position of minorities is the following: legal framework in place and high standards in protecting the rights and freedoms of minorities, set by the law; the European orientation of Serbia which increasingly defines the relation of the State towards the minorities, and the political representation of minorities in the institutions; the introduction of a minority self-government, guaranteeing not only individual but also collective rights; some ethnic communities, such as the Vlachs and Roma, for the first time in their history have received the status of national minorities and their institutions. 9 10 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

On the other hand, the most frequent arguments for dissatisfaction are: lack of a permanent legal and institutional framework and strategy for integration of national minorities in the society (Stanje manjinske politike, 2011:7, 8). The basic experience of a minority policy in Serbia and in its neighbor- hood is that the entire post-socialist transition is marked by ethnic nationalism which inspires mass mobilization and integration within its nation/ethnicity, but encourages social exclusion of all who do not belong to the respective nation/ethnicity. Such atmosphere leads the society toward ethnic fragmentation, hampering social inclusion and a nation-state building based on solidarity. Serbia and its neighbors seek answers to these challenges in increased regional cooperation and membership in the EU (Janjić, 2011: 1 - 3). This puts good neighborly relations on top priority of Serbia’s foreign policy strategy, also determining the scope and content of regional cooperation as well as the pace of Serbia’s EU accession (Nacionalne manjine, 2017: 7, 8). The Treaty of Lisbon which forms the constitutional basis of the European Union is the key international legal framework for defining the rights and obligations in the field of human and national minority rights.1 The framework of the accession agreement and obligations of Serbia arising from the EU accession process were established based on the Treaty of Lisbon. Besides the Treaty of Lisbon, the legal framework of the EU accession is com- prised of Copenhagen criteria that were laid down in Copenhagen and defined by the Maastricht Treaty (1992), upon the formation of the European Union.2 The Copenhagen criteria are the key political criteria for membership in the EU and are incorporated into all EU treaties including the Treaty of Lisbon.3 The European Council, meeting in Copenhagen in June 1993, agreed on a set of political and economic criteria to be fulfilled by countries of the former Eastern Bloc for membership in the EU. The political criteria require the respect for and protection of minorities (Varga, 2009:9). The progress of applicant countries in fulfilling the criteria is monitored by the Commission in

1 Article 2 of the Treaty of Lisbon clearly envisages that: “The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail”. 2 Relevant criteria were established by the Copenhagen European Council in 1993. To join the EU, a state wishing to join the EU must meet three sets of criteria: legal, economic and political. In addition to these criteria, a new member state needs to accept the EU rules (acquis communautaire) which are divided into 35 different policy fields (chapters). In the course of the negotiations on EU accession, Serbia, like other countries joining the EU, must harmonize its legal, economic and social system by reforming not only the legislation but also the entire social system. 3 They are: stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities; a functioning market economy and the ability to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the EU; ability to take on the obligations of membership, including the capacity to effectively implement the rules, standards and policies that make up the body of EU law (the ‘acquis’). FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 11 the form of the progress report. In this way, the Commission has become responsible for the assessment of legal frameworks and policies of the candidate countries towards national minorities. Naturally, the EU’s supreme political bodies, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament also assess the compliance of applicant countries with political criteria. Over the years, the Copenhagen criteria became part of the EU acquis, i.e. in the framework of Stabilization and Association Agreements for candidate countries. Even though the inclusion the rights of national minorities among the accession criteria is a big step forward, there are significant gaps: while the candidate countries have the obligation to “respect and protect minorities”, the EU’s own commitment to minority protection is insufficient – the EU has not formulated own standards of national minority rights and it does not monitor the situation of minority protection in the member states. Since the beginning of implementation of the Copenhagen criteria over two decades ago, significant progress has been made in terms of developing standards for monitoring through both formal and informal mechanisms. Since the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the EU, the criteria which call for the protection of minorities as a requirement for membership have largely been specified. The EU increasingly relies on the assessment and standards of the Council of Europe Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (Korhecz, 2015: 33-34). The Negotiating Framework is a comprehensive document prepared in line with the renewed consensus of enlargement and an integral part of the Common Position of the European Union on the accession negotiations with the Republic of Serbia. The Negotiating Framework is politically binding and shall be valid until the end of Serbia’s accession negotiations, i.e. until the date of accession. Legally and formally it is a document of a legislative nature, which establishes at a normative level the rights and obligations for Serbia, in the form of binding principles governing the negotiating process (Nacionalne manjine, 2017: 15, 16). The actual opening of accession negotiations in 2014 marked a new phase in Serbia’s EU accession negotiations, in which the exercise of human and minority rights will be one of the key issues.4 At the end of 2015, Serbia and the EU opened the first two chapters of EU membership: Chapter 35 on normal- ization of relations between Belgrade and Priština, and Chapter 32 on financial control. On July 19, 2016, other two most important chapters were opened (23 and 24) concerning the fundamental rights, the rule of law, democracy, security, the rights and status of national and other minorities. With regard to fundamental rights, one of the thematic areas of Chapter 23, Serbian legislation and its implementation must be fully in line with the

4 In fact, EU accession negotiations with Serbia formally commenced on January 21, 2014 in Brussels by the First Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC) on Serbia’s EU accession, where representatives of the EU and Serbia exchanged views, and the EU Negotiating Framework. 12 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, which has become an integral part of the EU acquis (Nacionalne manjine, 2017: 17). The fact that by June 2017 Serbia opened ten negotiating chapters and closed one (science and research) indicates that relative progress was made in the negotiation process. Generally, the legislative and institutional framework to uphold and protect minority rights complies with international standards, in particular with the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. However, consistent implementation across the whole country is needed. Taking into account the recommendations of the European Commission based on “the EU Screening Report for Chapter 23, Serbia (2014)”, a comprehensive approach to the integration of national minorities is needed through full implementation of an Action Plan for the Exercise of the Rights of National Minorities across the country. This Action Plan was adopted in March 2016 as an integral part of the Action Plan for Negotiation Chapter 23 (European Commission: Screen- ing Report, Serbia, Chapter 23 – Judiciary and fundamental rights, EU MD 45/14,1.05.2014, www.seio.gov.rs). The Action Plan was adopted by the Gov- ernment of the Republic of Serbia in March 2016 (Action Plan for the Exercise of the Rights of National Minorities, http://www.mduls.gov.rs). Implementation of the Strategy for Roma Inclusion needs to be ensured (EC Report: 2016). With the adoption of the Action Plan for Negotiation Chapter 23 (hereinafter referred to as: AP NC 23), the Republic of Serbia has set its strategic orientation towards improving the institutional and legislative framework in the field of fundamental human and minority rights and freedoms. (Izveštaj 1- 2, 2016:3). The negotiating framework represents a political and strategic framework for the accession of a new state which is achieved through the approval of EU member states – action plans for certain negotiating chapters are derived from it. In the case of Serbia, that framework represents a set of issues which should be addressed towards taking over the EU scquis in areas where it hasn’t been em- bedded already in the institutional and legislative framework of Serbia. However, this does not exhaust the issues concerning the status, rights and freedoms of national minorities. The AP NC 23 is a set of issues which express the interests and “remarks” of EU member states, particularly those who have their own national minorities in Serbia. Taking this into account, as well as the fact that Serbia does not have own development strategy, including minority strategy/policy, the pre- vious position of the Government of the Republic of Serbia could be understood as the attitude that the work on AP NC 23 will prompt Serbia to develop its own National Strategy for the Integration of National Minorities in the Republic of Serbia (hereinafter: Strategy) which will then produce the Action Plan for the Ex- ercise of the Rights of National Minorities, and confirm the “importance of the issue of national minorities in Serbia as one of the most interesting and complex topics in negotiations with the EU” as well as that “the need for the Action Plan has emerged due to the need to improve the implementation of good legislative FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 13 framework for the realization of rights of national minorities”. For these reasons, this action plan was adopted within the general AP NC 23. The Action plan was produced as a compromise document with representatives of NMCs, where the main goal was to take into account the opinions of all NCNMs despite their numerous differences5, ... the Action plan foresees a series of activities in this area, which have long been seen to be necessary, but their implementation was partial or even neglected” (Miščević, Okrugli sto, 2017). It is a common practice for a state to have own negotiating strategy for EU membership, which is based on the national development strategy, as well as specific strategies for areas being negotiated with the EU. For the Republic of Serbia, development of a democratic, effective and efficient integrative minority policy is an integral part of the overall process of democratization, raising the level of stability, security, and overall development. It is a complex and long process within which the change of ingrained habits and views is particularly important. Before entering into this process, it is recommended to develop an elaborated Integration Strategy, which would respond to the identified challenges. That is why since 2014 the efforts of the Forum for Ethnic Relations have been focused on pointing out this need and producing a model Strategy.6 The Strategy should stimulate political and social stakeholders; on the one

5 The Ministry of Justice established a working group to draft the Action plan whose members are: 11 representatives of NMCs, representatives of the Government and representatives of CSOs. The working group adopted the Action Plan in March 2016. Consultations within the working group, however, did not go smoothly. There were a couple of issues such as: the representatives of Albanian minority did not take part in the process from the very beginning; the representatives of Bosniak minority left the consultations in November 2015; technical and logistic problems; expertise of the key expert has been put in doubt by members of the working group; and short terms for consultations within the group. As a consequence, the produced Action Plan is not a result of consensus between the national minorities and the representatives of the Government and therefore the minorities and expert public express their dissatisfaction with the solutions proposed in the Action plan. 6 In the past three years, Forum for Ethnic Relations in the context of the various project activities held numerous consultations throughout Serbia with all relevant stakeholders (representatives of national councils of national minorities, representatives of political parties, MPs, officials of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, experts) on the subject of minority policy and on the topic of integration. The general conclusion that could be drawn from those meetings is that there is no coherent and comprehensive minority policy nor government strategy that would clearly define the basic principles of minority policy and improve relations between minorities and the majority. For this reason, experts of the Forum for Ethnic Relations drafted the Platform on Strategy of Integration of National Minorities in Republic of Serbia and the Basis of Minority Policy and Integration Process (hereinafter: Platform). This document came as a result of Forum’s expertise and more than three years of desk and field research supported by the British Embassy in Belgrade, the Netherlands Embassy in Belgrade, the Office of the High Commissioner on National Minorities of the OSCE and the OSCE Mission to Serbia. The Platform consists of the following goals: creating the social, political and cultural environment in which the integrative minority policy is the right and obligation of members of national minorities, the Assembly and the Government of the Republic of Serbia, political parties and the whole society; setting achievable goals in relation to the requirements of EU, Council of Europe and OSCE, and bearing in mind the politics of neighboring countries, so-called kin-states; contributing actively to the development of the Action Plan of the Republic of Serbia for the integration of national minorities in the negotiations on Chapter 23; providing specific recommendations for improving the reach of integrative minority policy. 14 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

hand representatives of national minorities and other minority communities and their members (example, migrants and migrant communities, marginalized groups) and on the other the Serbian majority, in order to establish a social contract of sorts in which the Republic of Serbia would take over the responsi- bility of promoting a new approach in which national minorities – their members and the collective are regarded as subjects with special guaranteed rights and freedoms, as well as responsibilities (Platforma, 2016:11,13). For the time being, the Serbian authorities have no understanding of the need for strategic planning and despite the fact that all Serbian governments, in the time of Slobodan Milošević, and from 2000 until today, have argued for reforms or social transition (privatization, changes of the legislative and institutional framework of reform, negotiation on future relations with Kosovo, EU membership etc). Even though there are about two hundred of various partial, sector “strategies”, the government and the Serbian public have no clear vision or framework / general strategy outlining mid-term and long-term development plans that would open up prospects for progress and sustainable development. Such a strategy (“New Deal Serbia”) would be a fundamental turning point in the economic and social development of Serbia, because it strengthens and accelerates its steps towards the EU, opens the door to the processes of Europeanization of Serbia, and with it, of the entire West Balkans. In this regard, the “New Deal Serbia” is the Serbia’s ticket to full EU membership and a guarantee that it will, in the best possible way, ensure the continuity of its democratic development which has begun at the beginning of the 21st century. And right now, when the EU is seeking a way out of the crisis and attempting to define a “New Deal Europe” is a real opportunity for Serbia to compensate for a decade’s delay. For the time being, there is no such effort and the Government of Serbia views the adoption of the AP NC 23 as “setting its strategic orientation” and a medium-term strategic document that contains strategic goals set in accordance with the recommendations of the Council of Europe Advisory Com- mittee of the Framework Convention, whose implementation is necessary for removing the deficiencies in the realization of the rights and freedoms of national minorities (Izveštaj 1- 2, 2016:3). This formulation clearly shows that the main weakness in the approach of the Government of the Republic of Serbia lies in the fact that it does not stem from own awareness of the needs of national minorities and their members or of the necessity to improve minority policy and the institutional and legislative framework. This weakness can cause several problems: after the demands of the Member States whose minorities live in Serbia are met with the application of the Action plan, this will create a misbalance in relation to other indigenous minorities or minorities whose parent state is not a EU member (example Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Turkey), and/or to make strategic changes without a consensus within the FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 15 politically active majority. This can only prolong negotiations and postpone the implementation of an effective minority policy system. International and regional aspects of national minority issues are especially relevant for the improvement of integration into society. Regulating the status of national minorities is of paramount importance for security and stability in the Balkans. International and regional influences can have positive and negative impacts on the integration process so it is especially important for the Republic of Ser- bia to identify these influences. Stable minority-majority relations, which are important for social cohesion, have a large impact on the Serbia’s EU accession negotiations, as well as on relations with neighboring countries. Although there is no unified approach of the European Union to national minorities, this area is treated and emphasized as very important in the EU negotiation process under Chapter 23. Since the opening of accession negotiations in July 2016, and following the presentation of the annual report for Serbia in November 2016, the European Commission has developed for the Council the semi-annual stock taking mo- ment (Non-paper, 2017: 1). It presents Serbia’s progress in the implementation of the action plans for Chapters 23 and 24. According to the Non-paper, “Ser- bia has not made significant progress in the areas related to Chapters 23 and 24, including the protection of national minorities. As Serbia moves forward, the focus will gradually shift to the effectiveness in practice of the legislative reform process, as well as to the capacity of the rule of law institutions and the environment within which they operate. This relates to the need for Serbia to substantially advance with legislative reforms in protection of minorities. Amendments to the Law on Protection of Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities have been prepared, aiming to ensure adequate representation of persons belonging to national minorities in the public administration, and to regulate aspects of official use of languages and scripts of national minorities. A public hearing on the legislative proposal has taken place; this would benefit from further reaching out to civil society actors. In a parallel process, a working group with representatives of ministries, NCNMs and other experts has been set up to prepare draft amendments to the Law on NCNMs. The amendments should implement the 2014 decision of the Constitutional Court determining the unconstitutionality of provisions of the Law on NCNMs and ensure it is in line with national legislation on media, culture and education” (Non-paper’, 2017: 1). Considering that the change of decisions of the Serbian Constitu- tional Court would mean further narrowing of the minority self-government, it is clear that this is a “mission impossible”. In such circumstances the required “comprehensive process” and “significant legislative and institutional changes in the field of protection of national minorities” would be a step back in term of “adoption of the EU acquis” and a step toward new ethnic tensions. So this cannot be done in a preferred manner without a clear vision and elaborate strategy. 16 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

As regards the assessment of progress in the implementation of the Action Plan, there is a general consent between representatives of Serbia, who estimate that the Action Plan has largely been realized i.e. that in all segments about 67% of the activities have been fully implemented and 17% partially implemented (Miščević, Okrugli sto 2017) and EU officials and officials who agree that the vast majority of measures have either been initiated or completed, adding that “the quality in realization is lacking” (Beckman, 2017). It is rightly stated that the task of the Action Plan was not to create the minority policy of the Republic of Serbia but to respond to recommendations submitted by the EU (Mišcevic, 2017). However, this is not enough to overcome the issue of insufficient progress. To overcome this situation it is also necessary to simultaneously work on the implementation of AP NC 23 and the Action Plan and to develop and adopt the Strategy. The work related to the drafting and adoption of the Strategy can also be incorporated into the Action Plan and many data suggest that such an approach would not be opposed by EU member states. Representatives of certain member states are already encouraging Serbia to start negotiations using the positive aspects existing in practice in Serbia. For example, Bulgaria, as one of the member states, is expecting Serbia to fully implement its constitutional and legal framework for the realization of the rights of national minorities, and negotiations between the EU and the Republic of Serbia will contribute to this goal. It emphasized that the progress achieved in the protection of the rights of national minorities is encouraging, as these rights guarantee the preservation of the national identity of citizens of the Republic of Serbia who are also members of national minorities, adding that further progress is needed in this respect. At the same time, the respon- sibility to advance the realization of rights of national minorities does not fall solely on Serbia but on EU member states, as well as the non-governmental sector and NCNMs (Kruleva, Okrugli sto, 2017). Another serious issue is linked with the implementation of the Action Plan. Namely, monitoring the implementation of the Action Plan is entrusted to the Council for National Minorities of the Republic of Serbia, “in order to realize both full inclusiveness of national minorities in the monitoring process and the full coordination of the work of state bodies and providing the highest level of support for the implementation of planned activities” (Izveštaj 1- 2, 2016:4). The Council for National Minorities is a working body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia chaired by the Prime-Minister, which includes representatives of relevant national authorities and presidents of all NCNMs. The Council for National Minorities of the Republic of Serbia should meet at least four times a year. However, this working body rarely meets and from its establishment until 2012 only one meeting was held, while from 2012 until 2017, it met only three times. None of the last three meetings were chaired by the Prime-Minister. This clearly indicates that the mechanism determined by the FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 17

Action Plan does not function, and it raises the question of the presence of political will to regulate the protection of minority rights in accordance with the AP NC 23, i.e. Serbia’s accession to the EU. In the meantime, the Office for Human and Minority Rights, which provides expert and administrative support to the Council for National Minorities of the Republic of Serbia in monitoring the implementation of the Action Plan, has produced three reports on the implementation of the Action Plan, which were most likely delivered to the Council for National Minorities and the Coordination of NCNMs, as well as to the Council for the Implementation of the AP NC 23. Since the Office for Hu- man and Minority Rights is failing to achieve full cooperation with all NMCs and relevant civil society organization, it is necessary to find the appropriate solution as soon as possible. Therefore, it is necessary to go through the Action plan and the Platform, to analyze the differences and to try to harmonize the solution in order for the Action plan to reflect reality of the status of minority rights in Serbia and to envisage feasible measures for its improvement. On the other hand it is necessary to improve the Platform to serve as the basics for the future Action Plan. The problems and needs that this project addresses fall under the following: Firstly, the array of laws, regulations and institutional competencies governing the national minority protection in Serbia need to be packaged within an overall integration strategy. Therefore, the Action Plan needs to be revised and improved as well in order to advance the EU integrations of Serbia. Secondly, the Government of Republic of Serbia needs to adopt a comprehensive policy/strategy towards national minorities within existing or improved legal framework that will fully serve a necessity to create functional society. The integration strategy will define policy measures and steps that will lead towards creation of comprehensive inclusion policy. In the Republic of Serbia, guarantees for the protection of number of rights of persons belonging to national minorities are provided by a number of national and international instruments. Serbia has adopted the legal framework which governs the exercising of individual and collective rights of national minorities. The minority policy of the Republic of Serbia is among the best examples in Europe (Platfor- ma, 2016:14). Given that this achievement is being challenged (as evidenced by the opinion of the Constitutional Court of Serbia on the unconstitutionality of certain decisions of the Law on NCNMs), it would be necessary to ensure that the rule of law is respected in the implementation of the current Action Plan or, better still, a possible improvement of the Action Plan should guarantee the acquired rights, meaning that the level of acquired rights is not lowered, which means that the solutions inspired by minority self-governments are not threat- ened and that collective rights of the national minorities in Hungary, which have been incorporated into the legislation of the Republic of Serbia are recognized prior to the accession to the EU. It is also important to keep in mind that 18 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

numerous solutions in the laws of Serbia and Croatia, which is a member of the EU, are the same or similar. (Nacionalne manjine, 2017: 12, 13). However, there is an evident discrepancy between the normative model and reality. State institutions being influenced by political parties and interest groups implement measures resulting in political divisions among persons belonging to national minorities (in particular, Albanians, Bosniaks, Croats and Vlachs) (Nacionalne manjine, 2017: 13). Since the existing system of minority protection was established fifteen years ago, its practice has brought numerous new challenges and solutions, it is therefore necessary to proceed with the improvement of the existing constitutional and legislative framework, in addition to the laws referred to in the Action Plan. This is the path that leads Serbia towards the effective and integrative minority policy (Platforma, 2016:14). The improvement of the existing legal framework should start from the fact that “inter-culturalism is the natural state of affairs in Serbia because in the past decades there has been a successful co-existence of different national minorities, religious and ethnic groups. Also, the implementation of interstate agreements should be carried out to guarantee the improvement of the position and the increase of the rights of certain national minorities” (Popov, Okrugli sto, 2017). Thirdly, there is a need to map problems within the minority policy in Ser- bia and to identify the disputing points of the Action Plan in order to find feasible solutions and improve overall situation of majority-minority relations in Serbia. The issue of NCNMs is one of them. In the process of forthcoming legislative activities, it is particularly important to preserve the institution of NCNMs, which are, by the spirit of law, the bodies of minority self-government. NCNMs are important institutions for the integrative minority policy which should ensure exercising of freedoms and rights of national minorities to establish authorities and bodies of minority self-government. This recommendation is extremely important because by means of a political decision contained in the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia and laws governing NCNMs, the original concept of minority rights contained in the Law on the Protection of Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities has been reduced to issues pertaining to language, education and culture (Platforma, 2016:20). Due to all of the above, the concept of the Law on NCNMs, which is currently being drafted, should be adapted to the needs and realities of national minorities, both those who are numerous and concentrated in one area, well organized, with influential minority political parties which are represented in state authorities at all levels and able to easily use a complex and complicated instruments of law, and those national minorities that, due to territorial dispersion, lack of unity, capacities, and financial or technical support use a very small, almost insignificant portion of the possibilities provided by the law. In this regard, in the case of some NCNMs, the competencies provided by the FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 19

