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March

- ZAGREB: As of March 22nd, Croatian citizens will not need visas for Great Britain any more, announced John Ramsden, British embassador in Zagreb.
London introduced visas for Croatia in 1999 with an explanation that a large number of Croatian citizens were seeking asylum in Britain.
"Glas javnosti", 2. 3. 2006.

- SARAJEVO: All 237 Serb families who fled the Federation of Bosnia&Herzegovina during the war have started legal proceedings against the Federation. The case will be examined in Sarajevo on April 25th and 26th. They are accusing the Federation of the destruction of their properties altogether worth around 32 million KM.
"Glas javnosti", 2. 3. 2006.

- KRAGUJEVAC: The construction is planned of 670 apartments for 3.000 refugees and local socially vulnerable persons in Kragujevac, Cacak, Kraljevo, Pancevo, Pazova and Valjevo. The project is financed by the Italian Government.
The construction of 32 of 96 apartments in Kragujevac started yesterday.
"Glas javnosti", 2. 3. 2006.

- NIS: The first person to call the volunteer on duty on the SOS phone for victims of domestic violence who ask help in Roma language asked timidly: "Is it true that now we also have someone to complain to?"
After this more Roma women asked for help the SOS volunteers in Belgrade Mahala in Nis.
The coordinator of the SOS phone, Ana Sacipovic, says that it was necessary to open such a phone line because lots of Roma women don't speak any Serbian. On the other hand, many are reluctant to ask SOS phone volunteers for help in Serbian. Since the first SOS phone was set up in 1992 for victims of domestic violence in Nis, only 7 Roma women have asked for help.
"Many victims of domestic violence won't tell their problems to non-Roma persons because they don't think they will be understood since non-Roma persons don't know their mentality. Roma women are brought up to serve their families and later their husbands. The unwritten law is that women have to obey men", Sacipovic says.
Thanks to foreign donors, 10 Roma speaking volunteers are being trained at the moment to work with victims of domestic violence.
"Blic", 2. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE:The blind and persons with poor vision in Serbia haven't had a chance to get the necessary medical devices at the expense of the health insurance fund for 3 years now, said the representatives of the Blind Perons Union of Serbia at yesterday's press conference. They said that there are around 12.000 registered blind and persons with poor vision in Serbia and due to complicated tenders for the purchase of the devices, they can't use their right to dark glasses, white canes, Braille typing machines and other necessary equipment. They stressed that the problem is the Republic Health Insurance Department has signed contracts with companies who do sell appliances for handicapped persons but they have no equipment for blind people because "you can't make too much money on it".
"Danas", 2. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: The number of traffic accidents in Serbia nearly doubled from Monday to Tuesday - 266 traffic accidents were registered on Tuesday in which three persons were killed and 46 were injured. The roads were wet and slippery due to the snow that fell the previous day.
"Danas", 2. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: According to the information gathered during a research about the abuse of child labour, the youngest age at which children start working is 7, and even a case of a 4-year-old has been recorded, most probably to beg in the street or wash windscreens.
"According to the records of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 200-400 children in Belgrade beg every day and there is evidence that it is organized labour. The practical application of the law is disastrous. In some segments the employer is even better protected than the child he employs", said Ljubomir Pejakovic, director of the Children's Rights Center.
Vesna Dejanovic, coordinator of the Center's press service, says that every 11th person questioned during the research thinks it is ok for a child to work even if it interferes with its education. Girls mostly work as domestic help and boys mostly work in the green market or they wash windscreens or they work on constructions. Only 5% are criminal activities.
"The interesting thing is that parents didn't indicate prostitution at all as one of the forms of child abuse, it was children themselves who pointed to it. One of the goals of the research is to see how child labour is viewed and the questioned persons divided it into 4 categories - begging, prostitution, stealing and trafficking and hard physical labour", Dejanovic concluded.
"Glas javnosti", 4. 3. 2006.

- KIKINDA: Around 4% of Kikinda's young population use marihuana regularly and around 40% of elementary and highschool students use marihuana from time to time. These alarming statistics have been gathered by the municipal Committee for Struggle against Addiction Diseases.
"Glas javnosti", 5. 3. 2006.

- SOUTH OF SERBIA: Vranje Eparchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Islamic Community for Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja have formed a joint NGO through which they will invest into joint projects in the south of Serbia.
"Blic", 5. 3. 2006.

