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COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY 2015 REGULAR ANNUAL REPORT 15 March 2016 Belgrade Translation: Introduction and Summary: Institution of the Commissioner for the
Protection of Equality From About the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality to the end of
2015 Regular Annual Report, including the Table of Contents: Biznis akademija LC
Direktor- Dragana Lili?
Ni?, Du?anov Bazar, II floor, suite 209
Novi Sad, Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 6, VI floor
Tel: +38118 517773
Fax: +38118 517774
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E-mail: biznisakademijalc@gmail.com
www.businessacademylc.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS: INTRODUCTION 5
SUMMARY 8
1. ABOUT THE COMMISSIONER FOR PROTECTION OF EQUALITY 13 1.1. Professional Service of the Commissioner 15
1.2. Institution's 2016 - 2020 Development Strategy 16 2. THE NORMATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION AND PROTECTION OF
EQUALITY 19 2.1. Overview of the effective regulations 19
2.2. Normative changes in 2015 22 3. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SITUATION REGARDING THE ACHIEVEMENT AND
PROTECTION OF EQUALITY 28 3.1. The reports of the EU, international organisations and treaty bodies
28
3.1.1. The Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights 35
3.2. Reports and researces of domestic institutions and organisations
40
3.3. The practice of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality 57
3.4. Key problems in achieving equality and protection from discrimination
59
3.4.1. Discrimination on the groungds of gender 60
3.4.2. Discrimination on the grounds of national affiliation 63
3.4.3. Discrimination on the grounds of disability 66
3.4.4. Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation 69
3.4.5. Discrimination against refugees, internally displaced persons,
asylum seekers and migrants 71
3.4.6. Discrimination on the grounds of age 73 4. actions of the commissioner for protection of Equality ON suppressing
discrimination 75 4.1. DISCRIMINATION ON THE GROUNDS OF GENDER 80
4.1.1. Opinions and recommendations 81
4.1.2. Recommendations on measures for achieving equality 89
4.1.3. Warnings and announcements 90
4.2. DISCRIMINATION ON THE GROUNDS OF NATIONAL AFFLICTION AND ETHNIC
ORIGIN 96
4.2.1. Opinions and recommendations 97
4.2.2. Recommendations on measures for achieving equality 105
4.2.3. Warnings and announcements 105
4.3. DISCRIMINATION ON THE GROUNDS OF DISABILITY 107
4.3.1. Opinions and recommendations 108
4.3.2. Recommendations on measures for achieving equality 116
4.3.3. Announcements 118
4.4. DISCRIMINATION ON THE GROUNDS OF AGE 119
4.4.1. Opinions and recommendations 120
4.4.2. Recommendations on measures for achieving equality 125
4.4.3. Announcements 126
4.5. DISCRIMINATION ON THE GROUNDS OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER
IDENTITY 128
4.5.1. Opinions and recommendations 129
4.5.2. Warnings and announcements 132
4.6. DISCRIMINATION AGAINST REFUGEES, INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS,
IMMIGRANTS AND ASYLUM SEEKERS 134
4.6.1. Opinions and recommendations 135
4.6.2. Warnings and statements 138
4.7. DISCRIMINATION ON THE GROUNDS OF MEDICAL CONDITION 140
4.7.1. Opinions and recommendations 141
4.7.2. Recommendations on measures for achieving equality 144
4.7.3. Annountcements 144
4.8. DISCRIMINATION ON THE GROUNDS OF OTHER PERSONAL PROPERTIES 145
4.8.1. Opinions and recommendations 146
4.8.2. Warnings and Annountcements 152
4.9. MULTIPLE DISCRIMINATION 153
4.9.1. Opinions and recommendations 154
4.9.2. Annountcements 158
4.10. Proposals for assessment of constitutionality 159
4.11. OPINIONS ON DRAFT LAWS AND OTHER GENERAL ACTS 163
4.12. COURT PROCEEDINGS 179
4.13. OUTCOMES OF THE PROCEEDINGS 185 5. cooperation of the commissioner 217 5.1. Cooperation with public authorities 218
5.1.1. Cooperation with the National Assembly of the Republic of
Serbia 218
5.1.2. Cooperation with the representatives of executive authority
221
5.1.3. Cooperation with theunits of local-government 224
5.2. ?ooperation with the civil society organisations 225
5.3. International cooperation 231
5.3.1. Cooperation with the OSCE Mission in Serbia 235
5.3.2. Cooperation with the EU Delegation 237
5.3.3. Cooperation with the United Nations Children`s Funds (UNICEF)
239
5.3.4. Cooperationwith the German Technical Cooperation Agenncy (GIZ)
241
5.3.5. Cooperation with the Council of Europe 242