Law on NCNMs are well beyond their capacity to utilize them. It should also be noted that some NCNMs have been operating for ten years, as they were established immediately after the entry into force of the Law on the Protection of Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities, and some were formally established ten years ago but began to operate only two years ago, and some were established only two years ago. The difference in the experiences of NCNMs that have already been established (example, the Hungarian, Romanian, Slo- vak, Ruthenian, Bunjevci national councils) and those whose operations have just begun to gain in relevance (such as Ashkali and Egyptian) also affects their results and effects (Evaluacija, 2012: 10). It is extremely important that the law clearly stipulates that NCNMs are not the bodies of public authority, although they perform very important public duties. The applicable laws are not clear as to which type of legal entity are NCNMs. It is quite certain that the provisions of the Law on State Administra- tion or the Law on Public Services do not apply to NCNMs because they are neither state body nor the institutions. On the other hand, all NCNMs have been established to exercise public authority and are mostly financed from the republic, provincial and local self-government units. In terms of the Budget System Law, NCNMs are “users of public funds” because public budget funds account for more than 50% of their income. Even though they are not part of the consolidated treasury account, they are subject to all budgetary operations and budget accounting and auditing rules. Moreover, their business is also subject to audit by the State Audit Institution. As indirect budget beneficiaries and legal entities that generate revenues in excess of 50% of the public budgets of all three tiers of government, NCNMs are required to comply with the Public Procurement Law as purchasers of goods and services from private sector. On the other hand, provisions of laws governing the functioning of state administration and employees in state administration or public services do not apply to NCNMs, because, as previously mentioned, NCNMs are not a state body or a public service. Employees of the administrative and technical services of NCNMs are not subject to the Civil Servants Law but to the Labor Law, as all other employees of other employers (Evaluation, 2012: 18). Therefore, the law should clearly define the status of NCNMs as a civil society organization of special public interest (Janjić, Stručno – politička konsultacija, 2017). An important precondition for the implementation of the Action Plan is cooperation between the authorities and NCNMs, civil society and non-governmental organizations. NCNMs are recognized in many activities as carriers of activities related to the Negotiating Chapter 23, while the decision of NCNMs to carry out some kind of control and supervision of activities has been completely ignored. That issue remained open during the entire 2016, and only now a slight shift is noticeable. The Croatian national minority is well integrated into society, primarily due to the fact that there is no language barrier and linguistic distance 20 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

due to the similarities between the Serbian and Croatian language. However, participation of the Croatian community in the decision-making process remains at a minimum level (Sarić Lukendić, Okrugli sto, 2017). Even though the role of NCNMs is undoubtedly extremely important for the process of implementation of the Action Plan, a much broader circle of members of national minorities should be included in this process, primarily through civil society. In fact, there are a number of organizations that have been dealing with issues related to national minorities for years, and they should also be given the opportunity to participate in discussions with the state, particularly concerning activities related to the AP NC 23, as well as the Action Plan for the Improvement of the Posi- tion of National Minorities. If things continue in the same direction, the Repub- lic of Romania is likely to react due to the poor treatment of issues related the Vlach national minority by the Republic of Serbia, which is in no one’s interest. (Balašević, Okrugli sto, 2017). In terms of the Negotiating Chapter 23 and the Action Plan, the NCNMs have their own agenda and a different view from other NCNMs and the Gov- ernment of the Republic of Serbia in relation to the content and mode of fulfillment of tasks under AP NC 23 and the Action Plan. What causes concern is that due to the failure to reach an agreement, certain NCNMs are boycotting cooperation with the Office for Human and Minority Rights in reporting on the implementation of the Action Plan (Janjić, Okrugli sto, 2017). As argued by Bačić, this is an answer to the fact that “the authorities have demanded that proposals must be uniform and supported by all NCNMs. As soon as some NCNM complained about certain point on the agenda, that point was removed from the agenda without discussing the problem. Such an approach that does not respect the differences between national minorities is not good” and the authorities, primarily the Office for Human and Minority Rights, are purely engaged in the Coordination of NCNMs, which is an informal body whose competences and mode of operation have not been regulated. It would be much better to communicate with NCNMs directly, which does not exclude the Coordination of NCNMs (Bačić, Okrugli sto, 2017). Fourth, it is necessary to pay special attention to the democratic participation and representation of national minorities in public life, public sector and the state administration and local self-governments. The fulfillment of this condition is a necessity for Serbia, just as it is a necessity for all the countries which were the scene of ethnic and war conflicts in their recent past, such as ex-Yugoslav republics. At the same time, achieving this condition is extremely difficult. While political participation promotes the process of democratization, exclusion from political, or, even worse, social life, creates conflicts. The risk is, for example, increased in the case of Albanian national minority, where ethno-national mobilization is strong. Although in the case of Bosniaks, Hungarians, Croats, especially in their relation to the Serbs, FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 21 the ethno-national mobilization can easily grow into inter-ethnic conflicts. If such conflicts are not resolved within a national framework, they can easily be transformed into interstate conflicts, with the help of “parent state”, which may be regional conflicts since members of national communities are dispersed throughout the Western Balkans region (Politička participacija, 2016:16, 18, 19). For that reason adequate representation of national minorities represents one of the biggest challenges for the implementation of the Action Plan. Par- ticipation in the public and political life has a particular importance for the improvement of the position of national minorities, which has already enabled the strengthening of the political and intellectual elite of the minorities (especially Albanian, Bosnian, Hungarian and Roma), as well as the establishment of numerous national organizations, political parties, educational and cultural institutions. In fact, with the advent of the process of democratization and political pluralism in the Republic of Serbia, national minorities have started to participate more effectively through their national political parties in cultural, social, economic life and public affairs. (Politička participacija, 2016:13). Political parties have a particularly significant role in the process of integration, because by their political activity they have a great influence over the creation of an intercultural society by promoting particularities and tolerance. In the early 1990s, with the beginning of a transition toward multiparty parliamentary system, numerous parties have emerged, both multiethnic and monoethnic. In case of Serbia, parties are most often mono-ethnic and primarily represent interests of the majority or of minorities. The Republic of Serbia has 108 political parties, of which 63 are parties of national minorities accounting for 60% of the total number of registered political parties. Many feel that “minority” political parties are the only true, authentic representatives of the interests of national minorities and that they should be legally or otherwise recognized as having the exclusive right to represent national minorities. But the fact is that many members of national minorities are members of multiethnic parties and the majority of voters of these parties feel that it is not possible to verify the exclusive status of monoethnic parties. The electoral system has an immediate and important influence on political participation as well as political representation of national minorities, because it determines the rules of the game during the electoral process (participation in the distribution of mandates, the choice of candidates, rules for the pre- election and post-election coalitions). Electoral system may be arranged by a majority and proportional model, depending on whether it is a candidate vote (person) or an electoral list of a political party or a coalition. The size of the electoral unit and the electoral threshold directly affect and determine who will enter the race to win the mandate and under what conditions. The design of the electoral system can have a positive and negative effect on the party system, depending on the extent in which it contributes to the stability of the party 22 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

system. Electoral principles have been introduced in the electoral process and political decision-making, i.e. elements of proportionality and positive affirma- tion of national minorities have been introduced, such as the natural census for national minority parties. This change of the electoral law at the state level is fa- voring large and well-organized national minorities, such as Hungarians, Bos- nians, and Albanians, as confirmed by the January 2007 elections. For smaller national minorities the natural electoral threshold remains unattainable due to their small size or, as is the case with Roma, due to their poor political organization. Therefore, there is a need for electoral legislation that will enable small national minorities to have representatives in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia as well as in the Assembly of AP Vojvodina. Such electoral system favors smaller political parties, but also brings fragmentation to the political life i.e. the space for political parties and the electoral body. The electoral and party system of the Republic of Serbia allows national minorities to represent their interests through minority political parties, whose role is of great importance, both for members of national minorities and their status as well as for the entire political scene of Serbia. Law on Elections of Members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia defines in article 81 the political parties of national minorities – “All the parties whose main objective is to represent and advocate interests of an ethnic minority, as well as to protect and improve the rights of members of ethnic minorities, in accordance with standards set forth by international law”. According to the same article, The Re- public Electoral Commission shall decide, at the proclamation of an electoral list, whether the submitter of the electoral list should be considered as political party of ethnic minority or a coalition of political parties of ethnic minorities, (Law on Elections of Members of the National Assembly, Official Gazette of RS, no. 35/2000, 57/2003 – decision of the Constitutional Court, 72/2003 – as amended, 75/2003 – as amended, 18/2004, 101/2005 – as amended, 85/2005 – as amended, 28/2011 – decision of the Constitutional court, 36/2011 and 104/2009 – as amended). In practice, numerous problems have arisen, for example, the application of the “natural threshold” for elections to the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia but not for other levels of government, which favors large national minorities (Hungarian, Bosnian and Albanian). This principle also serves to maintain political, group and individual monopolies over the representation of a national minority, but not the democratization of relationships within the community, placing them in a kind of “ghetto”. In addition to other factors, this is strengthening the trend of ethnic fragmentation of society and politics in the Republic of Serbia. Presently, representation in the public sector and public companies is rated as the weakest point in the process of integration of national minorities. First of all, the problem is that there is no proper method to determine the representa- FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 23 tion of national minorities in the public sector and public companies, which is apparently much smaller than what would be expected having in mind the size of certain national minorities. The Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government conducted a survey on the political participation of national minorities, and submitted the observed problems and suggestions to the Government of the Republic of Serbia, and further work and engagement on the implementation of these solutions is expected. (Bošnjak Ivan, Stručno – politička konsultacija, 2017). Despite the fact that the legal framework promotes adequate representation of members of national minorities in state authorities, the actual representation in reality is not yet satisfactory, especially in the executive authority, administration, judiciary, police and military, as well as in the management of public institutions and companies.7 (Politička participacija, 2016:19, 20, 21). A strong belief that access to employment in state institutions, public services and public companies is difficult is evident in almost all representatives of minority communities, and there is a perception that this issue is more pro- nounced in representatives of Albanians and Bosnians who cited the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Security Information Agency as examples. Representa- tives of most national minorities express dissatisfaction with the number of employees in public services, saying that the representation of members of national minorities in “safe workplaces under the auspices of the state” is far from proportional, which significantly affects the weak economic power of members of the Hungarian community (Stanje manjinske politike, 2011: 10). A political decision of the Government of the Republic of Serbia of 2012 to respond to the boycott of the Albanian population of the 2011 population census was poorly thought out and resulted in the abolition of some of the judiciary and state institutions in the municipalities of Presevo and Bujanovac, which also caused the dismissal of employees of the Albanian national minority in these institutions. The decision of 2014 aimed to reduce the number of members of the Albanian National Council. This allowed for the composition and policy of this NCNM to be changed. Albanian representatives who otherwise had won the majority in local elections in Preševo and Bujanovac and who had tried to cooperate with Serbian institutions were marginalized. The priority in the Albanian National Council was given to those who advocate non- recognition of the institutions of the Republic of Serbia and cooperation with

7 For example, in the military and police Bosniaks are extremely under-represented: in the regional police department in Novi Pazar, Bosniaks make up only one quarter of police officers (a report filed under Article 25 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities: 2007); Bosniaks are also inadequately represented in bodies at the state level, such as the Supreme Court, the Republican Public Prosecutor’s Office, departments of the ministry of finance, inspections, public companies and other institutions (a report filed under Article 25 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of Na- tional Minorities: 2007). 24 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

political representatives of the Albanians of Western Balkans. (Janjić, Stručno – politička konsultacija, 2017). The boycott of the 2011 census by the Albanian population should not affect the application of affirmative measures towards members of the Albanian national minority. Municipal authorities and municipal assemblies do not have any control over local courts and police, which places national minorities living in the territory of certain municipalities in a situation that they do not have the opportunity to influence the representatives in their local governments. Al- banians are poorly represented in public enterprises and in public institutions, and it seems that nothing is being done towards finding a resolution (Islami, Okrugli sto, 2017). The Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa is currently mostly involved in coordination of relations between Belgrade and these three municipalities, but it is not showing tangible results. This points to the fact that the transparency of this body should be achieved, especially in terms of investments in the development of these municipalities, because representative of the three said municipalities are constantly showing dissatisfaction in terms of the achieved progress, despite the fact that a lot has been done. (Bošnjak Ivan, Stručno – politička konsultacija, 2017). However, the basis for the existence of this body should be re-examined, as it was created as an “ad hoc crisis instrument” (Janjić, Stručno – politička konsultacija, 2017). PART ONE: THE ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION PLAN FOR THE REALIZATION OF THE RIGHTS OF NATIONAL MINORITIES AND OVERVIEW OF THE ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY NCNMS

Eva Vukašinović

The existing institutional and legal framework for the realization of the rights of national minorities in the Republic of Serbia can be assessed as satisfactory, but the implementation of regulations in practice is uneven and selec- tive for various reasons. The Action Plan aims to determine measures, activities and resources that will ensure the full implementation of regulations. The NCNMs should have been a key partner in developing the Action Plan and guaranteeing the transparency of the entire process. With the adoption of the AP NC 23, the Republic of Serbia has identified the need to improve the status of national minorities by developing a special Action Plan. The basic framework for the development of the Action Plan is the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (the Law on Ratification of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (“Official Gazette of the FRY-International Treaties”, No. 6/98), the Eu- ropean Charter on Regional and Minority Languages (the Law on Ratification of the European Charter on Regional or Minority Languages (“Official Gazette of Serbia and Montenegro”, International Treaties”, No. 18/2005), as well as the Re- port of the Expert Mission of the European Commission for National Minorities. The AP NC 23 consists of 11 chapters: I Personal status position; II Prohibition of discrimination; III Area of culture and media; IV Freedom of religion; V The use of language and script; VI Education; VII Democratic participation; VIII Appropriate representation of national minorities in public sector and public enterprises; IX National Councils of National Minorities; X Economic status of persons belonging to national minorities; XI International cooperation.

Each chapter contains a brief introduction as part of the review of current situation, presenting the applicable normative framework for a given chapter, the Strategic Objective and the Overall Result which follows from the implementation of the whole activity of a given chapter. The overall result is accom- panied by Impact Indicators and Sources of Verification. Each chapter of the AP NC 23 will be explained further below. 27 28 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

I PERSONAL STATUS POSITION

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia (“Official Gazette of FRY”, No. 11/2002, “Official Gazette of SMN”, No. 1/2003 – the Constitutional Charter and “Official Gazette of RS”, No. 72/2009 – state law and 97/2013, Decision of the CC); the Law on Protection of Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities (“Official Gazette of FRY”, No. 11/2002, “Official Gazette of SMN”, No. 1/2003 – the Constitutional Charter and “Official Gazette of RS”, No. 72/2009 – state law and 97/2013, Decision of the CC); the Law on Personal Data Protection (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 97/08 and 104/09 – state law, 68/2012 - Decision of the CC and 107/2012); the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Serbia (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 135/04 and 90/07); the Law on Permanent and Temporary Residence of Citizens (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 87/11); the Law on Identity Cards (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 62/06 and 36/11); the Law on Registry Books (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 20/09 and 145/14); the Family Law (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 18/05, 72/11 – state law and 6/11); the Law on the Census (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 104/09 and 24/11), and the Law on Official Statistics (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 104/09).

COMMENT

The Action Plan needs another chapter which should have been added before the first chapter to explain the general legal position of national minorities in the (future) Constitutional Framework. In the process of harmonizing the legal system in the EU accession process, Serbian officials have announced that the new Constitution of the Republic of Serbia will be enacted. With this in view, the Ac- tion Plan should envisage adoption of the indicative guidelines on the regulation of general legal framework for the protection of national minorities. As a matter of fact, the current constitutional solutions are inadequate and non-harmonized with the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia and the Law on the Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities, which was verified by the Constitution in such a way that dozens of its provisions have been incorporated in the Constitution, thus only creating confusion in the constitutional frame. Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia defines Serbia is a state of Serbian people and all citizens who live in it, based on the rule of law and social justice, principles of civil democracy, human and minority rights FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 29 and freedoms, and commitment to European principles and values. This issue should be defined on different grounds in the future legal framework, that is, one principle should be chosen between the two: Serbia should be either a state of Serbian people or a state of all citizens. In addition to the aforementioned, a provision of the Constitution stipu- lating that attained level of human and minority rights may not be lowered should be elaborated. Namely, it is not clear whether the assessment of the suf- ficiency of attained level of human and minority rights is based on the fact that those rights are only guaranteed by law or that they should be guaranteed and “consumed” in practice. It is also unclear whether the attained level of rights relates to the financial aspect of the rights. This is particularly important for the rights related to information in the languages of national minorities. The concept of protection of the rights of national minorities should be re- examined. The question is whether the codification of the overall framework for protection of the rights of national minorities (other than the procedural rules contained in special laws) could be a solution. In order to overcome the non-compliance issue, the new special law should have the power of constitutional law and primacy over general laws (governing the rights of national minorities). The special law requires changes to the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia since the adoption of a higher-tier legal act such as the constitutional law is possible only if the constitutional norms are changed. It is necessary to elaborate the provision of paragraph 4, Article 21 of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, which stipulates that the Republic of Serbia may introduce special measures to achieve full equality of individuals or group of individuals in a substantially unequal position compared to other citizens and that it shall not be deemed to be discrimination (affirmative action provisions). The implementation of special measures for the constitutional principle of free expression of national affiliation encounters serious difficulties in practice. The Constitution envisages that national affiliation may be expressed freely. This means that expression of national affiliation is changeable, inalienable and personal right of an individual and cannot be limited by a lower-tier legal act than the Constitution. The solutions proposed against the “abuse of rights” in order to exercise the right to affirmative measures cannot prevent abuse of special measures. Registration of nationality in the registry books or personal records does not prevent from subsequent alternations and amendments of this data in public registry books. A particularly sensitive issue is the determination of nationality of minors and entry of data into registry books without prior consent from the parents. In the system that envisages absolute freedom of expression of nationality, the question arises as to whether this right can be abused at all, how can abuse be determines, which procedure should apply and which body should be responsible to determine whether abuse has occurred. In addition, the guaranteed freedom to express national affiliation means that it is possible 30 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

to have double and even multiple national identities (or example: children having parents of different nationalities). Under the present legal framework, such persons cannot exercise some of the rights that are guaranteed to them by the Constitution (for example: the right to education in the mother tongue) without choosing one or the other nationality. In our opinion, the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on the Protec- tion of the Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities which was discussed at a public hearing held from 8 to 28 December 2016, has not resolved any of the problems associated with the implementation of the law over the past period (definition of national minorities; the term “numerically sufficiently representative” should be specified; affirmative measures should be elaborated; attained level of rights need to be explained). Another shortcoming of this chapter 1 is that it does regulate the right of persons belonging to national minorities to free choice and use of their personal names (it is regulated under Chapter 5 – The Use of Languages and Script). It should have been better if this right was dealt with by Chapter 1 instead of Chapter 5, because Chapter 1 regulates the personal status of national minorities. The right to the free choice and use of the personal name is an individual rather than a collective right (it is not exercised in community with others) and is not in any way related to the official use of languagesand scripts of national minorities. The fact that this individual right is regulated by the Law on Use of Languages and Scripts creates a practical problem for persons belonging to national minorities. Namely, the registrars wrongly associate the right to use a personal name with the right to official use of languages of national minorities that are officially used in the territory of a local self-government unit and refuse to enter names in the civil registers if the language of that minority is not officially used in the local self-government unit. The adoption of the Action Plan was a great opportunity to correct this legislative omission in a way to ensure that persons belonging to national minorities can exercise this individual right in the entire territory of the Republic of Serbia.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE - CHAPTER 1

1. Application of the personal principle in the implementation of legal rules on the status of national minorities, as well as the application of the principle of autonomous determination of the identity of persons belonging to national minorities. 2. Improving mechanisms of enumeration of persons belonging to national minorities and the protection of personal data of members of national minorities. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 31

OVERALL RESULTS

1. Free expression of national identity on a voluntary basis is respected. 2. The policy of neutrality in respect of identity issues of minority communities is implemented. 3. Data on the number of persons belonging to national minorities available to the competent authorities for the purpose of monitoring and analyzing the degree of realization of minority rights, including the protection of this data as particularly sensitive data, based on regulations on personal data protection.

ACTIVITIES WHERE NCNMS ARE ENVISAGED AS THE PRINCIPAL IMPLEMENTING BODY OR PARTNER

1. Alterations and amendments to the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities to regulate the right to enter data on the nationality of persons belonging to national minorities in public documents, official records, and collections of personal data, in accordance with the constitutional principle of free expression of ethnicity. Partner – NCNMs Deadline for adoption of alternations and amendments to the law: II quarter of 2016. 2. Amendments to the Law on Registry Books to regulate the manner of entry of data on ethnicity into birth registry. Partner – NCNMs Deadline for adoption of alternations and amendments to the law: IV quarter of 2016.

COMMENT

Planned activities have been implemented in the foreseen period. To the best of our knowledge, despite the fact that NCNMs were involved in the process of drafting alternations and amendments to the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities, their proposals were not respected in many cases. A particular problem is that public appearances of NC- NMs are often insufficiently harmonized. In order to have harmonized public appearances on the issues of common interest, the Coordination of NCNMs should become a legal category and thus create the possibility of joint appearance in case of issues for which a consensus has been reached. 32 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

II PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia; the Law on Ratification of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamen- tal Freedoms (“Official Gazette of SM – International Treaties”, Nos. 9/2003, 5/2005, and 7/2005 – corr. and “Official Gazette of RS – International Treaties”, Nos. 12/2010 and 10/2015); the Law on Ratification of the International Cov- enant on Civil and Political Rights (“Official Gazette of SFRY”, No. 7/71); Anti- Discrimination Law (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 22/2009); the Law on Pro- tection of Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities; Criminal Code (“Of- ficial Gazette of RS”, Nos. 85/2005, 88/2005 – corr., 107/2005 – corr., 72/2009, 111/2009, 121/2012, 104/2013, 108/2014 and 94/2016); Strategy of Prevention and Protection Against Discrimination (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 60/2013).

COMMENT

The Action Plan does not make reference to special regulations regarding the prohibition against discrimination in specific sectors (education, employment and labor relations, churches and religious communities, judiciary, culture and media, etc.). The Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia prescribes a number of criminal offenses associated with the prohibition against discrimination, such as a violation of freedom to express national or ethnic affiliation, freedom of warship and the performance of religious rituals, support or in- citement of hatred, discrimination, or violence against any person or a group based on their personal characteristic, racial and other intolerance, and similar.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES - CHAPTER 2

1. To ensure the exercise of the rights and freedoms of national minorities under equal conditions, on the entire territory of the Republic of Serbia, 2. The development of tolerance, and prevention of discrimination. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 33

OVERALL RESULT

1. The level of attained rights preserved and the exercise of the rights and freedoms of national minorities under equal conditions ensured on the entire territory of the Republic of Serbia. 2. Active measures aimed at preventing discrimination in all relevant spheres of social life taken. 3. Full compliance with the recommendations of the Ombudsman, the Provincial Ombudsman, and the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality

ACTIVITIES WHERE NCNMS ARE ENVISAGED AS THE PRINCIPAL IMPLEMENTING BODY OR PARTNER

1. Raising awareness among the general public, members of national minorities, and officials and employees in public authorities at all levels of the existence of national minorities in the country, their rights, and the rights to affirmative measures where they are necessary Partner: NCNMs Deadline: Continuously 2. Initiating the process of protection from hate speech (principal implementing body) Deadline: Continuously Implementation of training aimed at strengthening the awareness of all stakeholders of the criminal justice system about the importance of prosecuting hate crimes Partner: NCNMs Deadline: Continuously 3. Strengthening awareness of citizens about the causes and consequences of hate crimes and zero tolerance to such acts. Partner: NCNMs Deadline: Continuously

COMMENT

Legal capacity (locus standi) of NCNMs to institute proceedings against hate speech in a court is very broadly set out in the Action Plan. Namely, Ar- ticle 41 of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination envisages that anyone who has suffered discriminatory treatment shall have the right to initiate a law- 34 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

suit. Article 46 envisages that lawsuits may be initiated by the Commissioner and an organization engaged in the protection of human rights or the rights of a certain group of people. The NCNMs are not organizations engaged in the protection of rights, but rather the minority self-government bodies. Further, if discriminatory treatment solely affects a particular person, the plaintiffs referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article may initiate a lawsuit only with consent in writing by the person whose rights are violated. The Law on Public Information and Media treats the issue of legal capacity to institute an action in a similar way. Article 102 of this law stipulates that a person who is personally affected by the publication of information or record has the right to file a claim. The right to file a claim also pertains to a legal person engaged in the protection of human rights in case of violation of prohibition of hate speech and rights and interests of minors. If the information or record refers to a particular person, the legal person may file a claim only with consent of the person to whom the information refers. Article 10, paragraph 1, points 12 and 13 of the Law on NCNMs prescribes that a NCNM shall independently initiate proceedings before the Protector of Citizens, the Provin- cial Ombudsman, local ombudsmen and other competent bodies if it assesses that there has been a violation of rights and freedoms of national minorities’ members guaranteed by the Constitution and law, and that the proceedings are initiated on behalf of members of a national minority on the grounds of a previously granted written power-of-attorney. The question arises as to whether NCNMs have the legal capacity to be a party to court proceedings and under what conditions, or if this activity in the Action Plan refers only to the capacity to initiate proceedings only before independent bodies. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 35

III CULTURE AND MEDIA

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia; the Law on Ratification of the European Charter on Regional and Minority Languages; the Law on Ratification of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (“Official Gazette of RS” – International treaties 42/2009); the Law on Ratification of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (“Official Gazette of RS” – International treaties 1/10); the Law on Pro- tection of Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities; the Law on NCNMs (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 72/09, 20/14 – Decision of the CC and 55/14); the Law on Culture (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 72/09, 13/2016 and 30/2016 - corr.); the Law on Cultural Property (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 71/94, 52/11 other laws and 99/2011 – another Law); the Law on Library and Information Activity (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 52/11); the Law on Old and Rare Library Hold- ings (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 52/11); the Law on Cinematography (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 99/2011, 2/2012 – corr. and 46/2014 – Decision of the CC); the Law on Compulsory Copy of the Publication (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 52/2011 and 13/2016); the Law on Issuing Publications (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 37/91, 53/93, 67/93, 48/94, 135/04 and 101/05 – another law); the Law on Public Information and Media (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 83/2014); the Elec- tronic Media Law (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 83/2014 and 6/2016 – other law); the Law on Public Media Broadcasters (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 83/2014, 103/2015 and 108/2016); the Law on Advertising (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 6/2016); the Law on Electronic Communications (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 44/10, 60/2013 - Decision of the CC and 62/2014); the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 120/04, 54/2007, 104/2009 and 36/2010); the Law on Local Self-Government (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 129/2007 and 83/2014- other law and 101/2016 - other law).

