The Manager of the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Team of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Zarko Sunderic, and his deputy Mirjana Maksimovic briefed the Chairman of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality on the Team’s plans and activities for 2013. The meeting also touched on the issues of Roma displacement, alimony payment control and how successfully inclusion was introduced into the educational system. It was mentioned that these issues would be of interest to the representatives of the European Commission who are to visit the Government of the Republic of Serbia in late January, and are also important for the European Union’s expert mission, which is to visit the Republic of Serbia in March.
The Chairman of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality, Meho Omerovic, stressed that the state had done a lot to improve the position of all minority groups and would continue to work on improving the position of the part of the population whose rights happen to be violated. Omerovic added that he would also send a recommendation to the Ministry of Construction and Urbanism to adopt a by-law regulating the issue of Roma displacement. The discussion with the Government representatives also touched on the control of inclusion in schools, and, in particular, education of Roma children and their enrollment into regular schools, as well as alimony status control which is an issue that the Committee on the Rights of the Child will put into particular focus.