- PRISTINA: UNMIK police have closed down the offices in the villages of Recane, Srecka, Novake, Velika Hoca and in the Serb part of Orahovac (all these villages located in the area of Prizren). The substations were formed so the international police could ensure freedom of movement for Serbs and other non-Albanians.
Fatmir Djurdjijali, spokesman for the Kosovo Police Service in Prizren, says that the substation were closed because "the members of the Serb ethnic community have declared that they have confidence and they will cooperate with the Kosovo Police Service".
"Glas javnosti", 1. 3. 2006.

- SKOPLJE: The railway services between Skoplje and Pristina suspended in 1999, were reestablished yesterday.
"Glas javnosti", 1. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: The second term has just started in schools and parents already have to start paying for books for next year. All the publishers sell the books in 3 monthly instalments and the first instalment have to be paid by the end of March.
A set of schoolbooks for first-graders costs at least 2.000 dinars.
"Glas javnosti", 1. 3. 2006.

- ZAJECAR: The Italian "Intersos" humanitarian organization and the president of Zajecar municipality signed an agreement yesterday on the construction of 12 apartments for refugees and socially vulnerable local persons. The apartments will be 40 sq meters in area. The start of the construction is planned for July and they are expected to be finished next February.
The municipality has provided the location for the apartments.
"Intersos" is also interested in buying abandoned village properties to also give them to refugees.
"Glas javnosti", 1. 3. 2006.

- PODGORICA: If Montenegro becomes independent after the referendum, tourists from Serbia will not need passports for visiting the Monenegran coast, their personal ID cards will be enough, just like for the citizens of all the other former Yugoslav republics, said the Montenegran Minister of Tourism,, Predrag Nenevic.
"Glas javnosti", 1. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: President of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiju, appointed Agim Ceku (commandant of the Kosovo Protection Corps and former commandant of UCK) as Prime Minister of Kosovo.
Serbia's authorities put out an international wanted notice for Agim Ceku in 2002 for being guilty, based on command responisibility, of killing 669 Serbs and 18 members of other non-Albanian ethnic communities, of inflicting severe injuries to 518 persons and kidnapping 584 persons.
Ceku deserted from the Yugoslav People's Army in 1991 as captain and joined the Croatian military forces. As a Croatian officer he organized an attack on the Yugoslav People's Army post in Gospic and was involved in the killing of 156 Serbs and took part in the "Medak pocket" operation.
"Glas javnosti", 3. 3. 2006.

- NIS: Last weekend four youth stoned the houses on the corner of Sarajevo Street and Vinaver Street in the Roma settlement of Stocni Trg in Nis, and came into physical conflict with a group of Roma whose houses were attacked, announced the Nis Police Department.
Lidija Pavlovic, spokesperson for the Nis Police Department, said yesterday that according to the preliminary reports, the incident has nothing to do with skinheads nor is it religiously or racially motivated. She said that police are checking whether the four youth are of Serb nationality or whether they belong to some group with racist "ideology", in order to prevent speculations in the public.
"According to the information available to us at the moment, the youth were drunk, on their way from a private party and as they were passing through this part of the city, they threw stones at the houses on the corner of the two streets and also at some of the vehicles. The case has been filed as disturbing public peace and order", Pavlovic said for the press.
Charges are brought against the participants of the fight.
"Danas", 1. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: There is ongoing investigation in Serbia against Agim Ceku but an indictment hasn't been brought yet, said Bruno Vekaric, spokesperson for the Special War Crimes Prosecution in Belgrade.
The order to launch an investigation also includes Hasim Taci, leader of Democratic Party for Kosovo and the first UNMIK chief Bernard Kouchner, who are charged with genocide.
"Blic", 7. 3. 2006.

- ZRENJANIN: Unidentified persons drew swastikas on 9 Serb houses in Srpski Itebej on the night between March 5th and 6th, police have announced. The symbols are drawn with a piece of chalk or brick and they are 40 cm in size. Investigation is underway.
"Blic", 7. 3. 2006.

