It is alarming that in Serbia there is no cultivation of respect for human rights, of appreciation and tolerance for diversity and that xenophobia and even open racism are still present, says the Ombudsman of Serbia Saša Jankovi? in a press release published on December 10th, the International Human Rights Day.

"Some groups are still 'more equal' than others, and sanctioning the acts of violence and discrimination is still a rare precedent", says the press release, adding that the awareness, however, of domestic violence against women is more and more present in public.
Jankovi? warns that there are excesses on the public scene that tear into the very essence of the freedom of speech, that xenophobia and even open racism have their advocates "who are particularly dangerous when the representatives of the governing bodies stand behind them".
"In a nation whose significant part are members of numerous national and other minorities, this, as a rule, may have tragic consequences", the Ombudsman stresses.

Petar La?evi?, director of the Human and Minority Rights Agency, said yesterday on the occasion of the Human Rights Day, that human rights are the most threatened in Kosovo, while "in other parts of Serbia, the human rights situation is satisfactory".
La?evi? pointed out that the human rights of the Roma are not fully respected in almost any part of Serbia owing to deeply rooted prejudices against this ethnic community.

Financial Aid for Roma Secondary School Students
12th December 2007 | 15:49 | Source: Tanjug

Novi Sad -- Vojvodina government has allotted 2,1 million dinars for secondary school students of Roma nationality in the Province.

Over the next nine months, 355 Roma students will be receiving monthly tuition of 48 euros, and 98 mentors will be receiving compensation for assisting these students.

The Vojvodina government examined the records of the Provincial Secretariat for Education and Culture on the enrollment of students in first grade of elementary and secondary schools in Vojvodina. This year, a total of 19.230 students enrolled in elementary schools or 4,9 percent more than last year.

The number of pupils attending classes in Romanian has reduced by 22 (11,4 percent), in Croatian by 12 (26 percent), whereas the number of pupils attending classes in Serbian has increased by 874 (5,3 percent). The number of pupils attending classes in Hungarian has increased by 90 (4,6 percent), and the number of pupils attending classes in Slovakian has increased by 4 compared to last school year.

Living in Kosovo
13th December 2007 | 15:49 | Source: B92

Priština -- While on one side young Albanians plan to leave Kosovo and return when the situation in the Province stabilizes, the plans of young Kosovo Serbs are quite different.

Erlet Mu?oli is 24 years old and he studies stomatology in Priština. He plans to complete his studies and get specialization abroad, get work experience and then after ten years return to Kosovo. "I think it is easier to complete university studies abroad and it is much better to study abroad, you get better practice. I think I belong here, I was born here and I want to spend my life here", Mu?oli says.

He thinks that there is future in Kosovo, but only in several years.

Jeta Džara, journalist and author of one of the top rated TV programs "Living in Kosovo" had a similar life path.

She went to London in the 1990s, finished school there, worked on BBC and then returned to Kosovo.

She agrees that Kosovo's near future does not seem very bright, but unlike other countries in the region who have been through bloody armed conflicts, the young people in Kosovo have much more optimism.

"I know people who would like to go abroad to live, but I also know many who have finished their studies abroad and instead of working 10 years for a promotion in some other country, they saw a chance for themselves in Kosovo to advance professionally much more and in a shorter time", Džara says.

She thinks that there is a good future for people getting education and studying because Kosovo has a shortage of experts in various fields.

Unlike the very young Kosovo Albanian community, most Kosovo Serbs are already at a senior age, especially those living outside the enclaves.

Snežana Borzanovi? returned to Priština in 2002. She says that she is not satisfied with the situation there and she does not have normal relations with her Albanian neighbors, but she is not giving up on her decision to live in Kosovo.

She says that she misses her freedom of religion. "Apart from that, I miss our people who lived here, I miss my right to go into a shop and try clothes on, because you still don't have enough courage to go into a shop and try out clothes in the clothing booth", she says.

"As for the freedom of movement, so-so, I have snatched it for myself and I don't think about dying. It can't frighten me. If someone threatens me with death, it doesn't scare me", Snežana says.

Joachim Rieker, Head of UNMIK, believes that everything will be better once the status of the Province is solved and people know where they stand.

