The sitting was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy Gender Equality Directorate, representatives of independent state authorities, international organisations and Roma women’s organisations.
Opening the sitting, Committee Chairman Meho Omerovic said that education, living conditions, employment and healthcare remain the key problems of the Roma population. Roma women are an especially vulnerable population category considering their exposure to violence, low levels of education and economic dependence, said Omerovic. The Committee Chairman also listed the unfavourable statistical data related to Roma women – their average life span is 48 years, and only a third of them finish elementary school. According to the 2011 Multiple Indicator Survey of the situation and position of children and women conducted by UNICEF and the Republic Statistical Office, as much as 41% of Roma girls aged 15 to 19 got married before turning 15, and a third had had their first child before their 18th birthday. Almost a half of young Roma women, aged 15 to 19 are married or in a common law marriage (44%), said Omerovic.
Paula Thiede, acting Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, stressed that human rights and equal opportunities are a crucial prerequisite for a democratic society of equal opportunities and gender equality. Thiede emphasised the OSCE Mission’s support for all the measures and activities of the state and civil sector in the sphere.
Slavica Vasic from the Office for Human and Minority Rights, spoke of the Strategy for Improvement of the Status of Roma in the Republic of Serbia and the Action Plan for the implementation of said Strategy, which is currently being drafted. Vera Kurtic spoke of the position of Roma women and the situation of Roma women’s human rights, on the behalf of the Roma Women’s Network. The activist of the Trenipe organisation spoke of the examples of best practice on the local level in addressing Roma women’s issues, while Radmila Zecirovic, local Roma coordinator for the city of Novi Sad, spoke of Roma women employed by public and local administration institutions. Slavica Vasic from the organisation Romani Cikna presented the role of civil society in the construction of mechanisms for achieving gender equality.
In the ensuing discussion, the Commissioner for Equality Nevena Petrusic and representatives of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy Gender Equality Directorate, as well as the representative of the Ombudsman, spoke of the implementation of laws, strategies and action plans related to gender equality and the position of the Roma population in Serbia.
The Committee members emphasised the importance of affirmative measures for the improvement of the position of Roma, especially the importance of their employment by public administration and local self-government bodies as a good example of social inclusion.

The sitting was chaired by the Committee Chairman, Meho Omerovic.