- BUJANOVAC: President of the Islamic religious community for Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja, mufti Nedzmedin Sacipi, has announced that the construction of a Roma mosque will be built in Bujanovac in the second half of this year.
"It will be the first Roma mosque in the Balcans to the pleasure of the 4.000 Roma living here", mufti Sacipi says. He stresses that Roma believers, the state, donors and benefactors will raise around 500.000 euros for the construction of the mosque.
"Besides the space for religious service, the mosque complex will also include a series of other facilities, such as sports facilities, a library, education and entertainment facilities, as well as various forms of education for the Roma", Sacipi says.
He assessed the situation of the Roma in Bujanovac as extremely difficult, adding that "the state and the political parties only remember Roma during the elections, to use them as a voting machine".
"Vecernje novosti", 6. 3. 2006.

- NOVI PAZAR: Serbia's Government has provided 1,46 million dinars for the "Bosnjacka rijec" magazine of the Bosniak National Council of Serbia&Montenegro. As the Bosniak National Council announced, the magazine will deal with the issues related to the social and cultural life of the Bosniaks. It will come out 4 times a year and will be pubilshed in their first language - Bosnian language.
The Bosniak National Council also announces programs about Bosniaks on Serbia's national television.
Also, the Council requests from the authorities in Montenegro to allow press and education in Bosnian language for Bosniaks.
"Vecernje novosti", 6. 3. 2006.

- NIS: Last week Budapest based European Roma Rights Center filed a complaint against UNMIK to the International Human Rights Court in Strasbourg, quoting that the Roma in two camps near Kosovska Mitrovica have been getting sick and dying due to enormous lead and heavy metals pollution.
Paul Polansky (pardon the spelling-Z), founder of the Kosovo Roma Refugee Foundation, says that the Court usually takes 2 years to decide whether to accept a complaint or not. This time the Court passed a decision within 24 hours. The complaint was rejected with an explanation that UNMIK was not a signer of the Internation Human Rights Convention, Polansky says.
There are 560 Roma living on the waste dumps of the "Trepca" Lead Company but their number increases by the week due to constant arrival of the Roma who get deported from Germany. The newcomers are even more exposed to lead contamination related diseases - a person only aged 26 died just 6 months after arriving at the camp, Polansky says. "Each child conceived in these two camps - Kablare and Cesmin Lug - either has permanent brain damage or is mentally retarded", he says. "UNMIK still refuses to evacuate the Roma to a safe location. Instead UNMIK plans to move them to a former French army base which is only 20 meters from the camps. French soldiers left the base several months ago".
Polansky has recently moved his Foundation's main office from Kosovo to Nis because he expects "several thousand Roma" to flee to this city in case Kosovo becomes independent.
Last year he received the annual award of the city of Weinmar, Germany, which is presented to eminent peace and human rights activists.
"Danas", 6. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: 103 traffic accidents were registered in Serbia yesterday.
"Danas", 6. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: The 6-month time limit for the election of Serbia's ombudsman expires at the end of March. However, not one candidate has been proposed yet to the president of Serbia's Parliament Predrag Markovic, who is also the president of the Constitutional committee.
The Law on ombudsman was adopted last September and it states that the ombudsman must be elected within 6 months after the Law comes into effect.
Nemanja Nenadic of "Transparency Serbia" says that finding people to work in independent institutions is a general problem here. "Our scene is contaminated with daily politics and it is difficult to find a person to suit everyone and to be regarded as independent. It is always a problem", Nenadic says.
"Danas", 7. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: According to the decision of the Board of the University of Belgrade, the nostrification of foreign diplomas for Serbian citizens costs 24.000-54.000 dinars, depending on whether it is a diploma of basic, master or doctoral degree.The nostrification for foreign citizens is much more expensive - from 51.000 to 111.000 dinars.
"Danas", 7. 3. 2006.

- SVRLJIG: With the average monthly salary of 5.898 dinars, Svrljig is in last (167th) place in Serbia.
"Glas javnosti", 7. 3. 2006.

- KOSOVSKA MITROVICA: The destruction of the Serb houses in the village of Svinjare in Kosovo has continued with breaking into two houses, the Coordination Center for Kosovo has announced. The front doors to both houses were opened by force. All the power tools, electric equipment and water pipes were robbed from one house and the stove was taken from the other house. This is the third breaking into Serb houses in Svinjare in the last 20 days.
"Glas javnosti", 8. 3. 2006.

- PRISTINA: Due to the seriousness of the case, the regional police from Pristina has taken over the investigation into the attack on three Serbs from Staro Gracko near Llipljan that took place three nights ago.
Ranko Stojanovic, spokesman for the Kosovo Police Service, says that police have found traces on the scene indicating the character of the attack.
"Glas javnosti", 9. 3. 2006.