"I think that in the last eight years, we have managed do establish the institutions, democracy, the rule of law, the market economy and I believe that Kosovo is now ready to move to the next stage", Rieker says.

"Right now, the inflation rate is very low. The fiscal situation is satisfactory for the most part. It is true that we have low trade exchange, high unemployment, trade deficit... I think that Kosovo, like other economic systems in transition, has a chance of achieving sustainable economic growth and trade exchange increase. However, right now we are in this magic circle and we will not see any significant economic progress before the status is solved", Rieker indicates.

He says that the biggest Kosovo's problem at the moment is - hesitation of the investors to put money into the local economy due to its unsolved status and uncertainty caused by the status quo.

However, he says that what installs optimism is the fact that Kosovo has started to integrate into the regional economic structures, through CEFTA membership of Cefta, through participation in the activities of the regional sustainable energy associations, etc.

"This is Our Society, Too"
13th December 2007 | 07:58 -> 10:53 | Source: B92

Belgrade -- Hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities in Serbia meet various obstacles every day. The most difficult is to get employment.

Between 600.000 and 700.000 people with disabilities live in Serbia. More than 500.000 are unemployed, mostly due to the employers' prejudices and unwillingness to adapt the work place to an employee with special needs. Therefore, the Ministry of Economy has drafted a law to help persons with disabilities in getting employment.

Gordana Rajkov, who spends her life in a wheelchair, works two jobs. She is a member of the Serbian Parliament and the president of the Center for Independent Life of the Invalids of Serbia. She says that she has been lucky, which can't be said of others, and that persons with disabilities need support from the society.

"It is not easy or practical to be a person with disability, but for me it is a challenge. But it really isn't practical, there is very little social support and in order to function, I must have someone to help me with basic everyday routins - from getting out of bed and into the wheelchair, to getting on public transport", Gordana Rajkov says.

Of the estimated 650.000 persons with disabilities in Serbia, 70 percent live in poverty. Fifty percent only have elementary education or none at all. The unemployment rate in this social category is 75 percent.

Aleksandra ?or?evi? of the "Sloga" socially-owned job center for persons with disabilities, says that they meet two types of obstacles in getting employment.

"First, the lack of access to business facilities, to work places, to public transport. I hope these barriers will be overcome with technical progress and increased public awareness", Aleksandra ?or?evi? says.

She says that there are also psychological barriers, because most employers are not familiar with the possibilities of persons with disabilities.

"They simply don't understand that we want this society to also be our society", Aleksandra ?or?evi? says.

In our country, every company that hires a person with disability is offered financial benefits, and the draft Law on professional rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities provides for an obligation of each company to hire persons with disabilities.

"Each legal subject, state agency, company, institution has an obligation to hire one person with disability, if its staff is between 20 and 50, and one in each next 50 members of the staff must be a person with disability", says Vladimir Ili?, state secretary for employment of the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development.

If a company is in the above category and fails to hire a person with disability, each month it has to pay a penalty equal to three minimum monthly salaries in Serbia for each person it didn't hire.

The new law is expected to be adopted in the beginning of next year and to come into effect on 1st January 2009.

Ljaji?: We Shall Eradicate Poverty
13th December 2007 | 014:59 | Source: Beta

Belgrade -- Rasim Ljaji? said today that the eradication of poverty in Serbia depends on her efforts to come closer to the EU.

Besides coming closer to the EU, Ljaji? also indicated foreign investments and strengthening of domestic economic potentials as major factors in the reduction of poverty. "Struggle against poverty cannot be the job for a single ministry, it has to be the strategy of the entire Serbian Government", said the Minister of Labor and Social Policy to a press conference in Belgrade.

He said that 48.000 families with around 130.000 children receive family allowance (MOP). Child allowance is paid to around 400.000 children.

"This is the funds that the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy can afford. We are trying to reduce poverty in our country as much as possible with these measures and decrease its impact on the youngest category of our society", Ljaji? said.

According to UNICEF, around 200.000 children in Serbia are living below the poverty line, and 400.000 are affected by poverty in some way. Around 150.000 children are undernourished, and one-third of preschool age children are anemic.

