Meho Omerovic, Chairman of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality said that when it comes to national minority rights, Serbia has set high standards. “Appreciation of national minorities and their participation in political life, raising awareness and combating prejudice, are the chief objectives we are trying to implement in our society”, said Omerovic.

He added that on 7 June 2017 the Government had passed an Action Plan for the implementation of the 2017-2018 Roma Social Inclusion Strategy emphasizing the importance of harmonization of the documents and participation of the Roma national minority in the drafting of the Action Plan. He reminded the guests that the Republic of Serbia had, in addition to the action plan for Chapter 23 adopted a special action plan for the exercise of national minority rights. He explained that that the Committee he heads supervises the implementation of laws concerning national minorities, which at the top of its priority list. He stressed that these documents recognize local self-government when it comes to the implementation of strategies and action plans and underlined the importance of connecting the central and local government so as to better implement them.

Omerovic said that laws which influence Roma and other national minorities such as the Law on National Councils of National Minorities, Law on Protection of Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities and the Law on Official Record Books will be amended in autumn. He also said that the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality had a series of activities concerning the Roma issue and that in October of last year the National Assembly had, in co-operation with the Regional Cooperation Council’s Roma Integration Action Team within the, had a public hearing on “Roma Social Inclusion Strategy in the Republic of Serbia for the period 2016-2025 - Implementation and Priority Measures for the period 2017-2018”. He said that recognizing vulnerable categories is of paramount importance and as is including them into employment, education, healthcare, social protection and housing.

As this complex issue requires a multidisciplinary approach, Omerovic added that the Committee is cooperating with independent state bodies such as the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, Ombudsman and NGOs.

Jan Balaz and Konstantinos Niafas, representatives of the European Commission expert mission on Roma social inclusion in the Republic of Serbia, asked about the National Assembly and the Committee’s duties as regards the monitoring of the implementation of the Action Plan, meeting deadlines, introduction of news and political programmes in national minority languages and similar which would contribute to the improvement of the status of the Roma.

The meeting was attended by Committee members Olivera Ognjanovic, Vesna Ivkovic and Tatjana Macura, as well as Tamara Mohaci, assistant secretary at the AP Vojvodina Government for the improvement of the status of Roma.