5.4. Other forms of cooperation 243
5.4.1. Cooperation with the European Network of Equality Bodies (
Equinet ) 245
5.4.2. Annual Conference of the Commissioner 247
5.4.3. National competition in the simulated court proceedings 250
5.4.4. Belgrade marathon -To the Finish Line on an Equal Footage
251 6. MEDIA REPORTING 252
7. DUTIES IN ACORDANCE TO THE LAW ON FREE ACCESS TO INFORMATION OF
PUBLIC INTEREST 255
8. REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FINANCIAL PLAN 257
9. RECOMmENDATIONsFOR supressing DISCRIMINATION AND promoting EQUALITY
260
ANNEX: STATISTICAL OVERVIEW OF THE COMMISsIONER`S WORK in 2015 263 Namber of cases per years 263
Namber of cases in 2015 263
Complainants 264
Individuals 264
Other complainants 264
Grounds of discrimination - perconal characteristics 264
Grounds ofdiscrimination by number - one/more personal characteristics
265
Grounds ofdiscrimination -national affiliation 268
Grounds ofdiscrimination -age 269
Areas of social relations the complaints pertain to 269
Work and enployment 273
Conduct of public authorities 275
Public information and media 276
Provision services and/or use of public Facilities and spaces 277
Education and professional training 278
Against whom the complaints were filed 279
Number of complaints per regions 280
Outcomes of the procedures 280
Acting upon recommendations 281
Acting upon proceedings 281
All the terms used in this Report in masculine grammatical gender encompass
both masculine and feminine gender of the person they refer to. INTRODUCTion
Esteemed Members of the National Assembly, Dear readers, This is the sixth Regular Annual Report of the Commissioner for the
Protection of Equality but at the same time it is the first such report
submitted by the new Commissioner for the Protection of Equality elected by
the National Assembly on 27 May 2015 in her five year term of office. The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, an autonomous state body
which is independent in performing its duties and obligations as defined by
the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination and specialized in the
prevention of and protection from discrimination, performs its role in
combating discrimination and striving towards reaching full equality for
all members of our society, as the respect for human rights constitutes a
fundamental value and a cornerstone of development for each and every
country. A steady rise in the number of filed complaints, our foremost instrument
within our mandate, is encouraging as it demonstrates that an increasing
number of citizens trust our institution. When compared to the previous
year, the number of complaints has increased by almost 20 percent. This
upward trend was particularly pronounced in the second half of 2015, which
does not mean that our society was experiencing more instances of
discrimination, but rather that, on the one hand, the institution itself
has gained visibility and is working on suppressing discrimination more
vigorously, while on the other hand it also means that discrimination is
more easily detected and that an increasing number of citizens is willing
to seek protection. Institution's year in year out experience shows that the majority of
complaints pertain to discrimination suffered in the process of employment
or to workplace related discrimination. However, in terms of the grounds
for discrimination, unlike in previous years, the majority of complaints
filed in 2015 cited personal characteristics such as gender and sex, while
the issue of gender equality dominated the public discourse. One of the
reasons for the spike in the number of complaints alleging gender based
discrimination was the adoption of the new Law on the Method of Determining
the Maximum Number of Employees in the Public Sector, which has led to a
large number of complaints filed by women and professional organizations.
Due to discriminatory provisions of this piece of legislation, the
Commissioner for the Protection of Equality and the Ombudsman have launched
an initiative with the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Serbia to
assess the conformity with the Constitution. The Constitutional Court found
that the implementation of contentious provisions of the present law would
lead to irreversible harmful consequences to persons concerned. With
reference to the aforementioned, the Constitutional Court has suspended,
until the final decision, the enforcement of individual official decisions
which would be passed on the basis of the contentious provisions of this