Problems for IDPs from Kosovo
9th January 2008 | 07:34 | Source: Beta
Prokuplje -- Humanitarian catastrophe threatens IDPs hosted in Prokuplje, says the local Commissioner for Refugees, Dragan Piljevi?.

Piljevi? reminds that more than 4.000 IDPs are hosted in Prokuplje. He says that this the first winter the municipal Commission for Refugees hasn't been able to provide any firewood or food, so around 4.000 IDPs and refugees, most of them unemployed, have stayed without any form of assistance.

Piljevi? says that last September the Serbian Government allotted 167.000 dinars to Prokuplje municipality for the purchase of school bags and writing materials for internally displaced children and no funds have been sent by the Government since.

"Due to extremely difficult economic situation, the municipal Commission for Refugees has sent an appeal for help to the international community, to European humanitarian organizations and to the Serbian Government, stressing that unless some aid arrives soon, the IDPs hosted in Prokuplje will have to get through a long and cold winter, but since most of them are old and of poor health, they will not be able to survive in the current circumstances", Piljevi? warns.

All the collective centers in the area of Prokuplje are closed down. Thanks to the support from the international humanitarian organizations, a refugee settlement with 28 apartments has been constructed and the most vulnerable refugee families are housed there.

Right now, more than 10.000 IDPs are living in the area of Topli?ki County, i.e. in the municipalities of Kuršumlija, Žitoradja, Prokuplje and Blace.

Seven Million Euros for Return
2nd January 2008 | 12:01 | Source: Beta
Belgrade -- One of the Ministers of the Kosovo Government, Branislav Grbi?, has announced that 7 million euros will be allotted in 2008 for the return process of IDPs.

The Minister of Return and Communities of Kosovo, Branislav Grbi?, has announced that seven million euros will be allotted in 2008 to support the return process, almost two million more than in 2007. The return of IDPs to Kosovo has not been satisfactory so far, due to a number of circumstances, Grbi? said.

He said that the status of Kosovo is also one of the factors in IDPs' return and decision to stay.

Grbi? reminded that the Ministry allotted 5,2 million euros in 2007 for organized and individual returns and that the construction of a database is in progress and it will provide the exact number of returnees.

"In cooperation with UNDP, the Ministry has built 20 houses for members of the Serb community in Kosovo Polje municipality, in the villages of Berkovo and Klinavac near Klina another 20 houses, and 17 houses for Roma, Ashkalia and Egyptians in Vu?itrn", Grbi? said.

He stressed that another 100 housing units for individual returnees were built last year.

According to him, of the 5,2 million euros two were used for building the infrastructure to enable returnees' integration and make their life easier - among other things, sport facilities were constructed and computers were bought for schools.

The Ministry of Return and Communities plans to continue the same policy regarding the return and integration of ethnic communities in 2008. Grbi? added that not just in 2008, but also in 2009 and 2010, Kosovo will keep working together with the European Agency for Reconstruction and UNDP on IDPs' return and integration.

Grbi? pointed out that each the Ministry and the EAR will invest 1,1 million euros in the project, and UNDP will invest 400.000 euros.

This year the focus will be placed on the return process to rural areas, because this is where the return is guaranteed and possible and the Ministry will try to initiate return to urban areas, regardless of the fact that it is an expensive and complex process.

How to Fight Depression?
3rd January 2008 | 08:30 | Source: B92
Belgrade -- According to the latest research, every second person in Serbia suffers from some kind of depression.

The British scientists have discovered that January is the most depressing month of the year, because people are faced with new challenges and shortage of money. In Serbia, this can have even bigger consequences, given that every second person in our country suffers from some kind of depression. The experience of the countries successful in struggling against depression could help us in the implementation of the Anti-depression Strategy Paper.

The holidays are over, the money is spent and now we must "get through" January and deal with all the challenges of the New Year.

Large parts of Serbia's population have been affected by uncertainty and poverty for decades now. Therefore, Serbia is among the leading countries in Europe when it comes to the number of depressed people.

The experts say that with all the everyday problems, it is very difficult for an ordinary person to determine whether he/she suffers from depression.