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE - CHAPTER 3

1. Improving the situation in the media and development of media content of interest for members of minority communities through the provision of qualitative, quantitative, geographically accessible, and, with the obligation of the state, financially viable information in the languages of national minorities. 36 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

2. The development of the minority community culture and intercultural dialogue. 3. In relation to the current situation, ensure the continuity of financing of the media in the languages of national minorities in APV, in accordance with the law, and raise the level of funding of media in the languages of national minorities in the rest of the RS, in order to reduce the differences in relation to the current level of financing.

OVERALL RESULT

1. A sustainable system of information in the languages of national minorities established, which qualitatively, quantitatively, and geographically matches the needs of persons belonging to national minorities. Special attention paid to national minorities in the media with national coverage. 2. Protection of cultural goods and elements of intangible cultural heritage ensured, of special importance for the national minority. Culture of mutual respect and understanding, suppression of prejudices and segregation improved, especially in multiethnic communities and the relationship between young people.

Source of verification - Reports of NCNMs on the quantity of media content in languages of national minorities in the media.

ACTIVITIES WHERE NCNMS ARE ENVISAGED AS THE PRINCIPAL IMPLEMENTING BODY OR PARTNER

1. Insuring the application of Articles 6 and 9 of the Framework Conven- tion for the Protection of National Minorities and Article 11 of the Euro- pean Charter of Regional or Minority Languages through the identification of the appropriate model among the different modalities, such as: −− Improvement of project co-financing, especially in relation to the role of NCNMs. −− Program financing of the media, whose founders/editors are NC- NMs. −− The exclusion of the media owned by NCNMs from the privatization process. −− Increased amount of content in the languages of national minorities at the Public Broadcasting Services (RTS/RTV) by declaring the broadcast of such content as the satisfaction of public interest. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 37

−− Connecting the media privatization with the conditional licensing by RAEM, with the obligation to broadcast a certain amount of program in minority languages. At the same time, analysis of the impact of the effects of privatization and digitalization on the media that broadcast content in minority languages, in consultation with national minorities, in order to ensure the financial sustainability of media in minority languages, through an inclusive process with representatives of national minorities, to ensure the maintenance of the existing level of achievement of the right to information in minority languages. Principal implementing body: NCNMs 2. Ensuring the participation of NCNMs in the work of the council of the regulatory body for electronic media, based on clear selection criteria. 3. Providing support to organizations of national minorities in the preparation of project documentation for participation in calls for the co- financing of media content in the languages of national minorities. Principal implementing body: NCNMs 4. Encouraging the procurement of books in languages of national minorities in the field of contemporary creativity Principal implementing body: NCNMs 5. Professional training of journalists and other media professionals with the aim of improving the media reporting on minority issues and encouraging balanced and objective reporting (Activity principal implementing body). Principal implementing body: NCNMs

COMMENT

Questionable is the statement in the Action Plan (when discussing the present situation rather than the planned alterations and amendments to the Law on NCNMs) according to which NCNMs could be only and indirect founders of the media: “In compliance with the new media laws, when it comes to the media whose founders are NCNMs, it is stipulated that NCNMs can become founders of the media indirectly (though institutions, foundations and companies they establish)“. The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, Article 79, guarantees among others, to the persons belonging to national minorities the right to establish their own public media, in keeping with the law. Article 16, paragraph 1 item 3 of the Law on Public Information and Media stipulates that the Republic of Serbia shall realize public interest in the field of public information exclusively by enabling NCNMs to establish institutions and 38 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

companies in order to exercise the right to information in minority languages or to establish a foundation in order to achieve the objective of improving public information in minority languages that benefits all, in accordance with the law; Article 143 par 6 stipulates that the financing of media founded by NCNMs shall be regulated by a special law regulating the status of NCNMs. Article 19 of the Law on NCNMs stipulates that a NCNM may, as prescribed by the law, either independently or in cooperation with another legal entity, establish institutions and undertakings to perform activities involving newspaper-publishing and radio-television broadcasting, printing and reproduction of recorded media and exercise rights and obligations of the founder. In addition to the above, the explanation of the Decision of the Consti- tutional Court of RS (IU no. 882/2010 of January 16, 2014, published in the “Official Gazette of RS” no. 20/2014 of February 21, 2014), establishing that some provisions of the Law on NCNMs are not in compliance with the Con- stitution, confirms that NCNM may also directly become the founders of media stations: “According to the decision of the Constitutional Court, inability of the state to establish special electronic media in the languages of national minorities in no way threatens constitutionally guaranteed rights to national minorities, because part of the right to preserve specificities under the Constitution covers the right to foundation of own means of public information (Article 79 par 1 of the Constitution). The Law on NCNMs regulates the issue of financing, establishing and activities of NCNMs which are financed from the budget of the Republic of Serbia, the budget of the autonomous province and in some cases also from the budget of the units of local self-government. Hence, the right of NCNMs to establish own radio or television TV stations in the language of national minorities and legal obligation of the state to finance the work of NCNMs and activities of NCNMs, including the establishment of radio and TV stations, sustains the solution that in addition to the public service media through which the state directly guarantees the exercise of constitutionally guaranteed rights to persons belonging to national minorities, there is the other way – establishment of radio and TV stations whose founder is the NCNM, which is partly financed, under the Law on NCNMs, from public revenues, thus providing for the respect of the principle of non interference of public authorities in the media sphere and protection of rights and freedoms of persons belonging to national minorities in the field of public information.“ It is another issue that the media established directly by NCNMs, under the current legal framework, cannot participate in public competitions for co-financing of projects in the field of public information, in view of Article 21 of the Law on Public Information and the Media, which stipulates that publishers funded from the public revenues may not participate in public FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 39 competitions. Due to this, the only sustainable solution in practice is the indirect establishment of media (example: by establishing a foundation as the founder of such a media). We are of the view that it is necessary to re-examine the effects of privatization of minority language-media in compliance with the Resolution CM/ ResCMN(2015)8 on the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in Serbia, which recommends that sufficient and stable funding should be ensured in order to guarantee the viability of media in minority languages and review the impact of privatization and the introduction of digital television broadcasting on minority media, in consultation with all national minorities. The practical problems in the field of culture have not been sufficiently covered by the Action Plan. Culture is the field where NCNMs have most of their competencies, but at the same time it is the field in which some competencies authorities remain unused. There are serious problems with determination of immovable culture goods and non material cultural heritage, inter alia due to insufficient support to and education of NCNM members8. Besides this, there are problems in practice due to insufficient transparency of public competition procedures for (co) financing projects in the field of culture of national minorities.

8 NCNMs determine which movable and immovable cultural goods are of particular importance for a national minority; Initiate a procedure before a competent body or institution to establish the status of movable and immovable cultural goods protected by the law of particular importance for a national minority; Propose measures for the prevention, recovery and reconstruction of the cultural goods in the unit of local self government; Give opinions and proposals in the procedure of preparing spatial planning and urban development plans in a local self-government unit where cultural goods; Suggest the suspension of spatial and urban development plans if these are considered detrimental to cultural goods. 40 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

IV FREEDOM OF RELIGION

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia: the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities; the Law on Churches and Religious Communities (“Official Gazette of RS“ No. 36/06).

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE - CHAPTER 4

Respect for religious freedom in the context of the establishment and registration of religious organisations, based on the principle of state neutrality, i.e. separation of state and religious communities.

OVERALL RESULT

1. Freedom of religion is guaranteed in legislation and implemented in practice, in the context of the establishment and registration of religious organizations, based on the principle of state neutrality, i.e. separation of state and religious communities. Pragmatic solution to facilitate access of national minorities to religious services in minority languages/ speech found, through dialogue between churches.

ACTIVITIES WHERE NCNMS ARE ENVISAGED AS THE PRINCIPAL IMPLEMENTING BODY OR PARTNER

There are no such activities in this Chapter. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 41

V THE USE OF LANGUAGES AND SCRIPTS

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia; the Law on Official Use of Lan- guage and Script (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 45/91, 53/93, 67/93, 48/94, 101/2005 – other laws and 30/2010); the Law on the Protection of Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities; the Law on NCNMs. Regulations, which, through some articles, regulate the official use of languages and script: The Law Establishing the Jurisdiction of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (“Official Gazette of RS” Nos. 99/2009 and 67/2012 – Decision of the CC); the Law on Local Self-Government (“Official Gazette of RS” Nos. 129/2007, 83/2014 – another law and 101/2016 – another law); the Law on Registry Books (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 20/2009 and 145/2014); the Family Law (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 18/2005, 72/2011 – other law and 6/2015); the Law on Identity Cards (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 62/2006 and 36/2011); the Law on Travel Documents (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 90/2007, 116/2008, 104/2009, 76/2010 and 62/2014); the Law on General Ad- ministrative Procedure (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 18/2016)-applicable as of 08/06/2016, 01/06/2017); the Law on Civil Procedure (“Official Gazette of RS” nos. 72/2011, 49/2013 – Decision of the CC, 74/2013 – Decision of the CC and 55/2014); the Law on Extra-Judicial Proceedings (“Official Gazette of SRS” nos. 25/82 and 48/88 and “Off. Gazette of RS”, Nos. 46/95 – other law, 18/2005 – other law, 85/2012, 45/2013 – other law, 55/2014, 6/2015 and 106/2015 – other law); the Law on Criminal Procedure (“Official Gazette of RS” Nos. 72/2011, 101/2011, 121/2012, 32/2013, 45/2013 and 55/2014); the Law on Minor Of- fences (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 65/2013, 13/2016 and 98/2016 – Decision of the CC); the Law on Public Notaries (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 31/2011, 85/2012, 19/2013, 55/2014 – other law, 93/2014 – other law, 121/2014, 6/2015 and 106/2015); the Law on Election of Deputies (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 35/2000, 57/2003 – Decision of the CC, 72/2003 – other law, 75/2003 – corr. other laws, 18/2004, 101/2005 – other law, 85/2005 – other law, 28/2011 – Deci- sion of the CC, 36/2011 and 104/2009 – other law); the Law on Local Elections (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 129/2007, 34/2010 – Decision of the CC and 54/2011); the Law on the Seal of State and Other Authorities (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 101/2007); the Law on the Constitutional Court (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 109/2007, 99/2011, 18/2013 – Decision of the CC, 103/2015 and 40/2015 – other law). 42 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE - CHAPTER 5

Full respect for the rights to use the minority language/speech and script, with the flexible introduction of minority languages and scripts into official use, in accordance with ratified international agreements, and the provision of funds from the budget

OVERALL RESULT 1. Ensured exercise of the right to free choice and use of personal names of persons belonging to national minorities, and entry of these personal names in all public documents, official records, and collections of personal data in the language and orthography of the national minority. 2. The practice of flexible introduction of language and script of national minorities into official use continued. 3. Funds for the realization of the right to official use of languages and scripts provided.

ACTIVITIES WHERE NCNMS ARE ENVISAGED AS THE PRINCIPAL IMPLEMENTING BODY OR PARTNER

1. Alterations and amendments to the Law on Protection of Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities, i.e. the Law on the Official Use of Languages and Scripts, in order to allow in some inhabited places on the territory of the local government unit, where a certain minority language is not in official use, the printing of topographical signs and other markings in language/speech of a national minority, if the percentage of that national minority in the total population on the territory of the inhabited place reaches 15% according to the last census. Partner: NCNMs Deadline for implementation of this activity: I quarter of 2016. 2. 2. Providing translation in the local self-government units for the languages of national minorities in official use based on the territorial principle (for the territory of one or more connected LSGU. Partner: NCNMs Deadline for implementation of this activity: I quarter of 2017. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 43

COMMENT

There is an error in the title of this chapter. The word “language” and “script” should be provided in plural form (the use of languages and scripts of national minorities). In line with already stated objection, the right to personal name of persons belonging to national minorities, which is regulated in this chapter, should be shifted to the first chapter which regulates the personal status of persons belonging to national minorities. The right to the free choice and use of the personal name is an individual rather than a collective right and is not in any way related to the official use of languages and scripts of national minorities. The term “flexible introduction of minority languages and scripts into official use” is inadequate. It is necessary to precisely regulate the introduction of languages into official use and ensure the application. The provision of the Law on Official Use of Languages and Scripts which stipulates that the local self-government unit shall introduce into its statute, as mandatory, the equal official use of the language and script of the national minority if the number of residents belonging to this minority in the total population in its territory amounts to 15% according to the last census, has not been implemented in all the units of self government. In the circumstances when it depends on the “will” of the councilors in the local self government, whether the minority language and script will be introduced, or on voting on the amendments to the statute of local self government unit, then it happens that the councilors do not vote in favor. Due to this, it has to be ensured that, if legal conditions are met, the languages and scripts of national minorities are automatically introduced into official use in the territory of local self government. The present Law on Official Use of Languages and Scripts cannot be altered or amended, and therefore a new law should be enacted. It is necessary to foresee also the obligatory translation of the official gazette into the minority languages and scripts which are in the official use. There is a need for clarification: organizational units of central authorities (such as tax administration, cadastre office, and alike) in the municipalities where minority languages and scripts are officially used, should be responsible to provide all proceedings in languages and scripts of national minorities, including the templates that should also be available in the languages and scripts of respective minorities. It is necessary, in order to stimulate judges who conduct court proceedings also in the language and script of national minority, to introduce an affirmative measure applicable for their performance appraisal (this a very demanding task, because they for example must translate the complete case file). 44 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

VI EDUCATION

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, the Law on the Foundations of Education (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 72/2009, 52/2011, 55/2013, 35/2015 – authentic interpretation, 68/2015 and 62/2016 – Decision of the CC); the Law on Textbooks (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 68/2015); the Law on Primary Education (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 55/2013); the Law on Secondary Education (“Official Gazette of RS”, No.55/2013); the Law on Higher Education (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 76/2005, 100/2007 – authentic interpretation, 97/2008, 44/2010, 93/2012, 89/2013, 99/2014, 45/2015 – authentic interpretation, 68/2015 and 87/2016); the Law on Pre-school Education (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 18/2010); the Law on Pupil and Student Standard (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 18/2010 and 55/2013); the Law on Protection of Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities; the Law on NCNMs; Serbian Education Development Strategy 2020+ (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 107/2012) and the Action Plan for the Education Development Strategy.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE - CHAPTER 6

Improving the position and encouraging realization of the rights of national minorities in the area of education.

OVERALL RESULT

1. A larger number of education models in the languages of national minorities introduced, which will enable greater access to education in the mother tongue; 2. All forms of teaching in the languages of national minorities are conducted by teaching staff of appropriate quality; 3. The good conditions for teaching in minority languages are achieve; 4. Long-term cooperation with the countries whose national minorities have the education in Serbia and vice versa established; 5. Improved language competence of students who attend classes in one of the languages of national minorities with the aim to facilitate integration into the labor market or continue education. 6. Provided textbooks for the classes in languages of national minorities. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 45

ACTIVITIES WHERE NCNMS ARE ENVISAGED AS THE PRINCIPAL IMPLEMENTING BODY OR PARTNER

1. Conduct of analysis that includes: - Comparative legal analysis of models of education in minority languages in the EU; - Analysis of the current situation in the Republic of Serbia; and - Recommendations for the introduction of new models. Partner: NCNMs Deadline for implementation of this activity: until III quarter of 2016 2. The provision of all textbooks and teaching aids, envisaged in the text- book plan, through: - Full implementation of the new Law on Text- books; - Provision of a sufficient number of textbooks in the languages/ speech of national minorities; - Establishment of a system for providing high-quality translation. Principal implementing body: NCNMs Deadlines: For the approval of textbooks: III quarter of 2016; For the approval of textbooks for primary school: III quarter of 2016; IV quarter of 2017 3. Enhancing the educational role of schools by developing tolerance and preventing segregation, through: - Development of extracurricular activity programs that encourage tolerance; - Development of programs to encourage multiculturalism. Principal implementing body: NCNMs 4. Promotion/campaign of different models of education of students belonging to national minorities: - by organizing group and individual meetings with parents - by printing and distribution of publications (example: brochures, posters...) - by involvement of print media, electronic media, radio and TV stations - by posting informative posters in schools and kindergartens as well as distribution of information leaflets. Partner: NCNMs

COMMENT

In this chapter, NCNMs are insufficiently involved in the planned activities. For instance, the Law on NCNMs stipulates that NCNMs give an opinion to the National Education Council with regard to syllabi for Serbian as the second language. The planned activity in the Action Plan – Development of standards for Serbian as a second language, and implementation of the new curriculum of Serbian as a second language for primary and secondary school, does not 46 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

envisage NCNMs either as the principal implementing body or partner in the implementation of this activity. Also, the Law stipulates that NCNMs give opinion on the procedure for the adoption of an bylaw governing the network of pre-school institutions and primary schools in local self-government units where the languages of national minorities are used officially or where the educational activities are performed in the languages of national minorities, while the Action Plan, within the activity for optimization of the network of schools and classes where teaching is carried out in the languages of national minorities, and establishment of criteria for the network of pre-school, primary, and secondary schools, which provide persons belonging to national minorities with the opportunities to exercise their right to education in their mother tongue, fails to recognize NCNMs either as the partner or principal implementing body. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 47

VII DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The Constitution of the Republic o Serbia; the Law on Ratification of the Treaty Between Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Hungary on the Protection of the Rights of the Hungarian National Minority Living in Serbia and Montenegro and the Serbian National minority in the Republic of Hungary; (“Official Gazette of S&M” – International Treaties”, No. 14/2004); the Law on Ratification of Treaty Between the Federal Government of the Federal Repub- lic of Yugoslavia and the Government of Romania on Cooperation in the Field of Protection of National Minorities (“Official Gazette of S&M – International Treaties”, No. 14/2004); the Law on Ratification of the Treaty Between Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Croatia on the Protection of the Rights of the Serbian and Montenegrin Minority in the Republic of Croatia and the Croatian minority in Serbia and Montenegro (“Official Gazette of S&M”- International Treaties”, No. 3/2005); the Law on Ratification of the Treaty Between Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Macedonia on the Protection of the Serbian and Montenegrin National Minority in the Republic of Macedonia and the Mace- donian National Minority in Serbia and Montenegro (“Official Gazette of S&M – International treaties”, No. 6/2005); the Law on Election of Deputies (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 35/2000, 57/2003 – the Decision of the CC, 72/2003 – other law, 75/2003 – correction of other law, 18/2004, 101/2005 – other law, 85/2005 – other law, 28/2011 – the Decision of the CC, 36/2011 and 104/2009 – other law); the Law on Local Elections (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 129/2007, 34/2010 – Decision of the CC and 54/2011), the Provincial Assembly Decision on the Election of Deputies to the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (“Official Gazette of AP Vojvodina”, No. 23/2014). Article 8 of the Treaty Between Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Hungary stipulates that the parties, in keeping with their national legislations, recognize the right to national minorities to participate in public life and further to that, undertaking respective measures for ensuring effective inclusion of persons belonging to national minorities in public affairs, particularly in the processes of decision making relating to them, adequate representation of national minorities in public services, including police at the local, regional and state levels, taking care of ethnic element and language skills spoken in the area of employment in corresponding authority or body and material and other conditions for the work of the representatives of minority organizations and representative bodies, and for their election into such bodies at all the levels. 48 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

Article 7 of the Treaty Between the Federal Government of the Federal Re- public of Yugoslavia and the Government of the Republic of Romania stipulates that persons belonging to national minorities, in keeping with the national legislation, have the right to participate in decision making on the issues which at the state, regional and local level are of significance for national minorities. Article 9 of the Treaty Between Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Croatia stipulates that the parties shall make possible the participation of members of national minorities in decision making which relate to their rights and position at the local, provincial level and the level of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, that is at the local, regional and state levels in the Re- public of Croatia, enabling the formation of political parties and participation in representative and executive bodies in such a way that the internal legislation shall ensure representation of national minorities in representative and executive bodies at the local level, representation in representative bodies at the provincial, republic and the level of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, namely at the regional and state levels in the Republic of Croatia. The parties shall ensure material and other conditions for selection and activities of the elected representatives of national minorities. Article 8 of the Treaty between Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Macedonia stipulates that the parties shall enable efficient participation of minorities in decision making relating to the rights and status of minorities at the local, regional and state levels and their adequate representation in representative bodies at all the levels. The parties shall consult the national minority organizations when changing administrative and election units at the level of the state and local self government.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE - CHAPTER 7

Developing effective mechanisms of democratic participation of national minorities

OVERALL RESULT

1. Effective participation of national minorities in the electoral process achieved. 2. Adequate representation of national minorities in elected bodies at national, provincial, and local levels achieved. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 49

ACTIVITIES WHERE NATIONAL MINORITIES ARE ENVISAGED AS THE PRINCIPAL IMPLEMENTING BODY OR PARTNER

1. Conducting comparative legal analysis of the practice of EU members states in the region, in order to identify best practices and appropriate models of participation of national minorities in the electoral process and the adequate representation of national minorities in elected bodies at the national, provincial, and local levels. Principal implementing body: The Coordination of NCNMs Deadline for completion of the analysis: II quarter of 2016. 2. Based on the analysis and comparative legal practice, identify potential models of democratic participation of national minorities in the electoral process, including numerically smaller national minorities, provided with adequate representation of national minorities in elected bodies at national, provincial, and local levels, taking into account the prevention of potential misuse of more flexible provision regarding the parties of national minorities. Principal implementing body: The Coordination of NCNMs Deadline: II quarter of 2016. 50 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

VIII APPROPRIATE REPRESENTATION OF THE REPRESENTATIVES OF NATIONAL MINORITIES IN PUBLIC SECTOR AND PUBLIC ENTERPRISES

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 98/2006), the Law on Civil Servants (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 79/2005, 81/2005 – corr., 83/2005 – corr. 64 / 2007, 67/2007 – corr., 116/2008, 104/2009, and 99/2014), the Law on Organization of Courts (“Official Gazette of RS”, nos. 116/2008, 104/2009, 101/2010, 31/2011 – another law, 78/2011 – another law, 101/2011 and 101/2013), the Law on Judges (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 116/2008, 58/2009 – Decision of the CC, 104/2009, 101/2010, 8/2012 – Decision of the CC, 121/2012, 124/2012 – Decision of the CC, 101/2013, 111/2014 – Decision of the CC, 117/2014, 40/2015, and 63/2015 – Decision of the CC); The Law on Public Prosecutor’s Office (“Of- ficial Gazette of RS”, Nos. 116/2008, 104/2009, 101/2010, 78/2011 – another law, 101/2011, 38/2012 – Decision of the CC, 121/2012, 101/2013, 111/2014 – Deci- sion of the CC and 117/2014); The Law on Public Notaries (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 31/2011, 85/2012, 19/2013, 55/2014 – another law, 93/2014 – another law, 121/2014 and 6/2015), the Law on Enforcement and Security (“Official Ga- zette of RS”, No. 31/2011, 99/2011 – another law, 109/2013 – Decision of the CC, 55/2014 and 139/2014); Anti-Discrimination Law (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 22/2009); the Law on the Register of Employed, Elected, Nominated, Appointed, and Persons Engaged with Public Funds Beneficiaries (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 68/15), the Law on Police (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 101/2005, 63/2009 – Decision of CC, 92/2011, and 64/2015).