- KIKINDA: A new Roma settlement with 72 houses will be built on the empty side of Stevan Sremac Street in Kikinda. Branislav Jovicic, vice-president of the "Romani Rota" Association, says that the project for the settlement is prepared in cooperation with the Society for the Improvement of Roma Settlements. The documentation is already gathered and the urbanistic plan is complete.
Of several Roma settlements in Kikinda, the largest is Mali Bedem with a population of 270.
"Glas javnosti", 9. 3. 2006.

- PAUL POLANSKY: Paul Polansky, founder of the Kosovo Roma Refugee Foundation, says that "around 150.000 Roma lived in Kosovo before the war and now there are not more than 25.000. I've got information that Albanians have torched around 14.000 Roma homes accusing them of 'cooperation with Serbs'. Roma in Kosovo, just like Serbs, are now living in ghettos and in fear for their future. They tell me loud and clear that they won't stay in Kosovo if it becomes independent", Polansky says.
Polansky is an American of Czech origin, born in 1942. He has been struggling for the rights of the Kosovo Roma for the last couple of years. He lived in a trailer with them in Laplje Selo for a long time and he was known as "the trailer man".
"Glas javnosti", 9. 3. 2006.

- NIS: Ljiljana Momcilovic, head of the Civic Issues Department in Nis, says "Roma have been taking Serb names and family names lately, explaining this with a wish to be purely orthodox, some say they don't want to be Gypsies any more because it inconveniences their life, whereas some unofficially recognize that Serb name makes their small-time smuggling business easier on the border", Momcilovic says.
The changing identity procedure is not complicated and the fee for the birth register service is 420 dinars and along with the other required certificates, the total cost doesn't exceed 1.000 dinars.
But if a male wants to change identity, he also has to submit a certificate that he is not under investigation, that they have served their military service and met their tax obligations, so the changed identity wouldn't be used for "covering tracks and avoiding obligations".
"Glas javnosti", 9. 3. 2006.

- WASHINGTON/BELGRADE: Generally speaking, Kosovo institutions and UNMIK respect human rights but there are still serious minority rights related problems, says the report on human rights situation in Serbia&Montenegro in 2005. In the section dedicated to Kosovo, it is noted that discrimination against ethnic minorities is still present, especially against Serbs and Roma, although the human rights situation improved in the course of 2005.
"Glas javnosti", 10. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: Besides looking after the health of the children in hospitals, more and more often nurses and doctors have to substitute for their young patients' parents. Some parents bring their child for medical treatment and it never sees its home again after that. Only in the last two months, 10 children, mostly babies, were abandoned in the Clinical Center in Kraljevo.
They say at the Mother and Child Institute that parents abandon 5-10 children in this institution per year. It is mostly Roma children, children of destitute parents and single parents' children. "Roma leave their children in hospitals mostly due to their difficult economic situation, because the children are safe and warm in a hospital and they will not be hungry. A motive for abandoning a child can also be uncertain result of the medical treatment", says Dr Radoje Simic of the Mother and Child Institute.
The hospitals keep a child a couple of months, until the social work center completes the necessary procedure and then the child is put up in an orphanage.
"Glas javnosti", 10. 3. 2006.

- BOR: The soup-kitchen reopened in Bor after several months for 200 most vulnerable citizens thanks to the support from the Norwegian Red Cross. The free daily meal consists of 1/2 liter of hot meal and half a loaf of bread.
According to the records of the local Social Work Center, 1.500 citizens of Bor satisfy the criteria for getting the right to a free meal but due to the lack of funds, they have to keep managing on their own.
The interesting thing is that more than 600 families living in Bor are not registered and one of the newcomers doesn't even have a first or a last name. Mostly poor people from the south of Serbia, Kosovo and Macedonia have been moving into the town of Bor.
"Glas javnosti", 10. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: The Human Rights Court in Strasbourg has declared itself unauthorized in the case of Kristina Blecic vs. Croatia. In May of 2000, she filed a law-suit to this Court against the state of Croatia for taking away her tenancy right to an apartment in Zadar.
Mile Dakic, president of the Association of Refugee and Exiled Serbs from Croatia, says that Serbs from Croatia were anxious to hear the Court's decision because it was not just important for Blecic case but also for hundreds of thousands of Serbs who left Croatia during the war and haven't managed to get their properties back to this day.
Dakic says that only in Serbia&Montenegro there are around 142.000 Serb refugees from Croatia, meaning, as he says, that "at least 50.000 housing units" in Croatia have been taken from Serb families.
"Unlike Bosnia&Herzegovina, Croatia hasn't recognized tenancy rights. It is not just an economic right, it is also a form of marketing - that for the people who are left without their apartments and everything in them - there is no alternative, no return. It is equal to ethnic cleansing", Dakic says. "After the decision of the Court in Strasbourg, we wonder if there is anyone in this world authorized to correct the injustice done to us", Dakic says.
"Danas", 10. 3. 2006.