"Depression is one of the most common mental disorders, so when we say - depression, we mean sadness and something we call sad mood. It is an emotional disorder", says Zorka Ljup?i?, psychotherapist of the Institute for Mental Health.

Young people, elderly people, refugees and destitute persons are the most inclined to depression. A depressed person is sad, discontent and uninterested in life. The first step in the healing process is a visit to a psychiatrist, which is still a very sensitive subject in Serbia.

Something no tourist can miss when entering the city - Belgrade's ugliest living postcard, the "Cardboard City" under Gazelle Bridge - will definitely be moved next spring, announced Djordje Bobic, the city architect, for "Blic".
Due to the problems in the part of Belgrade called "Dr Ivan Ribar" who didn't want the "cardboard city" people in their neighborhood, the City is preparing four locations in great secrecy for the estimated 250 families living under the busiest Belgrade bridge. The reconstruction of the bridge also depends on the dislocation of the unhygienic settlement.
- I can't wait for this place to be demolished. I can't stand it. This is a disgrace. It is a disgrace for everyone and also for the authorities. It smells bad here. I don't care where they move us as long as we have decent living conditions and a chance to work. Instead of collecting cardboard, I would accept any job - says 38-year-old Djula Bajramovic, mother of five.

- We would like to move, why not? It smells bad here, there are rats, we bring water in canisters, there is electricity but it is weak, we get it from the streetlights, it is insufficient for the refrigerators - says 21-year-old Fetija Krasnici, mother of two children while filling up the canisters on a single water fountain near the settlement. She came from Kosovo to the "cardboard city" with her husband two years ago.

- Anything is better than this. We are living on a garbage dump, it is unhealthy, I can get AIDS or something - says one of the inhabitants of the settlement, Zoran, who is a disabled person living on social welfare of 4.000 dinars a month. He has calculated that it is 130 dinars a day.

Ivana Ibraimovic, 28-year-old mother of five, says "Whether you wash or not, everything is filthy. My case is that our house in Leskovac was torched. We have lived here ever since, it is two years now. We have nowhere else to go".
A refugee from Slavonija, Croatia, probably the only Serb among the Roma families under the Gazelle Bridge and the only one whose children go to school, is angry both with the reporters and the politicians. With a bottle of beer in one hand and a cigarette in another, he says:
- I was sitting with President Tadic and also with Kostunica as I am sitting with you now. I was photographed, reporters came here. I have six children. The only thing that came from all that was two small packages of aid. I have managed by myself to buy a small property in a village near Kragujevac and as soon as the school is over, we are leaving - he says.

QUICKSAND
Source: PRESS
March 6th, 2007

Children infected with measles live in the "cardboard city" under the Gazelle bridge with no running water, electricity or sanitation facilities. None of the relevant institutions has remembered to visit or help them yet.

Several days ago two children of the Roma settlement under the Gazelle bridge were infected with measles, doctors have ordered mandatory vaccination, but no one has announced that measles come from an unhygienic settlement.

Although the children didn't contract measles in the settlement under the Gazelle bridge, but in an unhygienic settlement in Novi Sad, it hasn't occurred to the relevant authorities that it is high time to break the "vicious circle of poverty" in the "cardboard city" and enable decent living conditions for its inhabitants.

Dr Kon: We are examining and vaccinating them!

Dr Predrag Kon, epidemiologist of the Health Institute of the City of Belgrade, says that the Institute experts are going to all the Roma settlements, examining and vaccinating the people.

Around a hundred Roma live under the Gazelle bridge because they have nowhere else to go. Their living conditions are not worthy of a dog, let alone a human. The cardboard homes are surrounded by a garbage dump. The barracks are made of cardboard, they have no electric installations, no running water, no sanitation facilities... There are also a few homes made of wooden planks, tin and nylon.

In the center of the settlement there is a big pond of mud, and a bunch of children are playing there, all of them half-naked, dirty, and they say to our reporters that they are not cold..

- When you have nothing else, then this is fine, although we live like rats in a hole. We had lived in a railroad car until a year ago, but then it caught fire and burnt down. The social work center was going to take my children away from me and put them in a home - says Olivera Manic, single mother of eight children.