COMMENT

The Constitution, laws and bylaws treat differently the adequate representation of persons belonging to national minorities in public sector. The Constitu- tion recognizes the term “adequate representation”, the laws “reflect to the greatest extent possible the population structure”, “adequate representation of persons belonging to national minorities”, “reflect, to the greatest extent possible, the population structure among the employees”, “adequate representation of persons FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 51 belonging to national minorities in order to achieve full equality among persons belonging to national minorities and citizens who belong to the majority”. These terms certainly do not have the same meaning because adequate representation means that national minorities are represented in the structure of employees in the public sector bodies proportionally to their percentage according to the latest census. The greatest extent possible is certainly less accurate definition because the conditions which should determine such extent are not known, the same as who determines whether it is sufficient and what does the achievement of greatest extent possible depend on. In practice, however, different definitions of the notion of appropriate (proportionate) representation do not create problem. The thing that causes problem of implementation in practice is the statement “care shall be devoted to” because this rule is broad and unspecific (who? what procedure? what if care is not taken?) and has not been applied in any case. For instance, at the time of proposal/election of judges for performing the judge function, the High Judiciary Council (although there is a definition in the Law on Judges) did not know how “to devote care” and in what proportion, although the law apart from general definition, which relates to adequate representation, introduces another requirement – knowledge in professional legal terminology in national minority languages officially used in courts (this requirement can be easily measured and proved). Despite that, the provision is not further elaborated and is not adequately applied in practice. For the first time in a regulation – Government Decree on Implementa- tion of Internal and Public Call for Filling the Vacancies in APV self government units in 2016, the promulgator of the regulations specified the manner in which “care should be devoted”, and in another two decrees relating to the criteria for assignment of work places. Hence, from now on it is necessary to cover with the job descriptions (on the jobs which imply direct verbal and written communication with citizens) also a special requirement – command of the national minority language and script, and the same requirement is re- peated in the call for filling the respective vacancy. Besides this, if there is a need to recruit the members of national minorities insufficiently represented among the employees, it has to be specified in the vacancy announcements that these national minorities shall have an advantage in the case of equal score of the qualified candidates. Thus, both requirements are fulfilled: knowledge of language which is in the official use and adequate representation and the advantage goes to the candidate who belongs to the minority. The decree also stipulates that when there is a need for employing a person belonging to a specific national minority: the need stems from the proportion of number of employees who declare their belonging to the national minority according to the data from the register of employees in the public sector in compliance with the law and their representation in the population on the territory of the autonomous province, unit of local self government or city 52 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

municipality, according to the results of the latest census, provided that 30% of employees in the autonomous province, unit of local self government, or city municipality have declared their belonging to national minority. Of concern is the lack of control mechanisms over the implementation of those provisions, lack of sanctions for violation of the rule and the fact that a ban on the recruitment of employees (the law on maximum number of employees in the public sector), so that no improvement could be expected soon.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE OF CHAPTER 8

Take measures to collect comprehensive information on the representation of national minorities in public sector and public enterprises at all levels, in full respect of international standards in the field of protection of personal data, and implement decisive measures in order to achieve adequate representation of national minorities in public sector and public enterprises.

OVERALL RESULT

1. Take measures to collect comprehensive information on the representation of national minorities in public sector and public enterprises at all levels, in full respect of international standards in the field of protection of personal data, and implement decisive measures in order to achieve adequate representation of national minorities in public sector and public enterprises.

ACTIVITIES WHERE NATIONAL MINORITIES ARE ENVISAGED AS THE PRINCIPAL IMPLEMENTING BODY OR PARTNER

1. Alterations and amendments of the Law on Protection of Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities in order to create the a basis for prescribing the affirmative measures as regards national minorities, through the introduction of provisions in special laws regulating employment and legal status of employees in the public sector, which will enable the preference to national minorities in employment/dismissal under the same conditions, and to achieve an appropriate structure of public sector employees at all levels of territorial organization. Partners: representatives of national minorities Deadline: II quarter of 2016. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 53

2. Analysis of the situation in order to determine the criteria and standards for prescribing adequate representation of national minorities in certain parts of the public sector, through: - analysis of comparative legal practice in the EU countries in the region; - analysis of positive provisions governing the employment and legal status of employees in the public sector; - analysis of the necessary conditions for carrying out activities in certain parts of the public sector, according to the functions performed by the public sector, which have an impact on the rights of national minorities to communicate in a language which is in official use. Partners for comments to the analyses: representatives of national minorities. Deadline: I quarter of 2017. 3. Organization of a joint workshop on access of national minorities to legal aid for the State Prosecutorial Council, the High Judicial Council, civil society organizations, and representatives of national minorities. Link with AP NC 23. Principal implementing body: representatives of national minorities. Deadline: II quarter 2016. 4. Organization of the round-table discussion for the adoption of the final recommendations for Component 3, Objective 1 of IPA 2013 project “Strengthening the capacity of the HJC and SPC”, which refers to the improvement of relations with civil society organizations and activities related to the access of national minorities to the judicial system. Link with AP NC 23. Principal implementing body: representatives of national minorities. Deadline: III quarter 2016. 54 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

IX NATIONAL COUNCILS OF NATIONAL MINORITIES

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, the Law on NCNMs, and the Law on Protection of Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities.

COMMENT

Research results show that NCNMs, in using their competencies under the law, have been most active immediately after the promulgation, namely in the first two years following the beginning of implementation of the law. There is certain corpus of legal competencies which have been used by all NCNMs, but it is also evident that there are competencies never exercised by any NCNM. A conclusion may be drawn that some NCNMs cannot exercise some competencies under the law (for instance, because education is not organized in a national minority language, or the language of such national minority is not in official use), where those NCNMs are additionally weakened by the lack of personnel and capacity to improve some aspects of the realization of the rights of national minorities. Bearing in mind that such NCNMs, due to objective circumstances, cannot exercise all the competencies stipulated in the law, the question can be raised whether the concept of functioning and competencies of NCNMs is suitable or fully implementable for all NCNMs in the Republic of Serbia. According to NCNMs, the existing situation can be improved by amending the law by enumerating precisely the competencies of NCNMs, stating competencies, situations and conditions under which those competencies could be used, and in particular stating competencies of NCNMs to manage the institutions of special importance for a national minority. The Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Serbia significantly narrowed down the competencies of NCNMs. For instance, some competencies of NCNMs in the field of education that are exercised by NCNMs mostly, have been found unconstitutional. NCNMs can exercise certain number of competencies but to a limited extent. Such a situation requires certain alterations and amendments to the Law on NCNMs in the part related to the competencies of NCNMs. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 55

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE - CHAPTER 9

Improving the status and operation of the national councils of national minorities.

OVERALL RESULT

1. The status of NCNMs is defined by a harmonized legislative framework, which provides for the smooth functioning of NCNMs in order to acquire effective minority self-government.

ACTIVITIES WHERE NATIONAL MINORITIES ARE ENVISAGED AS THE PRINCIPAL IMPLEMENTING BODY OR PARTNER

1. The establishment of the multi-field working group in order to draft a new Law on NCNMs, in line with the results of the analysis, with the active participation of NCNMs. Link with 3.8.1.30. Deadline: IV quarter of 2015. 2. In accordance with the analyses and conclusions of the working group, and taking into account the Decision of the Constitutional Court of January 2014, the adoption of the new Law on NCNMs, or the adoption of alterations and amendments to the existing law, to ensure that NC of NM fully contribute to creating an integrated society, with special emphasis on:-The role and legal status of NCNMs, and their members, as institutions that are responsible for improving the integration into society in general; - Clear definition of the powers and strengthening of institutional status of NCNMs; - Reduction of excessive politicization of NCNMs, including the consideration of the introduction of rules on the division of powers in the management of NCNMs or incompatibility of functions, such as between membership in the Council of National Minorities and high political offices; - Support measures to increase cooperation between state bodies and all NCNMs and among the NCNMs. - Initiating alterations and amendments of special laws relating to the status of NCNMs, in accordance with attitudes taken and needs perceived. Link with AP NC 23 measure 3.8.1.31. 56 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

Principal implementing body: The multi-sector working group composed of representatives of the relevant ministries in charge of areas in which national minorities have the right to self-government: culture, education, information, and official use of language and script, and representatives of national minorities. Deadline: I quarter of 2017. 3. Providing support to NCNMs in the realization of their responsibilities, through strengthening management capacity and capabilities for financial reporting of NCNMs. Link with AP PG 23 measure 3.8.1.35 Partner: NCNMs Deadline: Continuously FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 57

X ECONOMIC STATUS OF PERSONS BELONGING TO NATIONAL MINORITIES

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The Law on Regional Development (“Official Gazette of RS “, No. 51/2009, 30/2010 and 89/2015 – other law), and the Strategy for Social inclusion of Roma Men and women in the Republic of Serbia for 2016-2025 Period (“Of- ficial Gazette of RS”, No. 26/2016).

COMMENT

The Action Plan for Implementation of the Strategy of Inclusion of Roma Men and Women 2016–2025 was not adopted although the Strategy provided that the implementation of the Strategy will be ensured by adopting and implementing two-year action plans. The first action plan for 2016-2017 had to be adopted within 90 days from publication of the Strategy in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia” (Strategy was published 10/03/2016). It was envisaged that in the preparation of action plans special attention would be devoted to gender equality and to the implementation of special measures for improvement of the status of the Roma women and girls.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE - CHAPTER 10

Improving the economic situation of members of national minorities.

OVERALL RESULT

1. Economic status of Roma improved, in line with the strategic objectives of the Strategy for social inclusion of Roma men and women in the Republic of Serbia for the period 2015-2025. Improved economic situation of the regions which are traditionally inhabited by Roma (Eastern Serbia and Southern Serbia, municipalities of Preševo, Bu- janovac, and Medveđa). 58 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

ACTIVITIES WHERE NATIONAL MINORITIES ARE ENVISAGED AS THE PRINCIPAL IMPLEMENTING BODY OR PARTNER

1. Improving employability and encouraging the employment of unemployed persons belonging to national minorities, primarily in the category of less employable, through implementation of active employment policy. Partner: NCNMs Deadline: Continuously 2. Stimulating investment from the home countries of national minorities that want to invest in the areas inhabited by members of national minorities, with the aim to increase the percentage of employment of national minorities. Partner: NCNMs Deadline: Continuously FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 59

XI INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 98/2006); Agreement between Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Hungary on the Protection of the Rights of the Hungarian National Minority Living in Serbia and Montenegro and the Serbian National minority in the Re- public of Hungary; Agreement between Serbia and Montenegro and Republic of Macedonia on the protection of Serbian and Montenegrin national minority in the Republic of Macedonia and the Macedonian national minority in Serbia and Montenegro; Agreement between the Federal Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Government of Romania on cooperation in the field of protection of national minorities; Agreement between Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Croatia on the protection of the rights of Ser- bian and Montenegrin minorities in the Republic of Croatia and the Croatian minority in Serbia and Montenegro; The Framework Convention for the Pro- tection of National Minorities; The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages; The Law on Protection of Rights and Freedoms of National Minori- ties; The Law on NCNMs

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE - CHAPTER 11

Promotion of cooperation between the Republic of Serbia and home countries of national minorities, in terms of the position of national minorities.

OVERALL RESULT

1. The continuation or establishment of active international cooperation between the Republic of Serbia and the countries of residence in respect of issues of importance for the protection and realisation of rights of national minorities. 60 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

ACTIVITIES WHERE NATIONAL MINORITIES ARE ENVISAGED AS THE PRINCIPAL IMPLEMENTING BODY OR PARTNER

No activities.

CONCLUSION

Planned activities have not been fully implemented in the foreseen period. To the best of our knowledge, despite the fact that NCNMs were involved in the process of drafting alternations and amendments to the Law on the Protec- tion of the Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities, their proposals were not respected in many cases. A particular problem is that public appearances of NCNMs are often insufficiently harmonized. In order to have harmonized public appearances on the issues of common interest, the Coordination of NC- NMs should become a legal category and thus create the possibility of joint appearance in case of issues for which a consensus has been reached. It is also very important for the Coordination of NCNMs to involve in the monitoring of implementation of the Action Plan and that the comments of individual NCNMs should become an integral part of the implementation report. As regards the alternations and amendments to the law, it is necessary to ensure the effective participation of representatives of national minorities and respect for the proposals of individual NCNMs and the Coordination of NSNMs. PART THREE: COMPARATIVE OVERVIEW OF THE ACTIVITIES ENVISAGED UNDER THE ACTION PLAN FOR THE REALIZATION OF THE RIGHTS OF NATIONAL MINORITIES AND THE PLATFORM FOR THE STRATEGY FOR INTEGRATION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

Nenad Đurđević

During 2016, the expert team of the Forum for Ethnic Relations (FER) drafted the Platform for the Strategy for Integration of National Minorities in the Republic of Serbia (Platform) as a starting point, ie a proposal from which the competent state authorities could develop the National Strategy for Inte- gration of National Minorities in the Republic of Serbia (Strategy). The main premise behind the Platform is that the principles of integration, preservation and development of identity of national minorities are interrelated and that it is necessary to develop and adopt a comprehensive approach to minority politics in the Republic of Serbia, bearing in mind the number of national minorities, their territorial distribution, level of organization, economic development of the regions where national minorities predominantly live, historical and social heritage and different experience of minority and majority relations. The work on the Platform overlapped with the activities of the Government of the Re- public of Serbia in drafting the Action Plan for the Realization of the Rights of National Minorities under Chapter 23, which was entrusted to the Ministry of Justice and the Office for Human and Minority Rights of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. The adoption of the Action Plan was one of preconditions for the opening of Chapter 23, and its fulfillment will be one of the criteria for measuring progress for the whole chapter, which may impact the course of negotiations with the European Union. Having in mind that the FER has participated in the working group for drafting the Action Plan (at the end of the work, the FER representative left the working group and publicly explained the reasons) and presented the Platform in public, we wanted to highlight the parts of the Action Plan that coincide with the solutions provided in the Platform and draw attention to them in particular, as they represent the systemic areas of importance for the integration policy.

63 64 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

Action Plan – Chapter I PERSONAL STATUS

•• Action Plan: “In the Republic of Serbia, there are still attempts to deny certain national minorities and impose identity, despite the fact that the national councils of national minorities, whose particularity is denied, have been formed. There are still debates about the national identity of Bunjevci and Croats, Vlachs, and Romanians. In their activities, the bodies of the Republic of Serbia strictly adhere to the principle of free self-identification, contained in Article 3 of the Framework Convention, and do not arbitrate or favor some parties in such disputes, nor impose national identity on any community. At the same time, the authorities of the Republic of Serbia will endeavor to facilitate a constructive dialogue between different ethnic minorities, within which there are debates on national identity.”

The Platform, on the page 25: Bunjevci and Vlach languages / dialects were not recognized on the occasion of the ratification of the European Charter and do not enjoy its protection. It is necessary to work on the standardization of the two languages and ensure equal rights to education to the members of Bunjevci and Vlach national minorities. Proposal: To establish institutes for the study of the Vlach/Bunjevci national minority culture and language, which would be tasked to, in cooperation with the professional bodies, organizations and individuals, and with the support of the state authorities, reach consensus about the language, script and possible language codification or/and standardization. This proposal is provided in the document “Basic Principles for Integration Policy” which is accompanying the Platform.

•• Action Plan: Due to the boycott of the census in 2011, the number of residents in the municipalities of Preševo, Bujanovac, and Medveđa did not provide a realistic picture of the actual situation regarding the number of people in these municipalities in Southern Serbia. With the support of the international community, independent experts have developed a methodology to reach an estimate of the number of inhabitants in these municipalities. Estimates of the number of inhabitants in the municipalities of Preševo, Bujanovac, and Medveđa were made by experts, with the support of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, in all with respect to the standards of the Republic of Serbia and FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 65

international standards. The estimate results will be used in all areas, i.e. procedures in which the planning of funds is linked to the statistical data. This methodology was developed in order to collect comprehensive data on population from independent sources, and this data will be used in the future, with a constructive dialogue with representatives of the Albanian national minority.

The Platform, page 35: “The representatives of government authorities are invited to apply a flexible approach to population census and use of data obtained by the population census. In pursuing a minority policy, in addition to the data obtained from a population census, government authorities should, when creating public policies, use sources of data on population (independent research works, assessments of domestic and the EUROSTAT, surveys, etc.). Within the shortest possible time, the results of the assessment of the number of the members of the Albanian national minority in the Republic of Serbia, which was made in 2015, in cooperation with the OSCE and the EU, needs to be published.”

Proposal: Data assessment is not publicly available; it is necessary to monitor whether the assessment is used when state authorities make important decision for which they need the data on the number of population - such as decisions on the allocation of funds to local self-government units from the budget of the Republic of Serbia, determination of the number of members of the Albanian National Council, decision on the official use of languages and scripts in local self-government units, and alike.

•• Action Plan: Alterations and amendments to the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities to regulate the right to enter data on the nationality of members of national minorities in public documents, official records, and collections of personal data, in accordance with the constitutional principle of free expression of ethnicity. Principal implementing body: Ministry of State Administration and Local Self Government, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia;

Partner: NCNMs

Deadline: II quarter of 2016

The Platform, page 23: The measure of affirmative action in employment that is related to the increase of the number of members of national minorities in the administration bodies need to be tied to an additional cri- terion- proficiency in the language of the national minority which is in 66 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

official use. In addition to the above, for successful implementation of special measures it is necessary that the rulebooks on internal organization and job systemization prescribe proficiency in the languages of national minorities that are officially used as a special requirement for the work places where communication with citizens is done as the regular task. It is necessary to enable a declaration on national affiliation and to regulate the keeping of a register (personnel records) on the national affiliation of employees. Also, the method of archiving and protection measures need to be regulated, particularly of sensitive personal data (which also includes the data on national affiliation), bearing in mind that, according to the view of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Per- sonal Data Protection, without regulation of those measures there are no grounds for collection of the above data; which results in inability to exercise those rights of the members of national minorities that are exercised on the basis of the statement on national affiliation.

Proposal: Monitoring the alterations and amendments to the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities and other regulations governing competencies of the Commissioner for In- formation of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, in the part related to collection, processing and archiving of personal data. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 67

Action Plan – Chapter II PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION

•• Action Plan: Raising awareness among the general public, persons belonging to national minorities, and officials and employees in public authorities at all levels of the existence of national minorities in the country, their rights, and the rights to affirmative measures where they are necessary.

Principle implementing bodies: Office for Human and Minority Rights, Ministry of State Administration and Local Self Government, Human Resource Management Department, public broadcasters.

Partner: NCNMs

The Platform, page 23: “It is necessary to undertake measures and activities that will enable the persons belonging to the majority nation to be familiarized with the culture and tradition of national minorities, as well as with the rights that are guaranteed by positive legislative provisions. The same applies for familiarization of the members of national minorities with other national minorities, as well as with the culture, traditions and rights of members of the majority nation. Actually, it is particularly important to show both the internal pluralism and diversi- ties, which exist within every national community. For improvement of the position of national minorities and members of minorities it is of fundamental importance to build a much more favorable cultural and social environment of inter-ethnic respect and trust. Such an environment should be taken as the priority objective of all, and particularly of the most influential factors in the Serbian nation, within government authorities, political subjects and factors of civil society.

Proposal: Amending the curricula in schools for better familiarization of minorities and the majority with culture, tradition and relations between national minorities and the majority; build a culture of memory for the victims of Nazi, Fascist and Nationalist ideologies, and stop the history revision, especially of the World War II; develop a communication strategy for monitoring the implementation of the Action Plan. 68 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

•• Action Plan: Consider amending the Constitution in the part referring to the use of affirmative action in order to eliminate possible ambiguities and harmonizing provisions. Principal implementing body: Action Group for Political System Re- form of the National Assembly. Deadline: IV quarter of 2017

The Platform, page. 15: It is important to secure a commitment that the issues of importance for the status, identity, and integration of national minorities are regulated on the state level; specifically in principle by the Constitution and in detail by special laws (a special constitutional or framework law, and/or in a number of laws governing certain areas of exercising of rights of national minorities).

The Platform, page. 23: Amendments of and supplements to the laws (as well as the adoption of adequate bylaws) associated with the existing constitutional provision needs to be precisely stated according to which, in employment, the national composition of the population and adequate representation of members of national minorities will be ‘taken into consideration’, for example, in the case of employment in public services.

Proposal: Monitoring the observance of deadlines for implementing the activity. It is most likely that the deadline will not be met because of the election of a new government headed by Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, who did not mention amendments to the Constitution in her expose. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 69

Action Plan – Chapter III AREA OF CULTURE AND MEDIA

•• Current conditions: “In accordance with the new media laws, when it comes to the media founded by national councils of national minorities, it is envisaged that the national councils may indirectly (through institutions, foundations, and companies which they establish) be the media founders. The Law on Public Information and Media stipulates that media privatization is done in a manner that ensures continuity in the production of media content of public interest, for a period of five years from the date of conclusion of the contract on the sale of capital. The continuity in the production of media content includes the obligation to maintain the share of program time in certain languages of national minorities, i.e. the share of informative, educational, scientific, cultural, artistic, children’s, entertainment, sports, and other programs of public interest in certain minority languages, in accordance with the program schedule, which was valid for a period of twelve months prior to the date of entry into force of the Law on Public Information and the Media. The participation of national minorities is provided by the Law on Electron- ic Media, which stipulates that one member of the Council of the regulatory body for the electronic media will be the representative of the national councils of national minorities. Through the law, the Republic of Serbia has established two public media services, the public media institution “Radio Television of Serbia”, and the public media institution “Radio Television of Vojvodina”. The Republic of Serbia guarantees by law and provides sufficient and stable source of funding for public media services. It is the obligation of public media services to make the content of their programs generate public interest, which includes, among other things, meeting the needs of citizens for program content that ensures the preservation and expression of cultural identity of both Serbian people and national minorities, taking into account that national minorities follow certain program segments in their minority language and script. General Director of the public broadcaster shall obtain the opinion of national councils of national minorities on the candidates for the managing editor of programs in the minority language before submitting a proposal for their appointment to the management board.”

Proposal: Monitoring the fulfillment of the objectives set in the Action Plan through consultation with representatives of NCNMs, the Coordination of NCNMs and professional media associations. 70 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

Action Plan – Chapter IV FREEDOM OF RELIGION

•• Current conditions: “In the area of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, starting from the idea proclaimed in the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, stating that the churches and religious communities are equal and free to organize independently their internal structure, religious matters, to publicly perform religious rites, and bearing in mind the specificities of European legal traditions in this domain, and cultural characteristics of the region to which Serbia belongs, it is necessary to conduct a thorough comparative analysis of the legal status of churches and religious communities. The backbone of this analysis will be the countries with which the Republic of Serbia borders, which have already met the criteria for EU membership. Upon the conducted analysis, all measures necessary to implement the recommendations of analysis will be taken, with the purpose of full harmonization with the identified standards and best practices.

Strategic objective: Respect for religious freedom in the context of the establishment and registration of religious organizations, based on the principle of state neutrality, i.e. separation of state and religious communities.

Overall result: Pragmatic solution to facilitate access of national minorities to religious services in minority languages/speech found, through dialogue between churches.

Impact indicator: The inter-religious dialogue established, in order to promote certain aspects of freedom of religion.

•• Activities: −− Conducting comparative legal expert analysis, in terms of regulating the status of churches and religious communities in order to establish the specific criteria based on best practices of the member states of the European Union in the region (for example, Romania, Croatia, Slove- nia, Hungary) and application of solutions adopted in the region. Principal implementing body: Office for Cooperation with Church- es and Religious Communities Deadline: IV quarter of 2015 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 71

−− Encouraging intensive dialogue, respecting the principle of separation of church and state, between representatives of the Serbian Or- thodox Church and the Romanian Orthodox Church, in order to find pragmatic solutions which will facilitate the access of national minority to religious services in minority languages. Principal implementing body: Government of the Republic of Serbia Deadline: Continuously, from IV quarter of 2015

The Platform, page 18: “Consider the need to amend the Law on the Churches and Religious Communities so as to harmonize it with the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia and international treaties and to amend those provisions on privileged status of traditional churches”.

