The topic of the meetings was the position of national minorities in Serbia.

In the course of the meeting with the members of the National Assembly’s standing delegation to PACE, the officials discussed the implementation of the Law on National Minority Councils and rapprochement of laws relating to the rights and status of national minorities.
The Head of the National Assembly’s standing delegation to PACE Aleksandra Djurovic said that, according to the 2011 popular census, Serbia has more than 30 registered national minorities and has reached remarkable standards in the protection of their rights. Djurovic pointed out that the national minorities have their representative MPs at the National Assembly elected both from minority party electoral lists and the electoral lists of majority parties in Serbia. Djurovic said that the Law on National Minority Councils, passed in 2009, regulates a wide spectrum of national minority rights related to education and culture. The Law on Official Use of Language and Script is also important for the position of national minorities, Aleksandra Djurovic added.

Equality and Non-Discrimination Committee rapporteur Ferenc Kalmar opined that the adoption of the Law on National Minority Councils recognizes the collective rights of national minorities and with it every individual’s right to identity. He stressed that it is important that the political parties not interfere with the election of national council members.
The meeting also touched on the need for better protection of the rights of the Serbian minority in the countries in the region.

The meeting was also attended by Natasa Vuckovic, member of the National Assembly’s standing delegation to PACE, and delegation substitute members Stefana Miladinovic and MA Svetislava Bulajic.


Meho Omerovic, Chairman of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality, opined that, when it comes to national minority rights, though Serbia has a very good legal framework regulating said rights there is still room to further improve the existing by-laws which would regulate the implementation of said laws. In the course of the meeting Omerovic said that considerable progress has been made in the last year as regards the participation of national minorities in the work of state institutions, especially in the police force, opining it was crucial to continue to involve them in the work of the legislation, healthcare and the police. He deemed that Serbia has no alarming problems which might lead to assimilation and that both the authorities and the national minorities are ready to address open issues through dialogue with mutual understanding and appreciation. The Committee Chairman stressed that Serbia is aware of the vulnerability of national minorities and strives for unity within the state.

Ferenc Kalmar, the rapporteur of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, opined that the participation of national minorities in the work of state institutions is a very important issue. Kalmar commended the Law on National Minority Councils which demonstrates that Serbia is one of the few countries which recognise collective rights.

Members of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality Olena Papuga, Teodora Vlahovic and Petar Kuntic also took part in the meeting.


In the meeting with rapporteur Kalmar, MPs representing the interests of national minorities at the Parliament expressed their displeasure with the level of inclusion of Bosniaks, Hungarians and Albanians in the public sector. The insufficient participation of Bosniaks, in the police force in particular, was the chief criticism Enis Imamovic shared in the meeting with rapporteur Kalmar. Imamovic drew attention to the poor treatment of Bosniaks by the media who are, he said, exempt from the presumption of innocence by virtue of their nationality alone.
Emir Elfic also spoke on the behalf of Bosniaks. He believes that education in the mother tongue is a priority issue but one which should be approached with care. Elfic stresses that a bad model of implementation of this right, guaranteed by the Constitution, could prove very harmful if it would mean separating children in classes and schools based on their nationality. He believes this would definitely lead to social segregation.
Riza Halimi pointed out the bad economic situation in Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja and the high unemployment rate among Albanians in that part of Serbia. He characterized the status of his national minority as hostage because he claimed the Albanians living in Serbia suffer the most due to the current relations between Belgrade and Pristina. He also complained of the ratio of Serbian to Albanian judges at the Basic Court in Vranje, which is 58 to 3 in favour of Serbs.
As one of the biggest problems of the Hungarian minority in Serbia, Balint Pasztor stressed unequal employment of minority representatives in the public sector. He believes that the privatisation of media broadcasting programmes in national minority languages is also an issue that needs to be addressed.