There are over 60 families living under Gazelle, lots of them with more than ten members. Among the inhabitants of the settlement, there are IDPs from Kosovo who ended up here when they fled Kosovo in 1999, there are social cases who have lived under Gazelle for more than 15 years and there are also Roma who have come from the interior of the country.
According to various estimates, there are 60-100 illegal Roma settlements in Belgrade .

- Regardless of everything, I send four of my children to school - Olivera Manic says. - When I can't afford to buy them food to take to school, I don't let them go to school because they can't be without eating anything until 2 p.m. - she says.

She says, there is no help from anywhere... Everyone comes to the settlement promising things, and none of them ever come back. She has to manage on her own. Like the rest of them in the settlement, she "steals" electricity and water so she can fix some food, wash some clothes, have light in her home.
- We don't know if our children are healthy because we can't take them to a doctor. You can see that her face is full of dots which resemble measles. I have taken her to a doctor, but they refuse to examine her because she hasn't got a medical care booklet. Her eyes are burning and I don't know how to help her - says Olivera about her little daughter.

The inhabitants of the settlement are aware that the shelters made of paper, planks and tin are the only refuge they have.

Danijel Manic, father of three children, says that maybe all three of his children already have measles and there is no one to help them.

The children who go to school don't socialize with their fellow students because they are ashamed of where they live.
- My friends invite me to birthday parties, but how could I possibly invite them over, when I live here, in a shack - Sabrina Demirovic says sadly. She is in the fourth grade of elementary school.

Homeless children
Source: PRESS
14. 04 2007, Belgrade

They live in abandoned houses, hot water plumbing systems and old railroad cars. They sleep under a bridge during the summer and in shafts during the winter

The only nongovernmental organization looking after homeless children is the Youth Integration Center.

The law is that children should not be out in the street, so homeless children are afraid of the police who take them from the street directly to the Home for Children and Youth. They run away as soon as they get a chance, because they are kept under lock and key, with bars on the windows, and the teachers are strict.

Both Roma and Serb children live out in the street, in groups of different age, from 4 to 25, and the strongest and the most resourceful member of the group becomes the leader. The leader often claims to have a "connection in the police" thus inspiring fear and respect in the rest of the members.

- They are afraid of police and they hate police, they often complain of getting beaten by the policemen, and the leader is usually the one who takes care of everything - says Mila Muskinja of the Youth Integration Center.

A shelter for children to be opened this summer
The Home for Children and Youth went through 420 children in 2005, and as many as 460 children in 2006. It is believed that there are around 500 boys and girls living in the street today. In cooperation with the city Center for Social Work, the Youth Integration Center plans to set up an open shelter this summer, where homeless children could come voluntarily and sleep over.

The homeless find shelter in abandoned houses, hot water plumbing, old railroad cars, junk cars. They mostly sleep under a bridge during the summer, and in shafts during the winter. Everyone knows their duty - the boys earn money, the girls cook and clean.

Milica Djordjevic of the Youth Integration Center says that the favorite destination for homeless children is Belgrade because it is where they can make the most money.

- They will do anything: beg, wash windshields on the cars waiting at traffic lights, unload sand from trucks, guard cars, scrub rafts, sell toilet paper in the green market, clean up basements. They are often engaged in prostitution, drug dealing, stealing - Milica Djordjevic says.

Many of these children have parents, but the parents have them working all day, because it is better for the children to make money than waste their time going to school. Many parents simply leave their children in the street. For example, 5-year-old Zoran M. was deliberately "forgotten" by his father at Slavija Square in the city center, where workers fed him until he turned 10. Today the boy has no personal documents, the father refuses to register him at his address because then he would have to pay more money for the water bill.

Mother is Aunt
The people of the Youth Integration Center visit homeless children four times a week, take them to a doctor, help them to obtain personal documents and provide them with clothes, shoes, toys, blankets.

Social work centers usually close at 2 p.m. so it is impossible to turn to them in the afternoon and these children, and even their parents, are not registered in the records so they practically don't exist for the state.

- I asked a girl how old she was, and she said "If you know it, then I know it, too". Some women give birth using their sister's medical care booklet, so it turns out that a child's aunt is really the child's mother - says Mila Musknja about the problems they come across trying to help homeless children.