Proposal: Advocating changes to the Law on Churches and Religious Communities, especially in the period of amendments to the Consti- tution of the Republic of Serbia. The proposal in the Action Plan is to conduct a comparative analysis under no obligation to implement any recommendations from the analysis. The entire chapter is declarative and does not provide for the implementation of the principle of separation of church and state, but rather leaves it to the Serbian Orthodox Church to enable access to religious services in minority languages. The Action Plan does not specify who shall lead a dialogue between the Ser- bian Orthodox Church and the Romanian Orthodox Church in order to provide for religious ceremonies in the Romanian language and to facilitate access to church buildings.

Action Plan – Chapter V THE USE OF LANGUAGE AND SCRIPT

See PART TWO of the Policy Paper (Eva Vukašinović: The analysis of the Ac- tion Plan for the Realization of the Rights of National Minorities) 72 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

Action Plan – Chapter VI EDUCATION

•• Current conditions: “There are missing textbooks in some languages of national minorities, or textbooks are not of sufficient quality, which is primarily related to secondary education, while the quality of translation of textbooks is not appropriate in all cases. To overcome these obstacles, in July 2015, a new Law on Textbooks was adopted. The new Law on Textbooks should provide appropriate solutions that enable the availability of textbooks in all the languages of national minorities, for pre-school, primary, and secondary education, and introduce several modalities of textbooks in the languages of national minorities (Article 3). Finally, the need has arisen to improve the knowledge of the Serbian language. Due to insufficient knowledge of the Serbian language after the completion of secondary education among students of different ethnic minorities, the introduction of appropriate models of learning Serbian as a second language is planned.

Strategic objective: Improving the position and encouraging realization of the rights of minority groups in the sphere of education

Overall result: A larger number of education models in the languages of national minorities introduced, which will enable greater access to education in the mother tongue; All forms of teaching in the languages of national minorities are conducted by teaching staff of appropriate quality; The good conditions for teaching in minority languages are achieved; Long-term cooperation with the countries whose national minorities have the education in Serbia and vice versa established; Im- proved language competence of students who attend classes in one of the languages of national minorities with the aim to facilitate integration into the labor market or continue education. Provided textbooks for the classes in languages of national minorities.

•• Activities: −− Conduct of analysis that includes: - Comparative legal analysis of models of education in minority languages in the EU; Principal implementing body: Ministry of Education, National Edu- cation Council and Institute for the Advancement of Education Deadline: III quarter of 2016 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 73

−− The development and application of models of education in minority languages, through amendments to the legislative framework. Principal implementing body: Ministry of Education, National Educa- tion Council and Institute for the Advancement of Education, Prov- ince Secretariat for Education, Pedagogical Institute of Vojvodina Deadline: III –IV quarter of 2016 −− Improving the education of teachers as regards the Serbian language as a second language, through: - Analysis of the needs and current situation - Enrolment of teachers in HEIs in accordance with identified needs Principal implementing body: Ministry of Education, Institute for Evaluation of Education Quality, National Education Council, Higher education institutions Deadline: For the analysis: until the end of II quarter of 2016; for enrolment: In accordance with the dynamics of enrolment in HEI −− Development of standards for Serbian as a second language, and implementation of the new curriculum of Serbian as a second language for primary and secondary school, taking into account the initial understanding of Serbian; Principal implementing body: Ministry of Education, Institute for the Advancement of Education, Institute for Evaluation of Educa- tion Quality Deadline: III quarter of 2017 −− Enhancing the educational role of schools by developing tolerance and preventing segregation, through: - Development of extracurricular activity programs that encourage tolerance; - Development of programs to encourage multiculturalism; Principal implementing body: Ministry of Education, Institute for the Advancement of Education, National Education Council, NC- NMs, Councils for Interethnic Relations Deadline: Continuously −− Promotion/campaign of different models of education of students belonging to national minorities: Principal implementing body: Office for Human and Minority Rights Deadline: Continuously, starting from the end of II quarter of 2016

The Platform, page 25-26: “Preservation, protection, and development of national, cultural, and language identity of national minorities through education can be fully realized only if pupils properly mas- ter their mother tongue in the course of the educational process and have a good knowledge of tradition and culture of their ethnic group. This still needs to be provided through three main forms of education 74 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

depending on the situation: education that is provided through giving complete instruction in the language of a national minority, education that is provided through bilingual instruction, and education provided in the Serbian language including studying of the subject “Language of a national minority with elements of national culture”. A strategic commitment in the area of education of members of national minorities should be to have, at the earliest levels of education and upbringing (preschool level and class teaching level), the entire curriculum implemented in the language of a national minority, whereby the language of a minority and the Serbian language should be regular teaching subjects (when we talk about the general class teaching (first to fourth grade of elementary school). So, we are talking about the approach of additive bilingual instruction, which implies adding the language of the majority community to the first one, minority language, which is the approach that, according to pedagogical research throughout the world results in the best educational achievements of members of national minorities. This would raise the need to produce an adequate curriculum for the Serbian language as a non-mother tongue.

The Platform, page 25: In view of the need to improve the level of knowledge, to change in grained habits, opinions, and prejudices formed during the ethnic conflicts, a thorough change of the system of education is needed, which would include education for tolerance. Therefore, curricula, at all the levels of education, should include learning about human and minority rights, about war crimes, geno- cide, ethnic cleansings, and about holocaust. Additionally it is necessary to promote pluralism and diversity as having special value and assets and also include dissemination of information on the existing minority communities and ethnic, cultural, religious pluralism. Also, additional and extracurricular activities in schools should be inten- sified that are conductive to the familiarization with and better understanding of the culture of national minorities, which additionally strengthens an intercultural approach in education.

Page 26: If the members of national minorities (pupils and their parents) express a desire to have education which involves all classes in the language of the national minority, that option should be realized, but include considerable upgrading of the study of the Serbian language as non-mother tongue. Integration of national minorities within the social community also implies that the members of the majority community speak language(s) of other national groups in the local community. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 75

Therefore, it is proposed to introduce the subject ‘Language and culture of social environment’ into schools, as well as promote the studying of this subject among the members of the majority nation.

The Platform, pages 26-27: In the area of education of national minorities it is necessary to harmonize the basic concepts between different laws that regulate education. Concretely, it is necessary to harmonize the provisions of the Law on the Fundamentals of Education System, the Law on Primary Education and the Law on Secondary Education in those parts in which the status of bilingual education is determined. Also, the Law on Primary Education and the Law on Secondary Education prescribe that detailed requirements for bilingual programs of educational activity are prescribed by the minister in charge of educational affairs.

Proposal: Monitoring the development of a comparative legal analysis on the models of education in the languages of national minorities in the EU and analysis of the current situation in the Republic of Serbia, in order to determine which models of education in the languages of national minorities will be selected and whether they will provide an integrative minority policy. At the same time, it is worrying that the approach is based on an analysis without having defined the policies and results that will be pursued. The deadlines are ambitious and unrealistic. 76 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

Action Plan – Chapter VII DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION

•• Strategic objective: Developing effective mechanisms of democratic participation of national minorities. Effective participation of national minorities in the electoral process achieved.

Overall result: Adequate representation of national minorities in elected bodies at national, provincial, and local levels achieved.

•• Activities: −− Conducting comparative legal analysis of the practice of EU member states in the region, in order to identify best practices and appropriate models of participation of national minorities in the electoral process and the adequate representation of national minorities in elected bodies at national, provincial, and local levels. Principal implementing body: Multi-sector group appointed by the Ministry responsible for judicial affairs and the ministry responsible for state administration, the Coordination of NCNMs Deadline: IV quarter of 2015: For the formation of multi-field group - For the analysis: II quarter of 2016 −− Based on the analysis and comparative legal practice, identify potential models of democratic participation of national minorities in the electoral process, including numerically smaller national minorities, provided with adequate representation of national minorities in elected bodies at national, provincial, and local levels, taking into account the prevention of potential misuse of more flexible provision regarding the parties of national minorities. Principal implementing body: the Coordination of NCNMs, Multi- sector group appointed by the Ministry responsible for judicial affairs and the ministry responsible for state administration Deadline: II quarter of 2016 −− Taking measures for the purpose of changing the normative framework in accordance with the identified model. Principal implementing body: Ministry for State Administration and Local Self Government Deadline: IV quarter of 2016 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 77

−− By applying the new normative framework, adequate representation of national minorities in elected bodies at republic, provincial, and local levels was achieved, including the numerically smaller national minorities. Principal implementing body: Ministry for State Administration and Local Self Government. National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Deadline: 2018

Platform, page. 17: It is necessary to initiate a public debate on possible amendments of the electoral legislation when the representation of national minorities in the Republic parliament is in question. Different models should be analyzed, such as reserved seats in the parliament for representatives of national minorities, as well as guaranteed participation in exercising the power of public authorities at a local community level, as well as on the level of regions, once the regionalization of Ser- bia takes place.

The Platform, page. 18: In that context it is necessary to ensure adequate participation of the members of national minorities at all the above levels, as well as to elaborate mechanisms that guarantee such participation (for example, reserved seat/s of a minority representative in municipal, city councils).

Proposal: Monitoring the development of a comparative legal analysis of the practice of EU member states in the region, in order to identify best practices and appropriate models of participation of national minorities in the electoral process and the adequate representation of national minorities in elected bodies at the national, provincial and local levels. At the same time, it is worrying that the approach is based on an analysis without having defined the policies and results that will be pursued. The Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government did not take initiative to find a model for representation of national minorities in representative bodies. The model of ensuring adequate representation of minorities in representative bodies should be developed through a public debate on the change of electoral laws and the Constitution, which, despite being announced, has not been initiated.

The deadlines are ambitious and unrealistic. 78 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

Action Plan – Chapter VIII APPROPREATE REPRESENTATION OF PERSONS BELONGING TO NATIONAL MINORITIES IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR AND PUBLIC ENTERPRISES

•• Current conditions: “Bearing in mind that there is no relevant data on the representation of national minorities in the public sector and public enterprises, it is necessary to establish a system for collecting data on the level of representation of national minorities, respecting the principle of voluntariness and regulations on the protection of personal data. The adoption of the Law on the Register of Employed, Elected, Nominated, Appointed, and Persons Engaged with Public Funds Beneficiaries has created the conditions for the collection of data on the level of national minority representation in the public sector and public enterprises. Collecting the relevant data on the representation of national minorities creates the preconditions for taking the necessary measures for the realization of appropriate representation of national minority.”

•• Activities: −− Alterations and amendments to the Law on Protection of Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities in order to create a basis for prescribing the affirmative measures as regards national minorities, through the introduction of provisions in special laws regulating employment and legal status of employees in the public sector, which will enable the preference to national minorities in employment/dismissal under the same conditions, and to achieve an appropriate structure of public sector employees at all levels of territorial organization. Principal implementing body: The Ministry of Public Administra- tion and Local Self-Government; Partners: Representatives of national minorities and the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Deadline: II quarter of 2016 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 79

−− Adoption and implementation of the Regulation which, among other things, regulates the knowledge of languages and scripts of national minorities, as a special condition for performing operations within individual jobs, for the full realization of the rights of persons belonging to national minorities to communicate in the language of a national minority which is in official use in local self-government. Principal implementing body: The Ministry of Public Administra- tion and Local Self-Government; Councils for interethnic relations Deadline: 45 days from the date of entry into force of the Law on employees in autonomous provinces and local self-government −− Classes/courses of languages of national minorities as the language of the area, with an emphasis on official communication in the communities in which national minorities are represented in a larger number. Principal implementing body: Ministry of Internal Affairs Deadline: Continuously, in accordance with the identified needs −− Full implementation of the law governing the keeping of registry of employees in the public sector and public enterprises, through the fulfillment of the obligation to register the language in which the employee has completed their primary and secondary education, i.e. ethnicity, in accordance with the Constitution of the RS and regulations governing the protection of personal data, thus ensuring credible data on national minority representation. Principal implementing body: Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Deadline: IV quarter of 2017

The Platform, page. 17:Taking into consideration the right to free expression of ethnic affiliation, use of language, and the right to write personal names in the original form, it is necessary to adopt relevant regulations for the purpose of consistent implementation of legal solutions on collection and processing of particularly sensitive personal data.

Platform, page 23: The measure of affirmative action in employment that is related to the increase of the number of members of national minorities in the administration bodies need to be tied to an additional crite- rion- proficiency in the language of the national minority which is in official use. In addition to the above, for successful implementation of special measures it is necessary that the rulebooks on internal organization and job systemization prescribe proficiency in the languages of national minorities that are officially used as a special requirement for the work places where communication with citizens is done as the regular task. 80 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

It is necessary to enable a declaration on national affiliation and to regulate the keeping of a register (personnel records) on the national affiliation of employees. Also, the method of archiving and protection measures needs to be regulated, particularly of sensitive personal data (which also includes the data on national affiliation). FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 81

Action Plan – Chapter IX NATIONAL COUNCILS OF NATIONAL MINORITIES

•• Activities: −− In accordance with the analyses and conclusions of the working group, and taking into account the Decision of the Constitutional Court of January 2014, the adoption of the new Law on National Councils of National Minorities, or the adoption of alterations and amendments to the existing law, to ensure that NC of NM fully contribute to creating an integrated society, with special emphasis on: 1. The role and legal position of national councils of national minorities, and their members, as institutions that are responsible for improving the integration into society in general; 2. Clear definition of the powers and strengthening of institutional position of NC of NM; 3. Reduction of excessive politicization of national councils of national minorities, including the consideration of the introduction of rules on the division of powers in the management of NC of NM or incompatibility of functions, such as between membership in the Council of National Minorities and high political functions. Principal implementing body: Ministry of State Administration and Local Self Government, Multi-sector working group composed of representatives of the relevant ministries in charge of areas in which national minorities have the right to self-government: culture, education, information, and official use of language and script, and representatives of national minorities, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Deadline: I quarter of 2017 −− Providing the necessary financial resources for the Budget fund for national minorities (Article 119 of the Law on National Councils of National Minorities) for program activities, projects of national minorities and civil society organizations dealing with issues of national minorities. Principal implementing body: Government of the RS, Ministry of State Administration and Local Self Government Deadline: Starting from I quarter of 2016 82 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

The Platform, page 20: New legislation should determine the clear status of a NCNM as an institution of the minority self-government. It means that it should have the competencies not only in the area of education, culture, but also in the area of media, issues of concern for social inclusion and development of national minorities. In special case, such as in the case of the Roma minority, the NCNM should get special competencies, for instance, in housing issues, education and social protection. “Depolitisization” of NCNMs imposes a set of measures and processes for the advancement towards democratization and empowerment of the public in Serbia. As to the NCNMs, the first step should be identification of an adequate system of elections and organization of national councils, which would also enable representation of other segments of a national minority, such as the civil society, business community, institutions of national importance for the given national minority.

The Platform, page 21: The financing of programs of NCNMs is a particularly important issue and greater attention must be devoted to it than it has been the case to date. One of the main sources are budgetary funds that should be provided on two grounds. The first being is financing of activities that NCNMs are engaged in as publicly vested powers and the second is project financing on the grounds of concrete projects of non-governmental organizations of the given minority community or of actual NCNMs.

The Platform, page 22: Instead of the Fund for National Minorities, which is stipulated in the Law on NCNMs, the Fund for National Mi- norities and Integration needs to be established under the control of the responsible ministry. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 83

Action Plan – Chapter X ECONOMIC STATUS OF PERSONS BELONGING TO NATIONAL MINORITIES

•• Activities: −− Strengthening the economic position of the Roma minority through the full implementation of the Action Plan for the implementation of the new Strategy for improving the situation of Roma in the Republic of Serbia for the period 2015-2025. Principal implementing body: Council for improving the situation of Roma and implementation of the Decade of Roma Inclusion – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction, Transport, and Infrastructure Deadline: Continuously, starting from the adoption of the Action Plan −− Economic recovery and development of underdeveloped regions which have traditionally been inhabited by national minorities (Eastern Serbia, Preševo, Bujanovac, and Medveđa), through: Re- covery of enterprises that were responsible for the development of these regions, Supporting small and medium enterprises, entrepre- neurs and cooperatives, Attracting investment. Principal implementing body: Ministry of Economy, Coordinating body for Preševo, Bujanovac, and Medveđa Deadline: Continuously −− Attracting investment in municipalities that are classified in III and IV group based on development in accordance with the Law on Regional Development. Principal implementing body: Development Agency of Serbia, Chamber of Commerce of Serbia, local self-government units, APV, Regional Chambers of Commerce Deadline: Continuously

The Platform, page 39: Despite the undoubted progress that has been made related to the improvement of the position of the Roma, still sufficient preconditions for socio-economic integration, reduction of poverty and realizing of substantial equality of citizens of this nationality have not been created, and their remains a large inequality gap between the Roma population and the rest of the population. In 84 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

this respect, in the area of employment of the Roma, almost nothing has been achieved. Gray economy and collection of secondary raw materials are still the basis of the subsistence of numerous Roma families, and the majority of the Roma have never been invited to a job interview and measures that stimulate self-employment and subsidies to employers have not yielded tangible results. In the area of housing, affirmative measures have not been legally established, a database has not been established, nor have the living conditions in the Roma settlements been improved. As to education, adequate measures of so-called “positive discrimination” have not been established either, there are no records of the number pupils of the Roma nationality and the development of a system of monitoring their suc- cess at schools, (including full inclusion and continuity of education for Roma children) has not been achieved, and the segregation and discriminatory behavior towards them are still present. Affirmative measures in the domain of health-care have not been implementation, due largely to the specific lifestyle of the Roma. The recognition of the right to health insurance is differently treated and an adequate access to health care has not been provided to them. Concerning the issue of social protection, the capacity of government authorities for the provision of integration of the Roma are still undeveloped, for example the unregulated status of the Roma coordinators aggravates access of the Roma to public institutions and centers for social work deal only with individual applications. And finally, in the matter of the reintegration of the Roma returnees on the grounds of readmis- sion agreements, action plans have not been adopted nor adequate mechanisms established, neither have sufficient funds been provided.

The Platform, page 40: In the area of labor, employment, and social policy, active policy of employment of the Roma implies additional education and training (trainees/interns, volunteers, re-training, and other), subsidies for self-employment (assistance to start own business), subsidies for new job creation (by allocating one-off funds to employers) and public works (as a specific temporary engagement of unemployed persons).

The Platform, page 33: Regional differences in the Republic of Serbia are increasing, which is the result of market and political, demographic, and other factors. The south and east of the Republic of Serbia are in the worst position. That is why a special policy stimulating sustainable development of regions is required. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 85

The Platform, page 33-34: Strategic goals in the areas of regional and local sustainable development include: decentralization while applying the modern concept of regionalization and socio-economic approach; building and strengthening of the new system of division of powers between different vertical levels of power; strengthening of the concept of regional competitiveness and interconnection; reduction of imbalance in regional development; inside regions and between village and city; constant promotion of inclusion of the public in planning and adoption of principles of good practice and sustainable development; development of local economies on the basis of available natural resources and measures to support the promotion of the sustainable use of resources; institutional strengthening of local self-government and raising of the level of knowledge of elected and appointed persons employed in municipal administrations; polycentric development of a network of settlements and creation of urban regions with a network of medium and small cities and rural settlements.

The Platform, page 34: Special attention needs to be devoted to the development of the cooperative movement, not only in the agricultural activity but also in handicrafts and other sectors of economy. 86 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

Action Plan – Chapter XI INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

•• Current conditions: “The Republic of Serbia has so far signed bilateral agreements, relevant to the exercise of minority rights, with the Republic of Croatia, Hungary, Romania, and the Republic of Macedonia. To ensure the effective implementation of these agreements, it is necessary to ensure more active and efficient work of bilateral committees. In order to improve the protection of national minorities in the region, it is necessary to intensi- fy the informal cross-border cooperation, expand the network of countries that have signed bilateral agreements, and promote tolerance, prosperity, stability, and peace in the region. The analysis of the current legal framework indicates that, in the legal system, there are four bilateral agreements which have been concluded with the home countries of Hungarian, Mace- donian, Romanian, and Croatian national minorities. Taking into account that the conclusion of bilateral agreements involves the protection of the rights of a national minority in Serbia, as well as Serbs in the country concerned, there is a limited number of countries with which we a bilateral agreement of this kind can be concluded. In relation to existing bilateral agreements, the biggest problem is implementation, because the joint sessions of the governments of the signatory states are not held as planned, and it is difficult to monitor the implementation of joint decisions”. •• Activities: −− Provide all conditions on the part of the Republic of Serbia, so that intergovernmental committees that were established by bilateral agreements could hold regular sessions and make full use of their competencies prescribed by bilateral agreements. Principal implementing body: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deadline: Continuously −− Adoption of special conclusion ordering the competent authorities that monitor the implementation of bilateral agreements to, as needed, report to the Government on the agreed measures and activities in the implementation of bilateral agreements, and propose bodies and organizations to which the government should order the execution of certain measures and activities aimed at the realization of the agreed. Principal implementing body: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Govern- ment of the Republic of Serbia Deadline: Continuously FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 87

The Platform, page. 44: Minority issues generally are not regional issues. In the Western Balkans, there is no minority regional policy and those issues are not discussed on the regional level. Basically we are talking about a bilateral issue that reviews relationships of two countries. Therefore it is important whether there are bilateral agreements on the protection of national minorities. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had signed and Serbia as a successor took over relevant bilateral agreements for the protection and achievement of minority rights with Cro- atia, Hungary, Romania and Macedonia. However, despite the fact that the mixed state commission do not meet regularly, the implementation of the agreed minutes of their sessions is difficult because they are not binding. Due to the integration and complexity of minority issues, it should be specified with what countries Serbia has bilateral agreements and how they are implemented. And that is exactly why a specific regional standardization and harmonization of the minority legislation is needed that would contribute to the stabilization of countries and improvement of the position of minorities in the region.

Final remarks

The comparison of the Action Plan and the Platform has confirmed the findings pointed out by the FER’s expert team from the very beginning - In the formulation of the minority policy one should consider the complexity of minority-majority relationship which is influenced by different factors (de- mography, historical experience, language, territorial concentration, social and educational level, etc.); find ways to reduce the differences between levels of development of the parts of Serbia with largest concentration of national minorities, and define the policy of integration and creation of integrative society, as an instrument against fragmentation, division and extremism – irrespective of whether it involves minorities or the majority. Once such policies are formulated through adoption of the National Strategy for Integration of National Minorities, an Action Plan should be adopted, which represents the policy op- erationalization rather than the policy itself. The FER will continue to point out the need to adopt integrative approach to the minority policy in Serbia.

