- NIS: Tuberculosis tests for Roma children in Crveni Krst Municipality in Nis show that 5 of the 365 children have been in contact with the disease, so both they and members of their families have been referred to the Lung Diseases Institute in Nis for further tests. The program was organized as part of the project of the Ministry of Health, implemented by the Lung Disease Institute, the Red Cross of Nis, the municipalities of Palilula and Crveni Krst, and the Roma NGOs.
"Glas javnosti", 6. 10. 2006.

- SOMBOR: Sombor Municipality has started a program of support for Roma. Citizens associations and the NGO sector can submit their projects in order to apply for funds. The program is intended for the improvement of Roma's education and each project should not be worth more than 5.000 euros. The funds for the project, totaling 18.700 euros, are provided by OSCE. The priority in obtaining the grants is reserved for Roma NGOs from the territory of Sombor Municipality.
"Danas", 7.-8. 10. 2006.

- ZRENJANIN: The Office for Providing Free Legal Aid in Zrenjanin has started free legal representation for citizens from socially vulnerable categories - public assistance allowance (MOP) beneficiaries; employed persons and pensioners whose incomes don't exceed half the average salary in the municipality; unemployed persons, single parents, victims of domestic violence, underage persons and persons under foster care. Jovan Sekelj, coordinator of the Office, says that all the refugees and IDPs with residence on the territory of Zrenjanin also have the right to free legal representation.
"Danas", 4. 10. 2006.

- NIS: In Serbia there is systematic discrimination against Roma, Osman Balic warned yesterday. He is a member of the Government's Secretariat for Implementation of the Roma Strategy.
"If 1 out of 100 Roma lives to be 60 years old, then it is a consequence of a systematic, hidden institutional discrimination. If Serbia's Government has projects for protection of rare animal species, then there must also be a project for Roma, who are brought to the verge of biological existence", Balic said at a round table on the Roma Decade. He said that the unemployment rate among Roma is 7 times as high as the majority population, and that there are very few Roma in important positions, which is "the measure of how democratic a government is".
Petar Antic of the Minority Rights Center said that Serbia's Government had adopted 4 action plans for solving the situation of the Roma, but very little has been done this year on the implementation of these plans.
"Danas", 3. 10. 2006.

- BELGRADE: Last year the number of people who were born in Serbia was smaller by 35.000 than the number of people who died, said Ivan Ivic yesterday, president of the Friends of Children of Serbia Association at yesterday's opening of the Children's Week.
"Danas", 3. 10. 2006.

- ZAGREB: Croatian police have arrested a 39-year-old citizen of Slovenia and a 40-year-old citizen of Croatia for trying to smuggle 4 citizens of Serbia (one of them underage) across the Croatia-Slovenia border. All six persons are in police custody.
"Glas javnosti", 10. 10. 2006.
 
- BELGRADE: Disabled persons in Serbia live in very bad conditions, they have low incomes and high living costs, and they are the most discriminated-against group when it comes to education and employment, this was said yesterday in the Serbian Government. Vesna Piperski-Tucakov, state secretary in the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Policy, said that the treatment of disabled persons "is no longer a matter of social policy, it is a matter of respect for human rights". As of the beginning of next year, when the Law on prevention of discrimination against disabled persons comes into effect, local self-governments will have an obligation to enable to disabled persons access to means of transportation, physical environment and public facilities.
"Glas javnosti", 10. 10. 2006.
 
- BELGRADE: "Every year a town with a population of 30.000 disappears in Serbia. There are no more children in the villages, in many of the villages there is only 1 birth to 16 funerals", says Dr Marko Mladenovic, president of the "Survival" Citizens Association.
According to the Statistics Institute, only in 10 of the 161 municipalities in Serbia proper, the number of newly born children is higher than the number of the persons who die. Those municipalities are Grocka, Arandjelovac, Kragujevac, Prijepolje, Sjenica, Novi Pazar, Tutin, Vranje, Bujanovac and Presevo.
"Glas javnosti", 11. 10. 2006.
 
- BUJANOVAC: The Red Cross of Bujanovac is no longer preparing meals for the 600 most vulnerable soup-kitchen beneficiaries because the three-month contract for the supply of free foodstuffs between the local Red Cross and the Government of Serbia has expired.
The Red Cross of Bujanovac was distributing free food for the most vulnerable citizens 26 days a month. 
The soup-kitchen in Bujanovac was set up in 1999 and since then it stopped working and started working again several times, depending on the donations.
"Glas javnosti"< 12. 10. 2006.
 
- NIS: The Municipal Court in Nis has sentenced Ahmet Berisa (aged 56) to 8 months imprisonment for inflicting severe injuries on a 5-year-old boy during the ritual of circumcision. The boy's parents did not join his legal persecution. The ritual was held on August 27th.
"Glas javnosti", 12. 10. 2006.
 