- CACAK: According to the announcements of the local authorities in Cacak, the construction of 96 apartments should start in June as part of the UN Habitat project implemented in 7 municipalities by the Italian Government and Serbia's Ministry of Capital Investments.
"The project is not just aimed to provide housing for refugees but also their local integration. So the second stage of the program is professional training for these people and provision of funds for them to start their own businesses so they could pay the rent and the bills", says the president of Cacak municipality Velimir Stanojevic.
The UN Habitat project includes the construction of a total of 650 apartments in 7 municipalities in Serbia.
"Danas", 9. 3. 2006.

- "Ceku is not against the return of Serbs", Slavisa Petkovic, minister
of return and minorities in the provisional Kosovo government, about Agim Ceku, the new Kosovo Prime Minister.
"Glas javnosti", 11. 3. 2006.

- RANILUG: There are 19 elementary and 7 secondary schools for Serb students in the Morava Valley in Kosovo. All the school buses have protective metal bars on the windows because there have been more than 50 attacks on the school buses in the previous years.
"Glas javnosti", 11. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: Sulejman Selimi called the Sultan, who was appointed commandant of the Kosovo Protection Corps two days ago, is on a wanted notice of Serbia's Ministry of Internal Affairs for terrorism charges, said Danica Marinkovic, public prosecutor of Pristina prosecution office which has been dislocated to central Serbia.
"Blic", 12. 3. 2006.

- KOSOVO: The new Kosovo Prime Minister, Agim Ceku, has said about the war crimes accusations that his "conscience is clear and the accusations are politically motivated".
"Blic", 12. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: Police estimate that around 400 children are living, i.e. working in the streets in Serbia, and more than 200 can be seen in the streets of Belgrade every day.
Begging is the most visible form of abuse of child labor, said recently Slobodan Lalovic, Minster of Work, Employment and Social Policy. Since there are no reliable data on how widely spead this phenomenon is in Serbia, the Ministry of Labor and the Children's Rights Center have engaged a group of experts to analyze the legislation, practice and concrete forms of child labor.
The "Child Labor in Serbia" publication whose authors are Ranka Vujovic, Vesna Dejanovic, Vladan Jovanovic, Ljubomir Pejakovic and Nebojsa Petrovic, is the first investigation into this problem in Serbia and a basis for future actions of the state aimed to reduce child labor. The investigation covered the general population (randomly picked highschool students and adults from Belgrade, Zajecar and Novi Pazar and adult Roma from Belgrade and Pancevo) and children from risk groups (foster children and children from the Roma population in Zemun and Novi Belgrade).
Vesna Dejanovic, coordinator of the Children's Rights Center, points out the alarming fact that every 10th of the questioned people thinks it is normal to engage a child to work even if it interferes with its education. She says that physical labor that brings profit, begging and criminal activities are a reality of a considerable number of Roma children. Poverty and alcoholism of the parents, incomplete families, ignorance and illness of the parents, drug addiction, prostitution and bad relations within the family are what mainly causes the abuse of children's work in the opinion of the questioned people.
"Danas", 22. 3. 2006.