PART FOUR: ANALYTICAL REPORT ON INTERVIEWS WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF NATIONAL COUNCILS OF NATIONAL MINORITIES

The following analysis is based on field research conducted by the Forum for Ethnic Relations in May 2017, and partially on preliminary results of the analysis of interviews conducted by program researchers of the Forum for ethnic Relations: Jovica Pavlović and his assistant Stefan Stojaković. The final shaping of this part of the Policy Paper is done by the editorial team of the Fo- rum for Ethnic Relations. A number of in-depth interviews based on an open-ended Questionnaire were conducted during the research with representatives of NCNMs and other organizations dealing with the status of NCNMs in the Republic of Serbia9. The Questionnaire, attached as Appendix 2, was created by a team of experts of the Forum for Ethnic Relations composed by: Dušan Janjić, PhD, Eva Vukašinović, PhD, Nenad Đurđević and Jovica Pavlović. The purpose of the interviewing process was to gather information and opinions of representatives of the national minority institutions and in particular the NCNMs about the ways in which these institutions participate in the implementation of AP NC 23 and the Action Plan, the issues they are facing and proposed solutions for those issues. Semi-structured interviews that were used had a number of framework questions which guided the interview, whilst not limiting respondents to give

9 The research covered the following: Hungarian National Council, Bunjevci National Council, Croatian National Council, Romanian National Council, Vlach National Council, Bulgarian National Council, representatives of the GLAS Association from Bosilegrad and representatives of the Bosniak National Mi- nority. On 4 may 2017 at 9.00 a.m. in Subotica Jene Hajnal, President of the Hungarian National Coun- cil and Emil Lulić, Legal Advisor to the President of the Hungarian National Council. On 4 may 2017 at 12.00 a.m. in Subotica President of the Alliance of Bačka Bunjevci and Suzana Kujundžić Ostojić, PhD, President of the Bunjevci National Council were interviewed. On 4 May 2017 at 2.00 p.m. in Subotica, Darko Baštovanović, International Secretary of the Croatian National Council and Darko Sarić Lukinić, President of the Executive Council of the Croatian National Council were interviewed. On 4 May at 5.30 p.m. in Novi Sad, Dragan Marčel, Secretary of the Romanian National Council was interviewed on behalf of the Romanian National Council. Bojan Modrlanović spoke on behalf of the Vlach National Council as the Secretary of this organization, and the interview was held on 5 May 2017 at 12.00 a.m. in Petrovac na Mlavi. On behalf of the GLAS Association from Bosilegrad, Aleksandar Dimitrov spoke about the status of the Bulgarian National Minority during an interview held on 8 May 2017 at 5.00 p.m. in Bosilegrad. The President of the Bulgarian National Council Vladimir Zaharijev was interviewed on 9 May 2017 at 8.30 a.m. in Bosilegrad, and on 10 May 2017 an interview took place with a representative of the Bosniak National Minority who wanted to remain anonymous. Finally, an interview was conducted also with representatives of the Roma National Council on 17 May 2017 at 10.30 a.m. in Belgrade with Vitomir Mihajlović, president of the Roma National Council. 91 92 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

answers. The interviews were recorded for later transcripts and coding reasons. All respondents taking part in the research who wanted to stay anonymous were offered this option. Critical discourse analysis and qualitative content analysis were used in the process of data analysis. 1. General hypotheses in research

1.1. The official use of languages and scripts of national minorities

The starting assumption was that the right of use and official use of minority languages has not been sufficiently and equally respected in all fields where it is necessary. The official use of minority languages is envisaged by law, but many institutions lack capacity to comply with this in practice. The system is organized in such a way that persons belonging to national minorities often chose Serbian language because it is easier to accomplish what they want than if they use their minority language. Most local self-government units put efforts to provide services in the languages of national minorities, but the process of issuing documents and certificates in the languages of national minorities often takes longer than in Ser- bian. For this reason, citizens chose the most efficient way to get what they want rather than exercising the right to official use of their minority language.

1.2. Democratic participation of national minorities

More numerous and territorially concentrated national minorities, such as the Bosniaks and Hungarians, can easier and to a greater extent realize their 93 94 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

rights to democratic participation. They are proportionally represented in assemblies at all levels of their domicile administrative units, including the Na- tional Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. However, certain national minorities cannot run independently for elections for the National Assembly, because they are neither big enough nor territorially concentrated. The state has the same approach to all national minorities, but in reality a diversified model would be more appropriate. This diversified model should be based on common principles and guaranteed rights taking into account the specifics of national minorities. The affirmative measures should be applied more in order to enable the territorially dispersed and less numerous national minorities to run for elections at all levels of government. It is also necessary to develop mechanisms to enable the implementation of obligations from bilateral and international agreements related to democratic participation of national minorities (such as the Agreement Between Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Croatia on the Protection of the Rights of the Serbian and Montenegrin Minority in the Republic of Croatia and of the Crotian minority in Serbia and Montenegro. Article 9 of the agreement guarantees “… representation in representative bodies at the local, provincial and republic levels of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, i.e. at the regional and national level in the Republic of Croatia.”10

1.3. Representation of national minorities in the public sector and in public enterprises

The starting assumption for the research was that representatives of NC- NMs will point out the need for clear definition and detailed regulation of the matter relating to the declaration of national affiliation in order to provide for keeping relevant statistics on the number of employees in the public sector and state institutions, by affiliation to national minorities. New drafts for the Law on Protection of Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities and the Law on Civil Registries should better regulate the issue of national identity, which will be the first step towards acquiring more complete picture of the national minority representation in public enterprises and institutions of the Republic of Serbia. Despite the use of affirmative measures, it is estimated that the least represented are members of the Roma national minority.

10 The Law on Ratification of the Agreement between Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Croatia on Protection of the Rights of Serbian and Montenegrin Minorities in the Republic of Croatia and of the Croatian Minority in the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro came into force by the Decree on Ratification of the agreement on 20 May 2005. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 95

1.4. The status and work on NCNMs.

Regarding the definition of the status of NCNMs, the starting assumption was that the crucial question raised by representatives of NCNMs will be whether NCNMs should be viewed as non-governmental organizations or as state bodies. The pre-assumption was that the status of NCNMs is not precisely defined. On the one hand, NCNMs are treated as the state or para-state bodies that are financed from the state budget, and on the other, the competencies of NCNMs have been reduced to the level of competencies of advisory bodies. It is expected that the new Law on NCNMs or the alternations and amendments to the old law will clearly define the status of NCNMs. There is also a need to define the method of elections, in particular direct elections for NCNMs. Another starting assumption was that representatives of NCNMs and of other organizations of national minorities will be insisting on strengthening the role and legal recognition of the Coordination of NCNMs.

1.5. The relation between the State and national minorities

The starting assumption was that representatives of different NCNMs will assess differently the relations between the state and national minorities, or between certain executive institutions and national minorities, primarily depending on the level of government, field of activity and representation of national minorities in given institutions.

2. Analysis of findings by identified fields

2.1. The official use of languages and scripts of national minorities

2.1.1. The official use of languages and scripts of national minorities in local self-government units

The official use of their languages and scripts is guaranteed to persons belonging to national minorities by the Law on Official Use of Languages and Scripts of National Minorities in local self-government units with more than 15% of population belonging to a certain national minority. Such normative definition makes difficult the official use of the Roma language and script although according to data of the Roma National Council this community has up to 500,000 members in the territory of the Republic of Serbia. This is caused by high territorial dispersion of the Roma making it impossible for this community to meet this legal requirement in any local self-government unit. The solution proposed by the Roma National Council is to introduce affirmative measures to enable the use of Roma language in local communities in which the Roma minority makes for more than 5% of the population, because throughout Serbia there are such local communities.11

11 Mihajlović, Vitomir – President of the Roma National Council (2017), interview with representatives of the Roma National Council was held on 17 May 2017 in Belgrade at 10.30 a.m 97 98 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

A negative example regarding the right to official use of minority languages and scripts is that public notaries who charge for the translation of documents issued in minority languages, which should not be the case. Such practices place persons belonging to national minorities into a subordinated position in relation to the majority, because they have to pay for obtaining the same documents. Interviewed representatives of NCNMs mentioned the lack of efficiency associated with the official use of minority languages as one of the major difficulties for the realization of the right to official use of minority languages and scripts. Local self-government units often lack the capacity and trained personnel to enable persons belonging to national minorities to use their languages and scripts in official communication with local self-government bodies. Lack of efficiency when services are rendered in the minority language, as well as when documents are issued in minority languages, in certain cases leads to “self-assimilation” because persons belonging to certain national minorities often chose to use the Serbian instead of their minority language because of quicker and more efficient communication with local administration officials. This problem was particularly emphasized by Aleksandar Dimitrov, President of the GLAS Association, who indicated that in the territory of Bosilegrad municipality the Serbian language is almost always used as the official language and that the Bulgarian language is used in the local institutions of Bosilegrad municipality only when citizens strictly insist upon the right to use Bulgarian language, although the majority of population belongs to the Bulgarian national minority.12

2.1.2. Conducting court proceedings in the minority language

The Law and Constitution of the Republic of Serbia guarantee that court proceedings shall be conducted in the minority language if so wanted or so needed. The implementation thereof implies also that there are judges who can use professional terminology in the given language, and expert staff capable of following the court proceeding conducted in the minority language of the party involved in the proceedings; however, the courts are not capable of conducting the entire court proceedings in most of the minority languages which are in official use in the Republic of Serbia because they do not have capacity for that. The mitigating circumstance is the similarity between the Serbian language and languages such as the Croatian or Bosnian, so there is no pressing need to conduct proceedings in these languages; no doubt that many citizens of the Re- public of Serbia would be more inclined to enjoy this right if such possibility existed. A positive example is the e-government in Subotica, where it is possible

12 Dimitrov, Aleksandar – President of the GLAS Association from Bosilegrad (2017), interview with representatives of the GLAS Association was held on 8 May 2017 in Bosilegrad at 5.00 p.m. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 99 to conduct court proceedings in the minority language. There is room to expand this system to other local self-governments and to use it to a greater extent. The NCNMs do not have data on the number of court proceedings conducted in languages of national minorities, but the Hungarian National Coun- cil has data on the number of judges who speak Hungarian in the courts in which this language is in official use. This number is significantly smaller than compared to the number of Hungarians in local self-government units within the jurisdiction of these courts. Even when the judges are capable of conducting proceedings in Hungarian, the problem is that minutes-takers, typists and attorneys often are not. Hence, the right to conduct proceedings in the minority language is rarely used because the use of the Serbian language makes proceedings more efficient. Unfortunately, many do misuse the right to conduct proceedings in the minority language exactly when they want to prolong the proceedings and thus create a negative perception of the notion of conducting proceedings in the mother language. Typically, proceedings, the minutes and decisions, which formally are conducted in a minority language, are actually done in the Serbian language in order to save time needed for the translation of documentation in case of the ned for proceedings in the second instance.13 The standpoint of the Venice Commission to equalize the status of the Latin and Cyrillic scripts should be honored. Many persons belonging to the Croa- tian minority would ask for receiving court documentation at least written in the Latin script, if not in the Croatian language, but this standpoint of the Croatian National Council has not yet been taken into account by the relevant institutions. The Ministry of Justice has hired a number of translators and court interpreters for the Bosnian language; however, it has to be kept in mind that the key element in regard to courts and the police forces is not the translation of documents, but conducting the entire proceedings in the language of national minority. Therefore, additional effort is needed to implement the right to use the minority language in court proceedings in a satisfactory way. At present, this right is reduced only to the translation of judicial decisions, rulings and acts, while the proceedings are still conducted in the Serbian language. The right to use the minority language in court proceedings is denied to Bosniaks primarily for two reasons. The first one is purely ideological, and the other is the intention to make things easier. It is rarely taken into account that the right to conduct the proceeding in the minority language is a basic right which must not be interfered with, regardless of similarities between the Ser- bian and the Bosniak languages.14

13 Lulić, Emil – legal advisor to the President of the National Council of the Hungarian National Minority (2017), interview with representatives of the National Council of the Hungarian national Minority held on 4 May 2017 in Subotica at 9.00 a.m. 14 Anonymous representative of the Bosniak national minority (2017), interview held on 10 may 2017 in Novi Pazar at 12.00 a.m. 100 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

The conclusion is that the situation in this field is messy, ranging from grave violation of right to the fact that this right exists only formally. The examples of consistent implementation of the right to conduct proceedings in the minority language are rare (Ibidem).

2.1.3. Issuance of documents in the minority language

There is an evident problem in case of issuance of personal documents and travel documents, i.e. IDs and passports. The Law on Identification Card and Law on Travel Documents stipulate that the forms for the issuance of these documents shall be in the language of the national minority to which the person applying belongs, whilst in practice these laws are rarely respected.15 The form for the personal ID is to the most part does not comply with the provisions of the law, because only the name of person belonging to national minority is written in respective minority language, while all other information is written in the Serbian language. As regards the travel document (passport), the problem is that citizenship is described as “Serbian”, which is a national determinant, and thus it is not compliant with the Law on Travel Documents because some citizens of the Republic of Serbia are Bosniaks, Albanians, Roma, Hungarians or other nationalities. The NCNMs have raised this issue before the relevant institutions several times, asking for the notion “Serbian” to be replaced by “Republic of Serbia”, but as stated by the representatives of the Bosniak National Council the institutions have a tin ear for this problem.16 There are also examples related to birth certificates and similar documents issued on forms written in the Serbian language and in Cyrillic script, and only the name of the person applying for the document is written in the minority language. There should be an option to have bilingual forms. In this way, the Republic of Serbia would meet its international obligation regarding the provision of bilingual forms to the citizens whose minority language is not Serbian. Employees of city and municipal administrations often are not aware of their obligation to comply with requests of national minorities when it comes to issuing documents written in the minority language.17 Also, if citizens who belong to a given national minority do not take the initiative to get the documents written in their minority language on their own, they will not be asked in which language they want the documents to be issued; this practice should be changed.18

15 Baštovanović, Darko – international secretary of the Croatian National Council (2017), interview with representatives of the Croatian National Council was held on 4 May 2017 in Subotica at 2.00 p.m. 16 Anonymous representative of the Bosniak national minority (2017) – op. cit. 17 Lulić, Emil (2017) – Ibidem. 18 SarićLukinić, Darko – President of the Executive Board of the Croatian National Council (2017), interview with representatives of the Croatian National Council was held on 4 May 2017 in Subotica at 2.00 p.m. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 101

Sometimes, there is resistance to issuing documents in the minority language which a warning that such documents will not be recognized in other state bodies and institutions. The laws should be changed so that every citizen in the local self-government unit in which multiple official languages are used is offered the possibility to get documents issued in different language (Ibidem).

2.1.4. Public signs in the languages of national minorities

Public signs are not written in national minority languages to a sufficient extent, and respect for this aspect of the right to own languages and scripts depends on the given local self-government unit. There are examples of places in which signs are written in the Latin script, but the names are not in Croatian or Bosnian. The example is the settlement Stari Žednik which in Croatian is called only Žednik.19 The approach which implies translation from Serbian to Croatian and Bos- nian language is not good enough. Due to great similarities between these languages, the translation of public signs is often done without consultation with experts, respective NCNMs, or professional interpreters and public signs are often arbitrarily translated.20 It is not sufficient to only insert certain missing letters in line with the typical dialect and use the Latin script, and thus trans- form the Serbian language to Croatian or Bosnian because there are differences in terminology as well. The other problem is that certain municipalities in which Bosniaks constitute a significant portion of the population, though somewhat less than 15%, do not enable official use of the Bosniak language. Representatives of the Bos- niak national minority note that in certain municipalities, like Priboj, the demographic situation during the 1990-ies changed significantly due to the politics pursued at those times; they also stress that the Bosniak language should be introduced into official use in some municipalities even though the Bosniaks do not make 15% of the population.21 Prijepolje is an example of a municipality with over 40% of Bosniaks but the official use of the Bosniak language remained only a declaratory right and not implemented in practice, so that the Bosniak language is almost not used at all (Ibidem). Road signs are also not written in the Bosniak language, except in a few rare cases in municipalities with Bosniaks constituting the majority population, under the excuse that this is due to lack of funds, i.e. the lack of funds at disposal of certain institutions (Ibidem).

19 Baštovanović, Darko (2017) – Ibidem. 20 SarićLukinić, Darko (2017) – Ibidem. 21 Anonymous representative of the Bosniak national minority (2017) – Ibidem. 102 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

In Subotica there are almost an equal number of members of the Bunjevci and Croatian national minorities. Croats have been exercising their right to official use of their language, and Bunjevci minority has not, because their language is still treated as a speech not a language. The Bunjevci National Council views this as a problem which needs to be resolved because Subotica is a town with biggest concentration of Bunjevci in Serbia.22

2.1.5. Education in the languages of national minorities and recognition of non-standardized spoken languages as the languages

In view of most of the respondents who contributed to the research through interviews, the legal framework for the use of language and script of national minorities is good but is often not implemented due to either the lack of capacities on part of the institutions which should be implementing it or the lack of will on part of individuals working in these institutions. The same is true of the educational system of the Republic of Serbia in which the right to get education in the national minority language, when the necessary conditions are met, in certain situations is not respected. Representatives of the Vlach National Council have, for instance, mentioned difficulties they are facing in communicating with school boards in the municipalities in which Vlachs traditionally live. Although, according to them, the Ministry of Education made significant progress to ensure school books in the Vlach language, some at school boards there is still lack of will to implement the curriculum in the Vlach language.23 Representatives of NCNMs whose languages are still treated as non-standard spoken language or speech face most difficulties with exercising the right to official use of minority language and the right to education in the minority language/speech. The Bunjevci National Council is finalizing the process of standardization of the Bunjevci language so that it could acquire the status of a national minority language instead of a non-standard spoken language or speech as it is the case. The standardization of language would facilitate activities of the Bunjevci National Council by making available funds allocated to NCNMs whose languages are standardized, for the purpose of supporting education, preservation and enabling the official use of the minority language.

22 KujundžićOstojić, Suzan Ph.D. – President of the National Council of the Bunjevci National Minority (2017), interview with the representatives of the National Council of the Bunjevci National Minority held on 4 May in Subotica, at 12.00 a.m. 23 Modrlanović, Bojan – secretary if the National council of Vlachs (2017), interview with representatives of the National council of Vlachs made on 5 May 2017 in PetrovacnaMlavi at 12.00 a.m. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 103

However, according to the view of the Bunjevci National Council it is questionable whether there will be political will to recognize the Bunjevci language even when all formal conditions for such recognition are met, because on several occasions and in indirect contacts, it was made clear to representatives of the Bunjevci National Council that they should accept the status of speech and not insist on the status of language.24 At present, all other national minorities can take a subject “Minority Language with Elements of National Culture” in schools in Subotica, while Bunjevci can take the subject “Minority Speech with Elements of National Culture”. Many persons belonging to the Bulgarian national minority do not want to use the right to enroll their children to schools in their language. The Bulgarian national minority faces the problem of self-assimilation, and citizens are less insisting on the right to the use of Bulgarian language, says Aleksandar Dimi- trov from the GLAS Association.25 There is a problem regarding recognition of diplomas, so that students belonging to national minorities who return after completing their studies in their kin-states face difficulties when they want their diplomas to be recognized. This motivates young people even less to return to their economically underdeveloped municipalities. This problem should be seriously dealt with particularly in view of the implementation of the Bologna Declaration in the Republic of Serbia.

2.2. Democratic participation of national minorities

2.2.1. Electoral system

The actual electoral system is more suitable for bigger and territorially concentrated national minorities, like the Hungarian, Bosniak and partly the Alba- nian national minority, which at the same time are the only national minorities which have the capacity to ensure parliamentary seats for their representatives within the applicable electoral system. The principle of natural threshold, as a mechanism, suits the bigger and territorially concentrated national minorities, but efforts should be made to reduce the number of signatures required for running for election. The aggravating circumstance for the minority parties

24 Bajić, Mirko – President of the Bunjevci Alliance from Bačka (2017), interview with representatives of the Bunjevci National Council held on 4 May 2017 in Subotica at 12:00 a.m. 25 Dimitrov, Aleksandar (2017) – Ibidem. 104 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

when they want to run for elections is the obligation for every minority list to collect 10,000 signatures in order to have the right to independently run for elections. This is a particularly aggravating circumstance when it comes to submission of electoral lists of small national minorities. It is not logical to have to collect 10,000 signatures for the purpose of running for election with a minority list; it is not logical that the same number of signatures is required for the participation of the electoral list of the majority, and particularly having in mind that certain national minorities according to the 2011 census have less than 10,000 declared members, whilst the population of only five national minorities exceeds the number of 50,000 declared members. The electoral legislation should be amended to enable less numerous national minorities to meet the required criteria for running for elections. In case of the Bunjevci national minority, it could be said that the number of votes needed for a seat in the Parliament is smaller than the number of signatures required to run for elections due to the implementation of the principle of natural threshold which facilitates the representation of those minority lists which have the capacity to run for elections. According to the view of the representatives of the Bunjevci National Council the required number of signatures should correspond to the one required for the registration of a political party, which in the case of minority parties is 1,000 signatures; the possibility to revoke signatures as a precondition should also be taken into consideration because parties are sufficiently qualified to run for election by the very fact that they are registered as a political party.26 Signatures should be imposed only for newly registered groups of citizens which are running for the first time, in order to prevent misuse of the election process. Revoking signatures is a basic precondition for enabling minority parties to run for elections at all levels. The Croatian national minority does not represent the majority in any municipality in the Republic of Serbia, it is also territorially quite dispersed, and according to the statement of the Croatian National Council it does not have possibility to independently run for elections.27 According to the Croatian Na- tional Council, the solution is in the implementation of certain mechanisms im- plying reserved seats for national minorities, as it is the case in Croatia, Hungary and Romania. This mechanism would also solve the issue of natural threshold because when running for election with multiple lists of one national minority it may happen that none of them will cross the natural threshold in case when rather close election results are achieved. Serbia undertook an obligation to ensure representation of the Croatian national minority in the National Assembly through a bilateral agreement on protection of minority rights signed with the Republic of Croatia, but no progress can be seen in regard to implementation of

26 Bajić, Mirko (2017) – op. cit. 27 Baštovanović, Darko (2017) – op. cit. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 105 these obligations which Serbia committed to fulfill. Representatives of the Croa- tian National Council emphasize that the state refuses any dialogue on this issue and that the Croatian National Council was always facing resistance whenever they wanted to talk on the necessity to ensure seats in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia for members of the Croatian national minority.28 The electoral system implements the „one size fits all” solution which actually suits only certain national minorities, whilst the others are in a subordinated status. Political participation is also made more difficult for the Roma national minority due to the structure and manner in which the actual political system of Serbia is designed. The principle of natural threshold makes it easier for minority parties to win seats in assemblies, but this is so only in case that they manage to participate in the elections. Running for elections is made more difficult due to the fact that for elections at the state level every list must collect 10,000 signatures, namely 30 signatures per candidate for local elections, which is difficult to achieve for most of the minority parties.29

2.3. Representation of national minorities at different levels of legislative power

As regards the natural threshold in account should be taken that it is possible to have multiple parties representing certain national minorities, in which case parties of smaller national minorities could not cross the natural threshold if the votes were more evenly distributed between two parties which represent the same minority both at the level of the Republic, and at the provincial and local levels. The applicable laws make democratic participation technically impossible for the Romanian national minority, although Article 100 of the Law on Elec- tion of Deputies stipulates that the participation of national minorities shall be ensured in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia; Article 180 of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia says that proportional participation of national minorities is ensured in the Assembly of AP Vojvodina. Unfortunately, other election laws envisage only the possibility of elections and this possibility can be used only by big national minorities. Hence, according to representatives of the Romanian National Council, electoral laws are not compliant with the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia. National minorities like the Romanian one have no possibility to independently ensure seats in the National Assembly,

28 SarićLukinić, Darko (2017) – Ibidem. 29 Mihajlović, Vitomir (2017) – Ibidem. 106 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

and in local self-government units their representatives can never constitute the majority because they do not constitute more than 25% of the population in any municipality.30 The problem could be solved through alternations of the Law on the Election of Deputies and the Law on Local Elections. On the other hand, it is emphasized that democratic participation of persons belonging to the Vlach community is satisfactory at the level of local self- government.31The former President of Petrovac na Mlavi municipality, who was holding this post for twelve years, belongs to the Vlach national minority. The Vlach national community is also represented in the National Assembly of Serbia through MPs who are members of majority parties, which satisfies the representatives of the Vlach National Council. The Bulgarian national minority does not have the capacity to ensure its representation in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.32 The examples of Croatia, Hungary and Romania should be followed. In these countries, seats in the parliament are reserved for representatives of national minorities. Rep- resentatives of the Bulgarian national minority were MPs on the lists of ruling parties, but this position did not enable them to advocate for the interests of the Bulgarian national minority in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.