These children usually have little choice. They come from families where they were abused, the teachers in the homes lock them up and punish them, and there are very few foster families in Belgrade. For example, there are only two foster families in the municipality of Stari Grad.

- Foster families want smart, blond children, medical doctors' children, healthy and with no behavior problems. It is understandable that they are choosy, but it is also an objective problem in taking care of the children from the street - says Milica Djordjevic.

Drugs are also a very common problem. Until this year the children mostly sniffed glue, and a box of glue was enough for the whole group. They also buy medicines, even if it's just a package of aspirin, and mix them with alcohol. They say that heroin is very cheap this year, so children massively inject themselves and sniff heroin.

13 per cent of Roma children finish school
Source: B92
17th May 2007

Belgrade - In Serbia, only 13% of Roma children complete elementary school, and 90% of the children aged over 15 are illiterate, shows the research.

UNICEF has conducted a research on the state of Roma children in order to obtain a comprehensive image of the situation of the Roma in the society and find an adequate form of aid. Every day Roma children beg in the streets or go through garbage containers of Serbia's towns. The research shows that Roma get to a crossroad at the age of 5, when they have to choose whether to go to school or work on the street. Eighty per cent stay on the street.

On the other hand, there are Roma teenagers who have joined forces to get the children from the street to go to school.

"We make Roma hip-hop music, because we want to show that we can also do other things and that Roma are not just garbage men", says Razim Ajrulovic.

The most common reasons for Roma children to abandon school are early marriage, bad economic situation and that other children don't accept them.

"Our goal is to help them to overcome the problems of discrimination and poverty. A country struggling against poverty has to help the poor to get education, because it is very important to include them into the social community as early as possible", explains En-Liz Svenson of UNICEF.

According to the research, the Roma children who went to preschool have better grades in school. Right now only 4% of Roma children go to preschool, and he plan is to increase the number of preschool children every year by around 5%.

More Than 200 000 People in Serbia Working as Unregistered Labor
"Blic"
30. 04 2007

Last year in Serbia, a total of two employers were punished with maximum fines of 800.000-1.000.000 dinars (10.000-12.500 euros) for keeping unregistered employees - they said for "Blic" at the Labor Inspection.

I pretend to be a customer in front of the inspectors
Although she has been working as an unregistered employee in a local shop for more than a year, 25-year-old Smederevka M.V. refuses to report her boss to the authorities because she fears that she could end up jobless out in the street.
- My salary is 10.000 dinars (125 euros). I often work as many as 10 hours a day, but when I get my salary, I can see that the extra hours are not paid. It is difficult to find a job, the boss promises all the time that he will register me, so when the inspectors come by, I pretend to be a customer.
Lots of people work as unregistered labor - the employers take advantage of the difficult social situation of their employees and high unemployment rate, and the employers don't report their bosses out of fear that they would be left out of work and without a chance to earn any money.
- A worker never reports his boss, except when he gets fired. We also react to anonymous reports, but they are rare and normally come from the competition in the neighborhood. Workers don't understand that we are paid to help them, so they hide when they see us coming. Once I chased a group of workers 500 meters through mud and plastic green houses and fields, and if I hadn't been so persistent, they would still be exploited today - says Snezana Milojevic, head of the Labor Inspection for Podunavlje County.
Nebojsa Atanackovic, president of the Assembly of the Employers Union of Serbia, thinks that unregistered labor is often a matter of agreement between the employer and his employees.
- It suits the employer not to register his employees. The employees themselves often say that they prefer to get higher salary rather than have their taxes paid - Atanackovic says.

Tycoons better protected than workers
"Blic"
30. 04 2007

Salaries insufficient for a decent life, fear of losing their jobs in a situation when it is very difficult to find another job, as well as the privatization which is yet to complete and leave thousands of people jobless. This is how the two major trade unions in Serbia see workers' problems - the Independent Unions Association and the UGS "Nezavisnost".

