Reports

This report is focused on the right to work of refugees and asylum seekers in Serbia, as a precondition for their integration. The first part of the report gives an overview of the international and national framework regarding this issue, while the second one analyzes the right to work of refugees and asylum seekers in practice. After some statistical data in relation to the granted asylums and issued work permits, the report offers certain recommendations for improvement in this field.

These Recommendations were conceived as proposals for opening a discussion about some of the key issues identified during the first wave of the crisis caused by the coronavirus. They can serve decision-makers, expert bodies and public authorities in proposing and creating new measures, and civil society organizations, trade unions, activist groups and others in creating activities aimed at promoting economic and social rights during the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Paying special attention to human rights protection standards, this analysis contains an overview of important events and measures in Serbia related to the COVID-19 epidemic during the first five months after the first registered case of infection in Serbia. The aim of this analysis is, on the one hand, to identify acts and measures that infringed on human rights and to examine whether the limits of what can be considered justified and necessary have been exceeded. The analysis also points to situations in which there was no response from the state when intervention was needed to prevent human rights violations.

This research, conducted in ten informal collective centers or informal settlements where internally displaced persons live, examines the conditions of displaced persons living in these centers, particularly their position regarding the exercise of the rights to housing, education, work and employment, health care, and social protection to point at their marginalization and need to prioritize the problems they face.

This is A 11 Initiative`s first report examining the exercise of key economic and social rights, from the right to social protection and housing, to the right to health care and other so-called second-generation human rights. A particular focus of this report is on the aftermath of the global economic crisis and the impact of austerity measures on the right to social protection, health care and housing by citizens from the most vulnerable groups.

This report examines the impact of our work in the first year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The goal of this analysis is to show to what extent measures derogating from human rights, enacted under the auspices of the state of emergency, have affected the daily life of citizens of the Republic of Serbia and whether they have been implemented in the manner prescribed by the Constitution. The analysis is divided into two sections. The first section provides an overview of the introduced “emergency” legal framework, as well as a mapping of derogated human rights. The second section provides an overview of the international obligations which must be observed in order for derogations to be admissible.

The goal of this analysis is to explain the consequences that the regular and extraordinary legal framework that introduced the “temporary restriction of movement” of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants caused to the enjoyment of the basic human rights to these categories of people. It also explores how this legal framework infringes on the right to liberty and security of persons. It examines whether the stated restrictions and derogations are in accordance with international conventions, generally accepted rules of international law and the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia.

A 11 Initiative, along with 12 CSOs and trade unions, submitted a joint report to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the occasion of the adoption of the List of Issues for the 3^rd reporting cycle of the Republic of Serbia under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The report covered issues such as the discriminatory exclusion of Roma children from the right to parental allowance; equal rights of men and women; the position of women in the informal economy, textile industry, and those involved in seasonal jobs; access to health care for undocumented children and uninsured pregnant women and legal amendments introduced by the new Law on Health Insurance (related to mandatory cancer screening) that might disproportionately affect women and Serbia’s rural population.

This publication is primarily aimed at activists and all those engaged in the protection of human rights through work in non-governmental organizations, local initiatives and other activist groups. The goal of the publication is to offer new ideas for the improvement of the work of human rights organizations, particularly their monitoring and advocacy work, as well as their efforts to empower vulnerable individuals and communities.