- NIS: In less than two weeks, since the first SOS telephone open for women and children of Roma ethnicity, victims of domestic violence, 11 Roma women and 4 Serb women have called and we have already put one of them into a shelter - says Ana Sacipovic, coordinator of the SOS phone.
"There is an SOS phone in Nis for women and children for a long time now, I was trained there myself, but very few Roma women called. The large number of calls to this new SOS phone shows that this was the right thing to do. However, except for moral support, advice and accommodation, there is very liittle else we can do for the victims of domestic violence. We have appealed for help for our SOS phone to many institutions, but even the city parliament was deaf to our appeals", Ana Sacipovic says.
The volunteers of the SOS phone have been distributing leaflets in Serbian and Roma in the last couple of days.
"Glas javnosti", 14. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: Every 2nd woman in Serbia suffers some kind of psychological abuse and every 3rd woman is a victim of domestic violence - this is the data from the triennial report of the Autonomous Women's Center. In order to stop the violence, the Anti-trafficking Center is starting a campaign "Until the violence stops".
"Our campaign is part of the global V Day campaign aimed to stop violence against women. In a few days our volunteers will go out into the streets and talk to the citizens, distribute flyers and explain what can be done to help the victims of violence", announced Marijana Stojcic, PR manager of the Anti-trafficking Center.
"Glas javnosti", 15. 3. 2006.

- PARACIN: The Roma National Council of Serbia and Montenegro has accepted a project for greater access to preschool education for Roma children, made by the staff of the "Bambi" Daycare and the municipality of Paracin.
"The aim of the project is to enable all-day stay for Roma children in the local daycares in Paracin and in the village of Tresnjevica, in order to facilitate the integration of the Roma population into the society", says Aleksandar Mitrovic, member of the board of the Roma National Council and head of the Council's regional office for central Serbia.
The World Bank and the Budapest based Roma Educational Center will finance the project with around 2.000 euros, and the municipality of Paracin has assigned 1 million dinars for education, employment and infrastructure in the Roma settlements.
There are four Roma settlements in Paracin and one in the village of Tresnjevica. The settlements have a total of around 3.000 inhabitants, most of them unemployed, many have no electricity or running water and many children don't go to school.
"Glas javnosti", 15. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: Under the new Law on health insurance which came into effect on December 10th, the persons excluded from paying the 20 dinar participation are school children aged up to 18, women during pregnancy, child's birth and six months after that, war invalids and civil invalids of war, blind and permanently paralyzed persons and other persons without health insurance (such as unemployed Roma and monks for example).
(participation is a fee paid for each medical examination and for each doctor's recipe -Z.)
The persons who have the right to free medicine are schoolchildren aged up to 18, women during pregnancy, child's birth and six months after that, war invalids, blind and permanently paralyzed persons, diabetic patients and other persons without health insurance.
"Blic", 16. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: According to the decision of the Republic Health Insurance Fund, among the medicines moved from the positive A list to the A1 list (meaning that patients have to pay part of the price-Z.) is also lantus insulin for diabetic patients. The patients have to pay 10% of the price or 574,33 dinars per box. "I need two boxes per month so I need more than 1.000 dinars just for lantus. They have promised us free tapes for measuring blood sugar, but it is just promises, we haven't started getting them yet", says Predrag Zivkovic who has been diabetic for 3 years. A tape costs 20-30 dinars. Diabetic patients also hve to pay 20 dinars for each visit to a doctor and for each recipe.
Only children aged up to 15 with unstable diabetes, pregnant women and persons over 15 with the initial stadium of a kidney disease have the right to an insulin pump injecting insulin directly through a catheter.
In Serbia there is no register of diabetic patients.
"Glas javnosti", 18. 3. 2006.

- PODGORICA: Yesterday police brought charges againt 6 persons of Roma nationality suspected of trying to trade a 9-day-old baby for a used Alfa Romeo. According to unofficial information, the baby's parents have been arrested, the couple who was going to adopt the child and the married couple suspected of helping the "swap". This unusual even took place two days ago in the Vrela Ribnicka settlement, when police inspectors stopped the "illegal adoption and exchange" of a female newborn for a car.
"Glas javnosti", 18. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: Draft law on citizens' associations including NGOs is in a final stage and it should soon be presented to Serbia's Government and then also to the Parliament.
Miljenko Dereta (of the Civic Initiative NGO) who participated in drafting the lawon behalfof the NGO sector, says that the new law should simplify the procedure of founding and registering NGOs, as well as equalize the local and foreign organizations.
"Danas", 18.-19. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: Tuition for foreign students in the 49 advanced schools in Serbia will be 800-1.500 US dollars, and for domestic students - between 22.000 and 93.000 dinars. The advanced schools whose founder is the Republic, will enroll 4.723 freshmen who will be financed from the state budget and 12.672 students who will have to pay the tuition themselves.
"Glas javnosti", 27. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: Three persons were killed and 20 injured in the 110 traffic accidents registered in Serbia the day before yesterday.
"Glas javnosti", 27. 3. 2006.