The worst of all is that the salaries are low, says Zoran Stojiljkovic, vice-president of the UGS and points out that it frustrates people, causes great stress, destroys families.
- In a situation like that, one can't afford quality health care or get adequate education for his children - says Stojiljkovic and adds that the additional frustrating fact is that a job, no matter how badly paid, is as easy to lose as it is hard to find a new job.
- The unemployment rate in Serbia is three times as high as in the European Union - he says.
All the major problems of the workers in Serbia today are a consequence of the privatization process, says Milenko Smiljanic, president of the Independent Unions Association. He says that there are still 800 companies to be privatized. The Association estimates that the public utilities alone, which are yet to be privatized, employ around 250.000 people, of which nearly 1/3 will lose their jobs.

13 per cent of Roma children finish school
17th May 2007 Source: B92
Belgrade - In Serbia, only 13% of Roma children complete elementary school, and 90% of the children aged over 15 are illiterate, shows the research.

UNICEF has conducted a research on the state of Roma children in order to obtain a comprehensive image of the situation of the Roma in the society and find an adequate form of aid. Every day Roma children beg in the streets or go through garbage containers of Serbia's towns. The research shows that Roma get to a crossroad at the age of 5, when they have to choose whether to go to school or work on the street. Eighty per cent stay on the street.

On the other hand, there are Roma teenagers who have joined forces to get the children from the street to go to school.

"We make Roma hip-hop music, because we want to show that we can also do other things and that Roma are not just garbage men", says Razim Ajrulovic.

The most common reasons for Roma children to abandon school are early marriage, bad economic situation and that other children don't accept them.

"Our goal is to help them to overcome the problems of discrimination and poverty. A country struggling against poverty has to help the poor to get education, because it is very important to include them into the social community as early as possible", explains En-Liz Svenson of UNICEF.

According to the research, the Roma children who went to preschool have better grades in school. Right now only 4% of Roma children go to preschool, and he plan is to increase the number of preschool children every year by around 5%.

Serbia has to accept 100 000 of its illegals
"Blic"
19. 4. 2007

Serbia's obligation under the readmission agreement to accept around 100.000 of its citizens who are residing illegally in western European countries, is an imperative condition that our country has to fulfill in order to reach an agreement with the EU on visa privileges. However, the reintegration of returnees into Serbia is very difficult due to widespread poverty, so it is feared that they will decide to go back to the EU, and mostly through illegal channels.

The agreements on visa privileges and readmission were not signed on April 11th because the representatives of our country and the European Commission couldn't define the segments of the readmission agreement referring to the readmission of third countries' citizens who have entered the EU through Serbia's territory.
Nevertheless, Serbia and the European Commission will discuss the details of the agreement again next week.
"We are working on the proposal for the Serbian Government to specify an article of the (readmission) agreement, in order to find a modality for both sides and in order to avoid another failure to sign the agreement", Tanja Miscevic said.

Serbia's negotiation team insists on Serbia to only accept the people who don't have our citizenship, but for whom there is positive proof of entering EU through Serbia.
Miodrag Shresta of Group 484, organization dealing with forced migration-related issues, explains that the request to accept third countries' citizens is a standard mechanism of protection against illegal migrations into the EU. In this way, the EU expects that on returning to Serbia third countries' citizens will seek asylum in our country, but Shresta underlines that it will be a problem because Serbia doesn't have an asylum law yet. Once an agreement is reached with the EU, around 100.000 will start arriving gradually in Serbia proper, although the records of the German Government show that as many Serbian citizens are residing illegally in Germany alone. The number of returnees and the time of their return to Serbia will entirely depend on the decision of the country of their illegal residence.
Records show that most Serbia's citizens have tried to find better life, but without a definite residence permit, in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg.
In the last six years, 50.000-60.000 of our citizens have returned to Serbia, voluntarily or involuntarily, from 12 EU countries and from Switzerland, with whom our country had readmission agreements signed. The new agreement that the representatives of Serbia and the European Commission will sign, will oblige Serbia to cooperate with all 27 EU countries. Danilo Rakic of Group 484, however, claims that there is no reliable data on the citizens who have returned to Serbia from Western Europe because there is no statistics on voluntary returnees.
According to the existing statistics, around 15.000 of our citizens have been deported to Serbia through Belgrade airport, and an average 120 deportees arrive in Serbia in this way every month, Rakic says for "Blic". Still, according to him, the Reintegration Office in Sandzak alone has on its record around 40.000 people who have returned to this part of Serbia where the majority population is Roma and Bosniaks.