2.3.1. Separate voters lists

Elections for NCNMs held up to now demonstrated that a big number of citizens who wanted to vote for representatives of NCNM to which they belong could not do this due to poorly updated voter lists. Some members of national minorities were prevented from casting the ballot because they were entered in separate voter lists of other NCNMs. In case of elections for some NCNMs, a huge number of citizens applied for registration in separate voters lists on the eve of elections, and these were citizens who on other occasions did not declare themselves as members of the national minority for whose NCNM the elections were organized.33 It is necessary to regulate registration for separate voter lists and regularly up- date them. The Bunjevci National Council is active in working groups for drafting the new law on NCNMs, and sees this participation as a framework for enhancing the election system for NCNMs. The solution proposed by the Bunjevci National Council is to prohibit voting to those voters who were entered in the separate voters list less than six months prior to elections, so as to avoid the situation in which

30 Marčel, Dragan – Secretary of the National Council of the Romanian National Minority (2017), interview with representatives of the National Council of the Romanian National minority held on 4 May 2017 in Novi Sad at 5.30 p.m. 31 Modrlanović, Bojan (2017) – Ibidem. 32 Dimitrov, Aleksandar (2017) – Ibidem. 33 Bajić, Mirko (2017) – Ibidem. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 107 people would register and withdraw from the separate voter list only in order to influence the election for NCNMs. Representatives of the Hungarian National Council mention as a problem also the fact that alternations of data in the voters list are made only within the election unit in which the person was born, which makes it more difficult to realize the right of vote for citizens who in their lifetime moved to other places because there is no obligation to transfer data from one municipality to another.34 The primary problem is the fact that general voter lists are not updated; this reflects upon the separate voters list. The general voters list is formed not by having the citizen apply for registration, but by automatically registering the citizen to the voters list after they have turned 18. The NCNMs think that the same principle should be applied to the separate voters list. Citizens declare their ethnic affiliation for the census, and data from the census should be used for automatic registration of citizens who identified themselves as belonging to a certain national minority into the appropriate separate voters list. This would be a step toward for prevention of manipulation of elections for bodies of NCNMs; at present, namely, on the last day prior to elections, citizens massively register for separate voter lists with assistance of political parties that have interest in these elections. Citizens are registered in voter lists even without knowing or approving it, and this problem has to be solved in order to have regular elections for NCNMs.35 There is also a lack of will of members of certain national minorities, like the Vlachs and Roma, to officially declare themselves as Vlachs and Roma and thus realize their right to vote for the respective NCNM.36

2.3.2. Representation of national minorities in the public sector and public enterprises

There is no evidence on the representation of the members of national minorities The provision by which nobody has to declare their national affiliation is too often interpreted too broadly and hence harmfully, because it is typically interpreted so that employees in the public sector shall not be asked to declare their national affiliation. Hence, it is difficult to estimate the representation of national minorities in public enterprises and administrative bodies. It is generally assessed that a significantly smaller number of members of national minorities are holding management positions, and also that the number of employees is somewhat smaller when compared to the share of national minorities in the

34 Lulić, Emil (2017) – Ibidem. 35 Bajić, Mirko (2017) – Ibidem. 36 Modrlanović, Bojan (2017) – Ibidem. 108 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

general population. According the President of the Roma National Council, Vitomir Mihajlović, Roma simply do not exist in the public sector and therefore they have problems in functioning as a national community.37 Obviously, there is a filter for employment which is based on discrimination against certain national minorities. For members of national minorities the most closed are jobs in bodies in charge of internal affairs and defense. The general problem is that citizens in the public sector and state administration are not being employed based on their qualifications only; rather, the ruling parties influence employments to a great extent, which is bad for all, but is an additional aggravating circumstance for persons belonging to national minorities seeking for a job in the public sector, public enterprises and state administration.38 The AP NP 23 envisages the right of national minorities to be proportionally represented in the public sector and state institutions, but there is no way to specify the number of members of a given national minority in public enterprises and state institutions because there is no mechanism to carry out a poll. Also, due to a liberal attitude regarding declaration of national affiliation, even the introduction of certain quotas which would guarantee representation to national minorities could easily be misused. An example is the misuse of quota for the enrolment of new generation of students to faculties throughout Serbia, because those who do not enter the desired faculty may declare as Roma and invoke affirmative measures envisaged for members of this national community. The Croatian National Council thinks that the Commissioner for Infor- mation of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, Rodoljub Šabić is wrong when insisting that employees in the public sector should not be asked about their national affiliation because this is impeding estimates of the ethnic structure of the employees.39 Of course, nobody may be forced to declare national affiliation if they do not want to do so, but the Croatian National Council thinks that polls of this kind are necessary in order to obtain adequate data with the notice that everybody would have the opportunity not to give answers. There is no legal obstacle for obtaining such evidence and it is not clear why there is so much insisting against polls on national affiliation.

Representation of national minorities at different levels of public administration The Police and Military are a special problem because in the most recent calls for employment in these bodies the participation of citizens of the Repub- lic of Serbia with dual citizenship was not possible. And, having in mind that some members of national minorities do have the citizenship of their kin-state, the question is whether in the future there will be any members of national

37 Mihajlović, Vitomir (2017) – Ibidem. 38 dr KujundžićOstojić, Suzana (2017) – Ibidem. 39 Sarić Lukinić, Darko (2017) – Ibidem. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 109 minorities at all able to work in the police or as professional soldiers. This is a serious problem and with no sufficient attention paid to it - this is the standpoint expressed by the Hungarian National Council.40 The provisions of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance and the Law on Personal Data Protection are misused and used as an excuse for not publicizing data on the number of Roma employed; the excuse is used by institutions which do not want to admit that they employee a very small number of Roma.41 General perception of the Croatian National Council, given the circumstances that there are no official data, is that in places where they live, the Cro- ats are proportionally represented in local institutions and public enterprises, but that they are not proportionally represented in certain state bodies whose management is in Belgrade.42 The assessment of the Romanian National Council is that Romanian minority is not most adequately represented in the public sector, and in particular in the judiciary. In fact, the problem is not that ethnic Romanians are not employed in the public sector, but the fact that the employees do not speak Ro- manian language, making it thus more difficult for the Romanian national minority to enjoy the guaranteed right to official use of their minority language.43 There is adequate representation of the Vlach community in the public sector; however, it is difficult to establish their exact number. Namely, the number of Vlachs is in fact manifold bigger than the number of those who declared themselves as Vlach. However, the Vlach National Council is convinced that the demographic situation in municipalities in which the Vlachs are living is reflected in the institutions and public enterprises in these municipalities.44 According to information of the Vlach National Council there are no examples of discrimination or indications that somebody lost their job or was not given an employment in the public sector because of their affiliation to the Vlach community. As regards Bosilegrad and Dimitrovgrad, all people employed in local institutions are from Bosilegrad and Dimitrovgrad and in this regard there are no problems. The only problem is related to the border crossing with the Republic of Bulgaria, where only one customs officer and one police officer come from Bosilegrad, and the other 14 employees come from other parts of Serbia and do not speak Bulgarian.45

40 Hajnal, Jene – President of the National Council of the Hungarian National Minority (2017), interview with representatives of the National Council of the Hungarian National Minority on 4 May 2017 in Subotica at 9.00 a.m. 41 Mihajlović, Vitomir (2017) – Ibidem. 42 SarićLukinić, Darko (2017) – Ibidem. 43 Marčel, Dragan (2017) – Ibidem. 44 Modrlanović, Bojan (2017) – Ibidem. 45 Zaharijev, Vladimir – President of the National Council of the Bulgarian national minority (2017), interview with representatives of the National Council of the Bulgarian National Minority held on 9 May 2017 in Bosilegrad at 8:30 a.m. 110 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

Misuse of affirmative measures Misuse of affirmative measures directed to members of the Roma national community is making more difficult the evaluation of the real representation of the Roma national minority in the social life of the Republic of Serbia. An example of this kind of misuse is that students of Serb nationality declare themselves as Roma in order to acquire certain advantages when enrolling to a faculty. Persons belonging to the Roma national minority are least represented in public life, including public institutions and public enterprises. There are no Roma in local self-governments, ministries, government, national assembly, education, and there are very few of them in the military and police forces, although they are more numerous in the military and police forces than in other state institutions and bodies.46 The problems faced by Roma are of key importance for the process of European integration of the Republic of Serbia, so it is important to include persons belonging to this national minority in the process of resolving these issues, instead of leaving them aside to observe the decisions which influence their lives being made by others.47

2.4. The role of NCNMs in the implementation of the Action Plan

The Roma National Council was adequately represented during the creation and implementation of the AP NC 23 and the Action Plan. Roma are specifically mentioned within Chapter 23 and since then there is a visibly bigger engagement of the state in solving certain issues of importance for the Roma national minority. However, it is necessary to engage more Roma in order to solve these problems in an adequate way. The Romanian National Council has the feeling that, as an institution, it is playing an important role in the implementation of the AP NC 23. An ex- ceptionally big number of proposals given by the Romanian National Council were included into the Action Plan. Education and information are the most important issues for the Romanian National Council and they are insisted upon when it comes to the implementation of the AP NC 23.

46 Mihajlović, Vitomir (2017) – op. cit. 47 Ibid. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 111

2.5. The Coordination of NCNMs

The Coordination of NCNMs is useful depending on how well it functions. The Hungarian National Council will soon take over chairmanship of the Co- ordination of NCNMs and will make efforts to bridge differences between NC- NMs in order to find a common point of interest and agree on common stand- points on the basis of which all national minorities will act in the public. Until now, the Coordination of NCNMs was used only to achieve narrow interests and goals of individual NCNMs, and the fact that much more can be achieved through joint action was neglected. The Croatian National Council does not have a unified standpoint on the Coordination of NCNMs. They believe that certain type of cooperation is needed, but in view of some members of the Croatian National Council, the informal cooperation designed in this manner makes difficult the implementation of certain decisions. There are examples when agreements failed because of representatives from one NCNM – and there are no mechanisms or rules regulating the manner in which decisions are made – therefore, it is difficult to find common grounds and come forward with harmonized stand- points of all NCNMs. The Roma National Council is one of the initiators for the establishment of the Coordination of NCNMs. The aim was to improve efficiency of the meetings held with the representatives of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, hoping that selected representatives could express common stand- points of all NCNMs and thus act in a more efficient manner. However, re- cently the bigger NCNMs have been imposing the issues focused on their narrow own interest to become the general agenda of the Coordination of NCNMs; this spoils relations and makes more difficult work of the Coordi- nation of NCNMs.48 The Coordination of NCNMs is not registered and has no legal status, but it is responsible to national minorities; this makes it an important informal body which has been increasingly recognized by institutions of the Republic of Serbia.

48 Mihajlović, Vitomir (2017) – Ibidem. 112 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

2.6. The relationship between the State and national minorities

2.6.1. Central government and national minorities

The major issue in the relationship between the state and national minorities is a common impression that the state views national minorities as groups that should not be provided too many concessions, because excessive concessions to national minorities are harmful for the national interest. This attitude is wrong, and the state should not make any distinction between the persons belonging to national minorities and other citizens who should be enabled to fully exercise their rights, instead of providing them concessions occasionally.49 There are big expectations from Serbia’s European integration process. Since the opening of Chapter 23, the interest of central authorities for the issues of importance for national minorities has increased. If the pace of finding solutions for major problems does not change, the problems will solve themselves – because national minorities will not exist in the long run. Persons belonging to national minorities will assimilate or leave the Republic of Serbia in search for better economic and living conditions. The process of European integration is a mechanism which forced the Republic of Serbia to speed up its approach to the solution of certain issues, but since “haste often makes waste”, the implemented solutions are often not well thought and have adverse effect on the status of national minorities in the long run. Persons belonging to the Vlach national minority in their relations with the state face the same challenges as persons belonging to the majority nation. The Vlach National Council urge the government to keep in mind that Serbia is their kin-state and that the government should respect this feeling and have more understanding for the issues of importance for Vlachs.50 Often, there is an impression that the issues affecting the status of national minorities are dealt with only to the extent necessary. This is particularly visible in regard to the abrupt interest for national minority issues after the opening of the negotiating Chapter 23. In this context it is expected that the process of Serbia’s integration will have a positive impact on the status of national minorities, but it will be good if this interest continues after closing certain negotiating chapters.

49 Hajnal, Jene (2017) – Ibidem. 50 Modrlanović, Bojan (2017) – Ibidem. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 113

The Republic of Serbia should define a comprehensive policy to address problems faced by national minorities and this must be done in cooperation with NCNMs. The comprehensive policy should then serve as the foundation for specific policies tailored to the needs of individual national minorities. Ac- cording to the opinion of the Bosniak National Council, this requires a complete change of direction. Obviously there is no political will for that. The Bosniak National Council has drafted their own proposal of the law on the respect of rights and freedoms of national minorities. The representatives of this NCNM in the working group for drafting the law have offered their solutions for addressing minority problems.

2.6.2. Provincial and local authorities and national minorities

There are occasions when local self-government units do not comply with the Law on NCNMs, while the central authorities do very little to make them comply with the law. Pursuant to the law, NCNMs are financed from the national, provincial and local budgets, but the financing that is currently provided by local self-government units for NCNMs is insufficient for normal operation of NCNMs. Activities of smaller NCNMs are often performed on a voluntary basis because members of small NCNMs have regular jobs and cannot fully engage in the work of NCNMs. The state should put more efforts in the economic development of municipalities with national minorities. Municipalities with members of the Albanian national minority were mentioned in the Action Plan for the Realization of Rights of National Minorities as municipalities which should be economically developed; on the other hand, this was not mentioned for municipalities inhabited by national minorities. The present attitude of the Republic of Serbia toward national minorities is not fully satisfactory. However, certain deficiencies are offset in the Autono- mous Province of Vojvodina. The European integration process has a potential to improve this attitude of the state. Even though some individuals are clearly against the improvement of the status of national minorities in Serbia, but this is not true for the entire system.51 . The major problem are municipalities because most of the needs and requests of each national minority are satisfied at the local level, whereas local authorities are, as a rule, least interested to respect and protect the rights of national minorities.

51 Marčel, Dragan (2017) – Ibidem. 114 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

Table: Assessment of executive institutions of the Republic of Serbia Ministry of State Administration and Local Self- 4 3+ 3- 4- Good score 3 5 2 Government Very bad Ministry of Culture and Information 2 4 / 4 3 5 3 score Ministry of Education 4 4+ 1 5 5 3 5 1 Satisfactory Bad Office for Human and Minority Rights 4 4 / 4- 5 1 score score Bad Council of National Minorities of the Republic of Serbia 2 1 1 / 1 5 1 score *The names of the NCNMs and their representatives who took part in the assessment are not revealed, due to guaranteed anonymity for participants in the poll. 3. Analysis of findings by individual NCNMs

3.1. Representatives of the Bosniak national minority

Representatives of the Bosniak national minority are not satisfied with the representation of their national minority in the public sector, public enterprises, judiciary and generally in the institutions of the Republic of Serbia. In Sandžak there is an inversely proportional representation of national minorities in the courts, police, prosecutor’s office and other state bodies considering the demographic structure in this region.52 Due to all this, there is a huge distrust among Bosniaks in state institutions, which is added up to the distrust resulting from violations of human rights in the past, which has never been resolved and explained by these very same state institutions. In the period 1993-1995, as many as 17,500 Bosniaks were subjected to different types of informative talks by the police, thus creating distrust, even a reasonable fear in regard to state institutions and force ministries (Ibidem).53 Therefore it is necessary to harmonize the national structure, which is one of the obligations of the Republic of Serbia, but there is no progress in this segment. Legal solutions are sufficient to bring the situation within an acceptable framework, but the laws are not being implemented.

52 Anonymous representative of the Bosniak national minority (2017) – Ibidem. 53 Ibidem. 115 116 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

One of the requests was to establish a department of the Judicial Academy in Sandžak in order to enable law graduates seeking for jobs in judiciary to spe- cialize in specific legal areas. New courts should be established in Novi Pazar, such as the commercial and appellate courts, because Sandžak should be seen as a whole (region or territory). A police training center should also be established, where the citizens seeking for police jobs can be trained. Besides, there is no school directorate in charge of Novi Pazar; the nearest school directorates are in Kraljevo and Užice. Insisting on the status quo widens the gap negative feelings among persons belonging to Bosniak national minority.54 It should be noted that the representation in local self-government units is adequate. Before 2000, it was inadequate, but after the democratic changes the representation of Bosniaks has improved at the local level. But the problem is with the most powerful institutions managed from Belgrade, because there are no Bosniaks in them. As for public enterprises, the representation is unequal and varies from one enterprise to another.55 The Bosniak National Council participated in the working group for drafting the Action Plan developed under the AP NP 23. However, Bosniak representative demonstratively left the last session because the working group ignored all proposals from representatives of the Bosniak National Council. He stepped out from the working group for drafting the Action Plan after partici- pating in all public debates and making 495 written proposals of amendments to the Action Plan, all of which were ignored without any explanation. On this occasion, a special press conference was held at which all activities of the Bosniak National Council related to the Action Plan were presented, in order to inform the public about the manner in which the positions and proposals of the Bosniak National Council are dealt with.56 The Bosniak National Council has written proposals of amendments to all elev- en areas of the Action Plan which were submitted to relevant institutions. The key problem is that Bosniaks are not recognized by the Action Plan and all their problems are ignored (Ibidem).57 The Action Plan envisages a dedicated investment in municipalities inhabited by other national minorities, including the Albanians, but it does not recognize the Bosniak national minority.58 The municipalities with Bos- niak population fall under the third and fourth category of underdeveloped and devastated local governments, which additionally indicates the need for investment into these municipalities. The Action Plan does not take this into account.

54 Anonymous representative of the Bosniak national minority (2017) – Ibidem. 55 Ibidem. 56 Media conference of the Bosniak National Council (30.08.2016.) http://www.bnv.org.rs/konferencija- za-medije-bosnjackog-nacionalnog-vijeca/ 57 Ibidem. 58 Action Plan for the realization of the rights of national minorities (2016), Office for Human and Minor- ity Rights, Belgrade. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 117

Representatives of the Bosniak national minority saw the AP NC 23 as a historic chance to resolve all problems faced by this national minority – from the issue of unsolved killings to economic underdevelopment of the parts of Serbia inhabited by the Bosniaks.

3.2. Bulgarian National Council

The biggest problem faced by the Bulgarian national minority in Serbia is economic devastation of Bosilegrad and Dimitrovgrad municipalities with the highest concentration of the Bulgarian national minority. This causes massive migration of young people from Bosilegrad and Dimitrovgrad, particularly after Bulgaria became member of the EU and holders of Bulgarian passport were given the right to work in the European Union. On the side of Serbia, there are no systemic solutions to stop migration of Bulgarians. The Serbia’s EU integration process gives hope, because the opening of borders between Serbia and Bulgaria will attract investments from Bulgaria and strengthen the economy of the Bulgarian-populated municipalities.59 The other problem that requires a systematic approach is related to making “days of suffering”, as a sign of reconciliation between the two people. A dates of particular importance for the Bulgarian national minority in Bosilegrad is 15 May 1917, when the a paramilitary formation led by Kosta Pećanac killed 37 inhabitants in the villages of Bosilegrad. An example that should be followed is the decision of Serba and Hungary to jointly mark most difficult past periods for the two countries, with the aim of ensure reconciliation. It is not clear why the Republic of Serbia and Republic of Bulgaria do not seek reconciliation in a similar way instead of brushing under the carpet the difficult historic moments that burden both the Serbian and Bulgarian people in the municipality of Bosilegrad. Some past events are still taboo and there are no indications that something will change.60

3.3. Bunjevci National Council

The Bunjevci National Council participated in the process of developing the AP NC 23 and the Action Plan and had the opportunity to make contribu- tion. However, there are issues in implementation of both action plans because there are no clear mechanisms for measuring the results.

59 Zaharijev, Vladimir (2017) – Ibidem. 60 Dimitrov, Aleksandar (2017) – Ibidem. 118 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

3.4. Croatian National Council

The Municipality of Šid is an example of bad practice when it comes to the official use of the Croatian language. The municipal assembly turned down by the majority vote a proposal for amending the municipal statute in order to enable the official use of the Croatian language in places where the Croatian population reaches 15% of the total population was rejected by the majority. Such attitude of local self-government units creates the impression of Republic of Serbia is the state in which the rule of law is being “simulated” while the extent to which the Constitution and laws are observed depends on one’s personal needs and interpretation. The Croatian National Council was not invited to participate in public debates on the proposal of amendments to the Law on the Use of Languages and Scripts, which is yet another example of bad practice. The NCNMs are rarely invited to participate in creating draft laws which have direct effect upon them, and when they do get the invitation they are typically presented with a fait ac- compli, namely they are asked to comment the law that is already drafted, and it is not rare that their comments are not taken into account.61 A public debate on draft law is an opportunity to submit proposals for amendments, but this is the individual right of each citizen of the Republic of Serbia. However, there is no respect for the collective right of persons belonging to national minorities to submit proposals for amendments to draft laws according to their needs. The Croatian National Council proposed to establish a Croatian language department in higher education institutions which would offer one-semester or two-semester lectures on professional terminology in the Croatian language. This would be an opportunity for training public servants on the Croa- tian language in order to meet the needs of the Croatian national minority when conducting court proceedings or on other occasions that require official use of the Croatian language. The Croatian National Council has been one of the most active NCNMs in the developing of the report on implementation of AP NC 23. What is worri- some is that there are no performance indicators and monitoring methodology to track actual performance related to implementation of the AP NC 23. It is also suggested to transfer certain competences for the implementation of AP NC 23 to NCNMs.

61 Baštovanović, Darko (2017) – Ibidem. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 119

3.5. Hungarian National Council

An example that worth mentioning is the Law School in Novi Sad where candidates cannot take admission test in the Hungarian language, even though the Law School has an obligation to ensure that all candidates seeking admission to the Law School are entitled to take admission test in the Hungarian language. This is an isolated example, which is not typical in any way. Other faculties of the University of Novi Sad respect the right of future students to take the admission test in their minority language. Such practice of the Law School puts students belonging to the Hungarian minority in an unequal position, because the fact that they cannot take admission test in their native language reduces their chances of admission to the School of Law. Most worrying is the tendency among some media outlets, in particular the local ones, to report in the Hungarian language unprofessionally. Media representatives lack the language proficiency in Hungarian to be able to report g in this language. Therefore, such media-related practices are harmful and should change.62 Representatives of the Hungarian National Council report that they have insisted on paying more attention to culture in the Action Plan. Although some proposals of the Hungarian National Minority have been recognized, such as the proposal on supplying the libraries with books in the Hungarian language, most of them have not been considered.

3.6. Roma National Council

Political participation is also made more difficult for the Roma national minority due to the structure and manner in which the actual political system of Serbia is designed. The principle of natural threshold makes it easier for minority parties to win seats in assemblies, but this is so only in case that they manage to participate in the elections. Running for elections is made more difficult due to the fact that for elections at the state level every list must collect 10,000 signatures, namely 30 signatures per candidate for local elections, which is difficult to achieve for most of the minority parties.

62 Hajnal, Jene (2017) – Ibidem. 120 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

3.7. Romanian National Council

The Autonomous Province of Vojvodina has always supported and developed institutions enabling the use of languages and scripts of national minorities. Names of streets, settlements and topographic names in the local governments in which the Romanian language is in official use are written in this language. There were times in the past when every local government had an interpreter for the Romanian language. Efforts should be made to restore this service for the citizens belonging to the Romanian national minority. However, there are enough certified translators for the Romanian language and in this regard there are no remarks. The Romanian language is in use in nine local self-government units with more than 15% of the Romanian population.63 There was a problem in Banats- ko Novo Selo village with street signs in Romanian, but it has been solved. The Romanian National Council expects that the new Law on NCNMs will ob- ligate local government authorities to respect the rights of the Romanian national minority regarding the use of the Romanian language in public institutions. Efforts should be made to impose on the cable operators to broadcast the second program of Radio Television Vojvodina (RTV2), because the operators who are active in the Romanian-populated municipalities in most cases do not broadcast RTV2 which has content in the Romanian language. After the closure of Basic Court in Alibunar (the court has over hundred years long tradition), it has become more difficult to conduct proceedings that involve persons belonging to the Romanian national minority.