- KOSOVSKA MITROVICA: Police are conducting an intensive search for the persons who attacked 19-year-old Milisav Ilincic in the northern, Serb section of Mitrovica. He was seriously wounded with a knife.
"Glas javnosti", 30. 3. 2006.

- KURSUMLIJA: Chairman of the Commission on Missing Persons of Serbia and Montenegro, Gvozden Gagic, announced yesterday that all the bodies of Kosovo Albanians exhumed from 3 mass graves in central Serbia will be handed over to UNMIK by the end of June.
"Glas javnosti", 30. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: The new regulations adopted recently by the Republic Health Insurance Fund provides for the first time the possibility of the inclusion into the system of those who have never had health insurance before. The new regulations will solve the problems of farmers, people working on the black market, university students over 26... In order to get a health insurance booklet, you need to pay around 1.400 dinars a month, submit a photocopy of your personal ID card, a receipt of the payment and fill out a form; for your spouse, you also need to submit your wedding certificate; for a child aged under 18, you need to submit a birth certificate and for a child over 18 studying university, you need a certificate of his/her regular schooling - says Vladan Ignjatovic of the Republic Health Insurance Fund.
The Government has granted its consent, so the regulations are already being applied in practice.
They say at the Fund, "All those who had continuous previous employment of 3 months which automatically implies that their health insurance was paid, or those who have been insured for 6 months in the last year and a half but with interruptions, with the above documentation, can get a health insurance booklet immediately".
However, those who do not meet these requirements will have to pay 1.400 dinars for a period of three months. During this time, the Fund will provide them with a receipt for using health insurance only in emergency cases. After this period they will get a health insurance booklet.
The booklets obtained in this way must be certified at a local health insurance fund every 3 months, and the insurance of 1.400 dinars must be paid each month.
"Glas javnosti", 30. 3. 2006.