Serbia's margin, old age as punishment
"Press"
19. 05 2007

BELGRADE: The "Home Care" service is officially available in every municipality, but the hostesses engaged by the gerontologic centers only visit 4.000 beneficiaries. As many as 300.000 old persons are left to manage on their own!

By the year 2025, as much as 42% of Serbia's population will be over 60 years old.

Poverty, deteriorated health and loneliness. All the polls conducted among persons over 60 in Serbia show that these three are the main problems. And the number of old people is increasing. Serbia's population is among the five oldest European nations. According to the 2002 census, Belgrade is one of the world's "oldest cities" because 20% of its population is aged over 60.

A recent study by the "Amity" NGO (www.amity-yu.org) pointed to another serious problem. Namely, every fourth Serbia's citizen over 70 has no one to help them with everyday necessities.

Children forget their parents
Cira Pesin, manager of the Day Homes and "Home Care" service of the Gerontologic Center Belgrade, says that the level of care for old people is very low due to the difficult financial situation in the country.
- The situation in the country is as it is. It so happens that in the municipalities whose budgets are empty, there is no money for anything, including the "Home Care" program. For example, to grow old in a village in the South-East of Serbia is like a curse. People live all alone, their children have forgotten them completely. But the weirdest thing, those old people are not angry with their children at all, they say children also have to struggle for themselves - Pesin says.

Of the 300.000 old people left to manage on their own, only about 4.000 get visits from the gerontologic hostesses. It is primarily due to the lack of funds, but also the lack of solidarity, that the society is unable to help people who become completely alone when they grow old.
- Except for Belgrade, Novi Sad and Subotica, the rest of the towns in Serbia don't have a developed system of care for old people. The needs are great, and the capacities are none - Cira Pesin says.

Each hostess looks after three households. She spends two hours in every household a day helping in buying food, keeping personal hygiene, the hygiene of the apartment, heating, minor repairs around the apartment, help the old person to move around the apartment, buy newspapers and books for them, pay their utility bills...
The service costs 1.092 dinars per household per month because most expenses are paid by the city administration, but Pesin says that the price will have to be increased.
There are 560 people on the waiting list for the "Home Care" program at the moment.

Pesin underlines that this program, as well as the care for old people in general, will have to be improved in the future because our society is aging rapidly. In 1983, 11,2% of Belgrade's population was aged over 60, and in 2002 - more than 20%.
It is estimated that by 2025, more than 42% of Serbia's population will be over 60 years of age and unless we start improving the care for the old now, we will get into a situation where we will have too many old people and we won't be able to help them, says Cira Pesin.

Roma dumping, street cleaners cleaning
Source: PRESS
February 15th 2007

The illegal garbage dump in Radnicka Street in Cukaricka Padina in Belgrade has existed for almost 10 years and despite the teams of the City Sanitation Company cleaning it often, they haven't been able to remove it competely.

Around 30 Roma living on a hill above Radnicka Street have been dumping garbage and waste down the side of the hill every day, creating a dump around 200 meters in length! Bumpers, carpets, cardboards, jumpers, books, even an occasional dead animal are an everyday part of Radnicka Street.

- On the hill, from which they throw the garbage, there are around 30 people mostly living by collecting things from garbage containers. What they don't sell at the flea market, they throw down the hill creating a garbage dump! The solution is demolition! - says Bogoljub Radic, coordinator of the City Sanitation Company. He says that the garbage has been cleaned up several times so far, but it piles up again.

As we were told at the local administration of Cukarica, the people living in the semi-ruined houses on the hill have no personal ID cards or permanent residence and they refuse to pay the fines because they know that it is impossible to bring charges against them!
- A permanent solution would be to remove the houses in order to prevent illegal tenants from moving in. The houses are already semi-ruined and they have no owner. We'll solve the problem soon by turning the location into a green area or we'll give the location to an investor to build a new building - said Dragan Tesic, president of Cukarica municipality.

The Roma living on the hill above Radnicka Street didn't want to talk to us yesterday. The workers on the construction of an apartment building nearby complained that potential buyers leave when they see the garbage dump so close to the future apartments.