3.8. Vlach National Council

The outstanding issue is the standardization of the Vlach speech/language. This language is not standardized and occurs mainly in the form of speech. In the past five years, the Vlach National Council has been working on the standardization the script. The result of their efforts is publication of the first gram- mar and dictionary of Vlach speech. The Vlach script is introduced in both Latin and Cyrillic versions, which enabled printing the first textbooks (these activities are strongly supported by the Ministry of Education). However, the

63 Marčel, Dragan (2017) – Ibidem. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 121 development of a script is only part of the standardization process that will take long time. The major challenge faced by the Vlach national minority is to preserve their identity from Romanian language and culture, which has been almost openly imposed on them by the Republic of Romania64 It is disappoint- ing that relevant institutions in Serbia lack the will to confront the Romaniza- tion of the Vlach national minority in Serbia. The script of the Vlachs has been introduced into use through publishing industry. Another issue with the Vlach language or speech is the fact that it has three dialects. In this regard, standardization may be partly harmful because it reduces the diversity of Vlach speech. Still, it should be introduced into the education system of the Republic of Serbia in order to preserve the Vlach speech. Standardization of is one step in this direction. The decision to begin the Vlach language standardization process is multifold. Among other things, it will make the Vlach national minority eligible for additional financial resources for preservation of the Vlach language and culture. Namely, national minorities whose languages have the status of a national minority language receive public funds through their NCNMs for financing or co-financing of programs and projects in the field of official use of language and script of a national minority. The Vlach National Council has formally demanded from all Vlach-populated municipalities to introduce the Vlach language in official use to the extent possible, but the municipalities have not responded yet.

64 Modrlanović, Bojan (2017) – Ibidem.

Recommendations

The key focus in the further improvement of integrative minority policies should be the right to minority self-government, which is to be exercised through NCNMS; to the establishment of principles and mechanisms of political representation of national minorities in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, including representation of those national minorities that have rights according to bilateral agreements on mutual protection of national minorities; to the representation of national minorities in the bodies of the executive power at all levels; to the clarification and increase of accountability of government authorities and bodies of local self-governments for creation of conditions for and enabling of participation of members of national minorities in the social life including making of decisions of interest to national minorities and to Serbia as a whole. To achieve this goal it is necessary to enhance integrative minority policies of the Republic of Serbia in interaction with progress in negotiations on Ser- bia’s membership in the European Union, particularly negotiations on Chapter 23 (Platforma, 2016:11, 12). Specific tasks that enable the fulfillment of this main task include identification of realizable objectives with regard to the needs and possibilities of Serbia, taking into account the EU acquis, rules and recommendations of the Council of Europe and the OSCE. Therefore, a consistent implementation of the Action Plan is of great importance, having in mind that it needs to be updated and adjusted to a changing reality, taking into account the results achieved through the implementation of the Action Plan. It is necessary to establish a control mechanism in order to ensure that achieved goals and tasks are further maintained. New goals and tasks should also be determined to reflect the needs of minority policies in practice and changes to political and social circumstances of persons belonging to national minorities, i.e. to reflect the development in society and progress in the EU integration process. 123 124 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

It is necessary to make a comprehensive revision of the existing legislation in the area of protection of human and minority rights, particularly from the aspect of elimination of the conflict of jurisdictions, non-harmonized procedures and deadlines, as well as the elimination of legal ambiguities and voids. Development of new legislation should be based on the Action Plan for Chapter 23 including a dedicated action plan on the protection of national minorities in the entire territory of the Republic of Serbia, which includes measures aiming at democratic participation with a view to appropriate representation of national minorities in the civil service, the collection of ethnically disaggregated data, the respect of the principle of free self-determination and effective participation of national minorities in the electoral process. It is necessary to initiate a public debate on possible amendments of the electoral legislation when the representation of national minorities in the Re- public parliament is in question. Different models should be analyzed, such as guaranteed seats in the parliament for representatives of national minorities, as well as guaranteed participation in exercising the power of public authorities at a local community level as well as on the level of regions, once the regionalization of Serbia takes place. It is necessary to continuously monitor the implementation of laws, training, and dissemination of information to the public about any implementation. This should become an integral part of the practice and legal culture of all those included in the enforcement of laws, as well as of media and non-governmental organizations in the Republic of Serbia (Platforma, 2016:17). Clear definition of the status of a NCNM as a body of minority self-government is required. The competences of NCNMs should expand beyond education and culture, to include the media-related issues of importance for social inclusion and development of national minorities. In special cases, such as the Roma national minority, the Roma National Council should have special competencies in the field of housing, healthcare and social protection, etc. Other areas requiring a new legislative solution are: elections, financing and organization of NCNMs (Platforma, 2016:20). It is necessary to clearly define the obligations of government authorities and bodies of local self-government towards persons belonging to national minorities, and towards proposals and demands of NCNMs, and towards more efficient procedures before the administration bodies and courts in case of violation of those rights (Platforma, 2016:21). It is necessary to ensure more proportional representation of national minorities at all levels of government. Political representation in representative bodies can be ensured by reforming the electoral system to provide an equal and fair opportunity for all citizens, including persons belonging to a majority and minorities, and enable them to chose their representatives at all levels. (Nacionalne manjine, 2017: 53). FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 125

As for the amendment of the electoral system and objections of minorities and the neighbors, and having in mind that ensuring reserved seats would improve the representation of certain national minorities and bilateral relations with their kin-states, the following measures are required: •• A comparative analysis of the election system of Serbia and its neighboring countries and of other members of the European Union, with the aim to identify best solutions for the representation of national minorities. •• Investigate if citizens belonging to national minorities are satisfied with the manner in which their representatives are representing their interests the minority representation bodies. •• Analyze activities of minority parties and of persons belonging to national minorities who are members of the majority parties; analyze the manner in which they represent the interests of their minority nation. •• Provide recommendations for the improvement of the election system in order to improve the representation of national minorities. •• Provide recommendations for national minority parties and persons belonging to national minorities who are members of the majority parties and who are, or seek to become members of local assemblies or the National Assembly, in order to help them understand their role and more efficiently represent the interests of their national minorities. •• Enable the use of minority languages wherever it is guaranteed and suggested by international standards and norms, national laws and other legal and political instruments. •• Enable appropreate representation of national minorities in the public institutions, bodies and organizations in which minority rights can be exercised. •• Improve regional cross-border cooperation wherever there are conditions for application of relevant instruments and mechanisms (Berlin process, various regional mechanisms, etc.) (Politička participacija, 2016: 42, 43). •• Enhance possibilities for the use of minority languages in state administration, local self-government units, education and other institutions. Enabling the use of minority languages for persons belonging to national minorities is an important segment in the domain of democratic institutionalization of the state and society, because the facilitation of direct communication enables realization of basic human and minority rights and at the same time fosters integration as the first step in the process of social inclusion and political participation. •• Improve the cross-border cooperation is directly connected with key aspects of the functioning of the European Union: free movement of people, goods, services and capital, as some of the fundamental values. In the context of minorities which could become bridges of cooperation, cross-border cooperation directly contributes to the positive development of bilateral relations, realization of minority rights, implementation of regional cooperation and integration goals and realization of fundamental minority rights. (Nacionalne manjine, 2017: 53,54). •• Considering the status, conditionality and democratization of Serbia on its path towards EU integration, with a view to integrate national minorities into Serbian society, a dialogue with the “kin states” of national minorities in the Republic of Serbia, and in particular with the EU member states, should continue and expand with the aim to build partnership and improve the status of national minorities in the political, economic, educational and cultural sphere. (Nacionalne manjine, 2017: 53). Special recommendations of representatives of NCNMs

1.1. Recommendations regarding the exercise of the right to the official use of minority languages and scripts

Official use of minority languages and scripts in local self-government units •• Introduce affirmative measures for enabling the official use of languages and scripts of national minorities that are numerous and less territorially concentrated. The proposal of the Roma National Council regarding the official use of the Roma script is to introduce affirmative measures to enable the official use of Roma language in local communities where Roma minority makes for more than 15% of the population, given that the number of such municipalities in Serbia is significant. •• Provide notary service free of charge for verification of documents translations from minority languages to Serbian and vice versa. With the implementation of this measure, persons belonging to national minorities will not be put in a subordinated position vis-a-vis the majority population regarding the right to the official use of minority languages. •• Ensure capacity building of municipalities and training of employees on the use of two or more official languages and scripts in the municipalities where minority languages are in the official use. •• Respect the standpoint of the Venice Commission to equalize the status of the Latin and Cyrillic scripts. 127 128 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

Conducting court proceedings in minority languages •• Ensure the capacity building of courts and train their employees to conduct the entire court proceedings in languages in official use in administrative units within their jurisdiction. •• Ensure prompt and efficient translation of case files and other court documents in order to shorten the time for court proceedings conducted in minority languages and thus prevent misuse of this right. An example of good practice is the e-government in the city of Sub- otica, which enables court proceedings to be monitored in minority languages via the web-portal and on-line application. There is room to expand this tool to other local self-government units and use it more intensively.

Issuing documents in minority languages •• Restore the column in the birth certificate in which data on the nationality is entered, at the request of a citizen of the Republic of Serbia. The position of NCNMs is that the Republic of Serbia should enable persons belonging to national minorities to declare a nationality in official documents if they so choose. •• Provide multilingual forms for issuing official documents in minority languages and make them available in all institutions of the Republic of Serbia. •• Raise awareness of employees in local self-government units where more than one official language, about the right to official use of minority languages.

Public signs in languages of national minorities •• Ensure financing for posting multilingual signage where needed; enable NCNMs to initiate the penalty proceedings against local self-government units which fail to fulfill their obligation related to posting multilingual signs.

Education in minority languages and recognition of speech as language •• Put more attention on the issue of standardization of the Vlach and Bunjevci speech in order to enable these national minorities to finalize the process of standardization of their languages and scripts. •• Ensure sufficient financing for the standardization of languages and scripts for minorities which do not have standardized languages and scripts. FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 129

1.2. Recommendations in regard to raising the level of democratic participation of national minorities

Electoral system •• Reduce the number of signatures required for the participation of minority lists at elections to a reasonable number, in order to enable national minorities with small membership to participate without impediment in the democratic process; consider revoking the obligation to collect signatures for running in elections of registered minority parties’ electoral lists. •• Respect all bilateral agreements signed with neighboring countries and ensure a certain number of reserved seats in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia for persons belonging to national communities, facing difficulties when their representatives have to be voted for the highest legislative body in the Republic of Serbia.

Representation of national minorities at different levels of legislative power •• Consider advantages and disadvantages related to the application of the natural threshold principle in the context of the Republic of Serbia, which is characterized by national minorities of different size and political capacity, in order to arrive at the best solution for a proportional representation of national minorities at all levels of legislative power.

Separate voters lists •• Despite several attempts by the NCNMs, the relevant institutions have not yet provided access to web application that can be used by citizens of the Republic of Serbia who want to check if they are registered on the separate voter lists. Similar web application is available for the general voter list and it would be useful to have one for the separate voter lists. •• Polling stations are set up in a strange manner. The rights of electoral lists for NCNMs deviate from the Constitution envisaging that the election right is equal for all and that everybody has the right to elect and be elected, because lists are not entitled to be represented in all election management bodies. They can participate in the polling stations and election management bodies only as observers, while the head of the polling station/polling board can take away this right from them arbitrarily, if he/she assess that they are obstructing the election process. 130 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

Polling board rules for conducting elections containing such provisions can be easily misused, and therefore the rules should be changed. •• Develop clear rules for the formation of NCNMs after the elections, since this process is currently not regulated. •• The competence for updating the voter lists should be partly transferred to NCNMs; this could resolve the issue of non-updated voter lists. •• The right to remove the name of a voter from separate voter lists should be limited in order to prevent misuse of the right to register in the voter lists. The Croatian National Council proposes a 4-year period of eligi- bility for removal from the separate voters list after the registration was made, whilst the Bunjevci National Council suggests a half-year-period.

1.3. Recommendations related to achieving adequate representation of national minorities in the public sector

There is no evidence on representation of national minorities •• The general problem is that citizens in the public sector and state administration are not being employed based on their qualifications only; rather, the ruling parties influence employments to a great extent, which is bad for all, but is an additional aggravating circumstance for persons belonging to national minorities seeking for a job in the public sector, public enterprises and state administration. Therefore, if fair conditions are provided for all vacancy announcements, it would significantly improve representation of national minorities in the public sector. •• Prevent the misuse of affirmative measures intended to provide for strict regulation of the right to choose national identity. •• In accordance with the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Serbia, enable that employees in the public sector can be asked to declare their belonging to national minorities and keep relevant statistics on the number of employees from national minorities in different sectors of state administration, local self-government units and the public sector.

Representation of national minorities at different levels of public administration •• The quata policy imposed on public enterprises and state bodies obliging them to employ a certain number of persons belonging to national minorities is not a long-term solution. Long-term solution is to ensure equal and fair conditions for all when it comes to vacancy announcements, because FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 131

in such conditions the demographic structure of the population will reflect upon the public enterprises and institutions. The first step to remove mo- nopoly power of political parties over employment decisions in the public sector and prevent the misuse of affirmative measures intended for the Roma national minority.

1.4. Recommendations related to the status and functioning of NCNMs

The status and competences of NCNMs •• Under the current competencies, NCNMs cannot make any legally effective consequences on legal transactions in the Republic of Serbia. The competencies of NCNMs should expand under the new Law on NCNMs because they do not have power to make effective decisions and have only advisory role. Efforts should be particularly made to increase the competences in the field of cultural autonomy.

Different needs of NCNMs depending on their capacity •• The competencies of local governments in the Republic of Austria dif- fer depending on the number of their population. This model can be applied to NCNMs - the competencies should be proportional to the NCNM capacity, without interfering with their attained rights.

The NCNMs financing •• Most of the interviewed representatives of NCNMs insist that 0.005% of national budget should be spent on NCMs to enable their work and functioning. They believe this is a realistic estimate of financial resources for this type of non-territorial autonomy. The government should consider the possibility to fulfill this request because the NCNMs represent nearly 18% of citizens of the Republic of Serbia.

Representation of NCNMs in the implementation of the Action Plan •• Despite the fact that the participation of NCNMs in the implementation of recommendations from the negotiating Chapter 23 is satisfactory, more attention should be put on individual NCNM’s proposals, in order to break silent boycott of the implementations from negotiating Chapter 23 that will benefit all stakeholders. 132 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

The Coordination of NCNMs •• The Coordination of NCBMs should be formally institutionalized within a legal order of the Republic of Serbia. The establishment of the Coordination was proposed by NCNMs with the aim to regulate the relations among NCNMs. Since its first results are already visible, more attention should be put on the formalization, regulation and institutionalization of the Coordination of NCNMs.

1.5. Recommendations regarding the relationship between the state and national minorities

Central government and national minorities •• The Republic of Serbia should be decentralized and regionalized in order to be more efficient to its citizens. It is necessary to form a mid- dle-tier of government with specific competencies, so that citizens can decide independently in all matters that affect their lives, without interfering into the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia.

Provincial and local government and national minorities •• Build the capacity of local self-government units inhabited by national minorities. •• To consider the possibility for expanding the best practice examples from AP Vojvodina to other regions in the country. Appendices

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Appendix 1: Indicative questions to be discussed at the Expert – Political Consultation with key stakeholders of minority policy, including representatives from the parliamentary, government and independent institutions, to be held in Media Center, Belgrade, on May 17, 2017

1. Assessment of current relationship between the parliamentary, government and independent institutions toward the practical realization of the rights of national minorities −− What is your general assessment of the attitude/position of Serbian authorities towards the status of national minorities and protection of their rights, in particular of the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government, Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Office for Hu- man and Minority Rights, Coordination Body for the Municipali- ties of Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa? −− Please, assess the work of the Republic Council for National Minorities? −− Please, assess the work of the Committee for Human and Minority Rights of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia? −− Please, assess the level of cooperation achieved with the European Integration Office / Chief Negotiator for Serbia’s accession negotiations with the EU? −− Please, assess the work of the Protector of Citizens, Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection?

2. The experience of practical cooperation with representatives of national minorities, and in particular with representatives of the NCNMs −− Are representatives of national minorities involved in the working groups and how do they contribute to their activities? −− Do the minority representatives carry out their obligations under the Action Plan? Do they cooperate with representatives of the parliamentary, government and independent institutions? −− Which national minority representatives (if any) are involved in the work of cross-sector working group formed to draft the Law on the Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities and the Law on NCNMs? −− Are the national minority representatives enabled to actively participate in the working group? Are their comments and recommendations taken into account? 136 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

−− Are national minority representatives involved in training courses focused on strengthening management capacity and developing financial reporting skills? −− Have they participated in training courses on protection mechanisms against discrimination, anti-discrimination legislation and identification of different types and grounds of discrimination? −− Have the representatives of bodies and institutions in Belgrade established a practice of holding meetings outside of Belgrade? −− Are there any measures in place to facilitate the participation (in financial and other ways) of representatives of national minorities who live in the regions far from Belgrade (e.g. Albanians, Bos- niaks, Bulgarians and Vlachs)?

3. Appropriate representation of national minorities in public sector and public enterprises (Part VIII of the Action Plan) −− Are you satisfied with the current level of representation of your national minority in the public sector (government institutions, the police, military, health, judiciary ...)? −− What are, in your opinion, the main constraints to ensure appropriate representation of your national minority in the public sector? −− Please, identify parts of the public sector and specify national minorities that are appropriately represented, as well as those that are not appropriately represented? −− Are there the sufficient legal solutions in place to enable appropriate representation of your national minority in public enterprises? −− Please provide an example of good and bad practice in ensuring appropriate representation of national minorities in public enterprises? −− Has there been any analysis of the situation in place, with regard to appropriate representation of national minorities in the public sector, and if so, specify details of the analysis? −− Do representatives of national minorities participate in the process of determining the criteria and standards for prescribing adequate representation of national minorities in certain parts of the public sector? −− Was the involvement of representatives of national minorities and NCNMs in the round-table discussion for the adoption of the final recommendations for Component 3, Objective 1 of IPA Project “Strengthening the Capacity of the High Judiciary Council and the State Prosecutorial council”, focused on the improvement of relations with civil society organizations and activities related to the access of national minorities to the judicial system, at the satisfactory level? FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 137

4. Assessment of the system solutions for improving the status of national minorities −− The current system (legal and institutional) solutions are in your opinion: positive; good; satisfactory; in compliance to the highest standards on the rights and freedoms of national minorities; unsat- isfactory. Please explain your statement. −− Do relevant government institutions have sufficient capacity? Do they have professionals capable of maintaining regular communication with representatives of national minorities?

5. Expectations with regard to development of the status of national minorities in the short-term and long-term future −− Whether Serbia will be able to resolve the key challenges with regard to national minorities? To what extent? −− Will the key challenges with regard to national minorities be resolved in the Serbia’s EU integration process? To what extent?

(Belgrade, 12 May 2017) 138 FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017

Appendix 2: The questionnaire used for in-depth interviews of representatives of NCNMs

1. The use of language and script of national minorities (Part V of the Ac- tion Plan) −− What are the most important examples of violation of language rights? −− Is the right to official use of your mother tongue and script con- sistently respected, particularly with regard to public signs and in personal and public documents, etc. −− Are there any qualified interpreters / court interpreters available in your mother tongue? −− Are you satisfied with the way this issue is regulated by the statutes of local self-government units? Please provide a bad practice example and good practice example −− Has the NCNM been invited to take part in making amendments/ new law on the official use of languages and scripts? −− Has the NCNM determined if there are and what are the settlements on the territory of the local self government unit, where a certain minority language is not in official use, and where the percentage of that national minority in the total population on its territory reaches 15% according to the last census? −− Is the NCNM aware of the need for translation in local self-government units for the languages of national minorities in official use based on the territorial principle (for the territory of one or more connected LSGU)? Please specify such LSGUs. −− Does the NCNM provide education to persons belonging to a national minority about the right to official use of language and script? −− Does a glossary of legal and administrative terminology exist? If the answer is negative – are there any plans to create a glossary of legal and administrative terminology, Serbian-minority language and vice versa, with the aim to facilitate the proper use of legal terminology in the minority language in the course of different procedures and for daily administration, particularly in local self- government units where the language of a national minority is in official use −− Does the NCNM provide translation of legal documents into the language of a national minority? −− Does the NCNM have data on the number of court and administrative proceedings conducted in a minority language? FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 139

2. Democratic participation (Part VII of the Action Plan) −− Dоes the legislation promote political participation of your national minority in the elected bodies at the national, provincial and local levels? −− Should the legislation governing political parties and election of deputies be amended? In which direction? −− Does the NCNM educate persons belonging to a national minority on the issues related to the special electoral rolls of national minorities? How does the NCNM contribute to information and affirma- tion of national minorities to come out to the elections? −− Is the NCNM aware of the problems caused by the fact that data on persons belonging to national minority contained in official electoral rolls were not updated (information about the elections for NCNM 2014) −− Has the NCNM been involved (through the Coordination of NC- NMs) in conducting comparative legal analysis of the practice of EU member states in the region, in order to identify best practices and appropriate models of participation of national minorities in the electoral process and the adequate representation of national minorities in elected bodies at national, provincial, and local levels. −− Does the NCNM have any information whether the Coordination of NCNMs, based on the analysis and comparative legal practice, has identified potential models of democratic participation of national minorities in the electoral process, including numerically smaller national minorities, provided with adequate representation of national minorities in elected bodies at national, provincial, and local levels, taking into account the prevention of potential misuse of more flexible provision regarding the parties of national minorities?

−− Has the NCNM analyzed the situation in order to determine the representation of persons belonging to your national minority in the public sector, and if so, specify details of the analysis? −− Was your NCNM involved in the process of determining the criteria and standards for prescribing adequate representation of national minorities in certain parts of the public sector? −− Was your NSNM represented in a joint workshop on access of national minorities to legal aid that was organized for the High Judi- ciary Council, the State Prosecutorial Council civil society organizations and representatives of national minorities? −− Was your NCNM represented at the round-table discussion for the adoption of the final recommendations for Component 3, Ob- jective 1 of IPA Project “Strengthening the Capacity of the High Judiciary Council and the State Prosecutorial council”, focused on the improvement of relations with civil society organizations and activities related to the access of national minorities to the judicial system, at the satisfactory level?

4. National councils of national minorities (Part IX of the Action Plan) −− Do NCNMs have enough powers? If not, which powers should be assigned to NCNMs and why? −− Is the modality of financing the work of NCNMs well structured? Are funds from the budget for financing the work of NCNMs sufficient? In not, what are the reasons for insufficient financial support for funding the activities of NCNMs −− What is, in your opinion, the most effective way to improve system solutions regarding the election of members of NCNMs? −− What is, in your opinion, the role and importance of your NCNM for the negotiation chapter 23 and in particular for implementation of the Action Plan −− Have you been informed about the progress in negotiation? Where do you get most of your information about the negotiation? (the media, websites of the government, EU, round-tables and similar events,…) −− Do you have an active role in drafting the Report on Implementation of the Action Plan of the Office for Human and Minority Rights −− Please, specify the issues of the Action Plan, not covered by the previ- ous questions, that are of particular interest for your national minority −− Give examples and assess the degree to which key obligations from the Action Plan with regard to these issues have been fulfilled −− What is the experience of your NCNM with the program financing of the media, whose founders/editors are NCNMs? FORUM • Policy Paper • 2/2017 141

−− Has the NCNM prepared a report (source of verification, stipulated by the Action Plan) on the quantity of media content in languages of national minorities in the media? −− Does the NCNM have data on the number of administrative and judicial proceedings conducted in the language of the national minority −− In the NCNM involved in the work of cross-sector working group formed to draft the Law on NCNMs −− Are representatives of the NCNM enabled to actively participate in the working group? Are their comments and recommendations taken into account? −− Does the NCNM have any proposals for amending the Law on NC- NMs? Please, specify the proposals.

5. Assessment of current relationship between the state and national minorities −− What is your general assessment of the attitude/position of Serbian authorities towards the status of national minorities and protection of their rights? −− Please, assess the work and cooperation with the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, the Ministry of Cul- ture and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological De- velopment? −− Please, assess the work and cooperation with the Office for Human and Minority Rights? −− Please, assess the work of the Republic Council for National Mi- norities?

6. Assessment of the system solutions for improving the status of national minorities −− Current system (legal and institutional) solutions are in your opinion: positive; good; satisfactory; in compliance to the highest standards on the rights and freedoms of national minorities; unsatisfac- tory. Please explain your statement. −− Do relevant government institutions have sufficient capacity? Do they have professionals capable of maintaining regular communication with representatives of national minorities?

7. Expectations with regard to development of the status of national minorities in the short-term and long-term future −− Whether Serbia will be able to resolve the key challenges with regard to national minorities? To what extent? −− Will the key challenges with regard to national minorities be resolved in the Serbia’s EU integration process? To what extent?

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