- SMEDEREVO: Dragan Petrovic (aged 39) and Marina Mulici (aged 41) have lived with their 4 children in a railway car in the Roma settlement of Mali Krivak for two years. When their landlord gave them notice, the local Roma Society helped them and let them move into a freight car used by the Society as club premises.
"We are living in extremely inhuman conditions because we have no water, no electricity, we freeze by night while a half-a-meter layer of ice hangs from the ceiling. The car is leeking, there is no glass on the windows, mice and rats crawl all the time. They are all over the place by night and they bite the children, so they are too afraid to sleep", Dragan Petrovic says. He worked in the local "Jugovo" company for 17 years and he has been unemployed for 8 years. He does seasonal jobs from time to time, which is getting harder and harder for him because he has a kidney condition.
The eldest child, 15-year-old Muhamed goes to a special school, 12-year-old Sasa and 11-year-old Sunita go to a regular school and 8-year-old Suhrita hasn't been enrolled in school because her parents can't afford it.
"Our children are full of lice so the school often sends them back home, because we don't have basic hygienic conditions for them. I bring water from a neighbour", Marina Petrovic says. She claims that the children have become sick due to the living conditions, but she and her husband can't afford the medical treatment. "Sunita has a glands condition and she needs a surgery. She fainted twice recently and after that she received 55 injections. Muhamed should also be operated because his sight is bad and it is getting worse all the time", says Marina who is also in poor health suffering from heart and kidney condition.
"We receive child allowance for three of the children, and public assistance allowance is 6.000 dinars, which is insuffient for the basic necessities. In order to survive, we eat food waste from garbage containers, and the children sometimes beg because they are hungry. The worst of all is that we have to move out of the car by April 10th, because the Roma Society wants to adapt the premises for folk dance practice. It means that in two weeks we have to go out into the street with our children or into the Danube", Dragan says.
"Now our hope is the new president of the municipality Sasa Radosavljevic, who has visited us and promised to help us get a roof over our heads", Dragan says.
"There are no free books for our three children who go to school, or free school materials or snack, we have to buy all that ourselves. I recently took Muhamed and went to the Social Work Center to complain about the way we live, because I got desperate, but they didn't want to help us. They threw us out instead", Marina says.
"Glas javnosti", 28. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: At the presentation of the book "EU visa regime towards western Balcans countries: Generations in isolation", it was said that 56% of Serbia&Montenegro citizens don't have a passport, and 54% of people aged up to 25 have never been in any of the European countries, excluding former Yugoslav republics.
"Glas javnosti", 29. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: According to the calculations of the Ministry of Trade, the average Serbia's citizen drinks one glass of beer a month, one glass of mineral water a week and uses 8 leafs of toilet paper a day; one potato a day is enough for the average Serbia's citizen, 3 grams of shampoo and 4 grams of soap, and the Ministry's statisticians estimate that the average Serbia's citizen does not eat more than 150 grams of bread per day; they suggest 2,5 kg of apples and 3-4 bananas per person per month. With such parameters, it is clear how the authorities came to the conclusion that one average salary is enough for all the monthly costs for a family of four, although it is obvious that in most households not even two average salaries would be sufficient. Namely, according to official statistics, the living costs for a family of four in December were 24.680 dinars, and the average salary was 22.000 dinars.
The Ministry's estimate of the average living costs for a family of four include clothes and shoes, whereas minimal living costs do not include these items.
According to the latest official statistics, the average salary in February was 19.567 dinars, which is more than January but it is still less by 2.500 dinars than December 2005.
"Glas javnosti", 23. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: During the 78 days of the NATO bombardment of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999, around 2.000 civilians were killed (among them 20 children) and 1.002 members of the Yugoslav army and police force.
During the bombardment, the NATO officials usually referred to the civilian casualties as "collateral damage".
"Glas javnosti", 24. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: For 7 years now, refugees have been living in Grmovac, settlement in Zemun municipality near Belgrade, next to the motorway. The settlement has no electricity, no water, no sewage system or asphalt road.
"Seselj sold us these parcels of land for 3.600 German marks each. That is not expensive. The disabled and the priests got the land for free and the part planned for a cemetery was also split into parcels and sold so now when someone in Grmovac dies, they bury him in the cemetery in Bezanijska Kosa", says Gojko Skrbic, refugee from Sanski Most.
The water well is 200 meters away. Near the 8-meter-deep well is a septic tank. To one of the refugees living in the settlement, Ljubo from Knin, it doesn't look safe, but he still drinks the water. He has to. He gets thursty. He says, "We will poison ourselves with this water. I never took it for a chemical test. I won't dare drink it once I see what's in it".
The electric poles were set up a long time ago but when the electric stations were to be installed, there was no more money left. The first electric station was installed a week ago. There will be a dozen more so there will probably be enough electricity for everyone in the settlement.
The municipality of Zemun has provided a van for the children so they don't have to walk 10 kilometers to school. Things seem to get better. Only water, asphalt and sewage system are yet to be installed.
"Glas javnosti", 31. 3. 2006.

- BELGRADE: Between 7% and 17% of Roma children are not included in the obligatory elementary education, and 72% don't finish elementary school - these are the results of a study by "Save the Children" and the Belgrade based Children's Rights Center.
At yesterday's presentation of the publication "More than an Unofficial Estimate - Situation of Roma Children in Serbia", Vesna Dejanovic, coordinator of the Children's Rights Center press sector, presented the results of the study of the situation of Roma children, based on a poll conducted among 630 Roma families in Belgrade, Subotica, Vranje, Kragujevac and Nis.
She said that the number of Roma children who start elementary school is reduced four times by the end of the last grade, because most Roma children abandon school and it has to do with the education level of the parents and place of residence.
Aleksandar Turoman, coordinator of Save the Children's develpment program in Serbia and Montenegro, said that Roma children are the most vulnerable in Serbia when it comes to education. The level of education among Roma children is low so Save the Children has launched a project of inclusive education because it is "a way for their full access to all services". He stressed that it was necessery to improve the methodology for gathering information on the number of Roma in Serbia and their situation.
Dejanovic said that the system of registration of the Roma population was not "economic and transparent" and in these terms, the most closed systems are health care, municipal services and judicial authorities. She also found alarming the fact that 8% of the Roma children in Serbia are not covered with immunization, whereas the children in 9% of the Roma families don't have medical-care booklet.
Six Roma organizations also took part in this research, conducted from July 2005 to March 2006.
"Glas javnosti", 31. 3. 2006.

Från: zorica@landerkommitten.p.se
Ämne: news report (March 31)
Datum: söndag 9 apr 2006 13.18.53 GMT+02:00
Till: emstedt@telia.com, lena@landerkommitten.p.se

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