In the introductory part the participants were addressed by Committee Chairman Meho Omerovic who pointed out that the Republic of Serbia is in possession of a complete framework for the protection of human rights and the state has to ensure that they are respected. He also added that the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality, in accordance with its instruments, would remain committed to respecting human rights.
Suzana Paunovic, Assistant Director of the Human and Minority Rights Office, presented the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Council, stressing that, among others, 27 non-governmental organisations took part in the preparation of the Republic of Serbia’s Report. Paunovic added that monitoring the realisation of said recommendations is also one of the Office’s programmes.
Gordana Stamenic, State Secretary at the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, stressed that many states applauded Serbia’s efforts in the field of human rights protection and commended the measures it employed to improve the position of minority groups, the fight against violence against women, as well as the increased participation of women in public life.
Speaking on the behalf of YUCOM, Katarina Golubovic stressed that the non-governmental organisations had considerably contributed to the preparation of the Report. The Report depicting the situation in the sphere of human and minority rights in Serbia was prepared in regular consultations with the OSCE and UNDP.
The participants of the roundtable watched a film on the presentation of the Report in the second stage of the Universal Periodic Review, which was followed by a debate in the course of which the participants discussed the problems of employment of ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities, problems as regards printing textbooks in the ethnic minorities’ native languages, as well as other varieties of human and minority rights protection in Serbia.

The sitting was chaired by Meho Omerovic, Committee Chairman.