- BELGRADE: Former assistant minister of human and minority rights of Serbia&Montenegro, Jelena Markovic, says that the provisions in the new Serbia's constitution regarding ethnic minority rights are completely satisfactory.
"Glas javnosti", 15. 10. 2006.
 
- BOR: Although 12 days ago they sent a request to the customs office in Subotica, the representatives of the Red Cross of Bavaria (Germany) had to pay more than 400 euros in road fee for the vehicles carrying more than 36 tonnes of humanitarian aid for the destitute children and for the hospital and schools in Bor.
"This was the second time the Germans came to Bor in the last 4 months and brought shoes and clothes, toys, home appliances and hospital beds. They told us that similar convoys are charged nowhere else in the world and they even paid 29 euros for every stop they made on the highway", said Jasmina Huber, president of the "Weifert" Citizens' Association and the host for the Red Cross of Bavaria.
"Glas javnosti", 15. 10. 2006.
 
- MERDARE: UNMIK has handed over the remains of 29 Serbs and non-Albanians to their families on the administration border between Kosovo and Serbia. Most of them were exhumed last year from the mass grave in Volujak near Malisevo. They are believed to have been kidnapped in 1998 and 1999 in the villlages of Opterusa and Retimlje in Orahovac Municipality and then most of them were killed from fire arms and then buried in the mass grave. The remaining 7 bodies were found on various locations in Kosovo.
"Glas javnosti", 14. 10. 2006.
 
- BANJALUKA: On the list of 5.515 names of Serbs killed in Sarajevo during the war between 1992 and 1995, more than 70% are civilians, said the president of the Prisoners of War Association, Branislav Dukic, at the presentation of the book containing the names of the Sarajevo victims, SRNA news agency reports.
"Glas javnosti", 14. 10. 2006.
 
- BELGRADE: Croatian President Stjepan Mesic decorated Natasa Kandic, director of the Belgrade based Humanitarian Law Fund, with the Decoration of Danica Hrvatska, Croatian "Nezavisne novine" daily newspaper reported on October 10th.
It says in the President's explanation that the decoration is awarded "for the merits in promoting moral and social values through the participation in numerous humanitarian activities".
"Danas", 13. 10. 2006.
 
- NIS: Police have arrested two minors of Roma nationality for stealing copper drainpipes on the Sinagogue located in the center of Nis, the local police department announced yesterday. This was the second attempt in the last 30 days of stealing the drainpipes on the Jewish temple.
"Danas", 11. 10. 2006.
 
- SOMBOR: According to the records of the Forum of Romas, there are around 2.000 Roma living in Sombor Municipality; 206 Roma children are going to elementary school at the moment.
The OSCE has provided 18.700 euros for the support programs for the Roma.
"Danas", 11. 10. 2006.
 
- PODGORICA: The number of mobile phone users in Montenegro is larger by 27,6% than the number of Montenegro's inhabitants, announced the Montenegran Telecommunications Agency.
"Danas", 16. 10. 2006.

- BELGRADE: Yesterday the Roma families from the Kablar settlement in the Belgrade municipality of Ripanj protested again over their bad living conditions outside the City Hall.
Around 70 people live in the settelement which was cut from electric supplies recently and these people have to drink bad quality water from a well situated where sewage matter flows down, so many of the inhabitants of Kablar suffer from hepatitis, tuberculosis, scabs.. The Roma moved into the two barracks of the Kraljevo based "Kablar" Road Construction Company 8 years ago. Today the barracks are in a terrible condition.
"The barracks are so dilapidated that they don't provide minimum living conditions. There is moist on the floors and on the ceilings. We have no electricity but we are not asking for electricity anyway. All we need is water because almost all of us suffer from some disease due to bad quality water that we have been drinking. It is particularly difficult for the children. None of us is employed and we get food from garbage containers. We had asked the president of Vozdovac Municipality to get us a cistern of water once a week at least but nothing has happened", says Milovan Stojanovski. He says that they have turned to NGOs, as well as Roma associations, but no one wanted to help.
Biljana Trisic, one of the inhabitants of the settlement, says that she has got three children and all three of them are of poor health due to bad living conditions. "Everyone runs away from us when they hear that we are from Kablar, whether we are on a bus, in a shop or in school. Our situation is very difficult but no one takes no notice of it. So until someone speaks to us and promises to help us, we are not leaving here", Biljana Trisic says.
The exact number of the Roma in Serbia is unknown. Estimates vary from 150.000 to 800.000. Most Roma are poor, although there are those among them who are extremely rich but they don't pay any attention to their people. As many as 98% of the Roma women are unemployed and 68% of the Roma have no permanent employment.
In Vojvodina there are 29.057 registered Roma so they make up 1,43% of Vojvodina's population. It is believed though that the actual number is much larger because many Roma still declare as Serbs, Romanians, Hungarians, depending on the language they speak.
"More than half the Roma children don't enroll in elementary school at all and very few complete their education. Roma children are discriminated against in schools also, normally school children sit in pairs in the classroom and Roma children often sit alone, during the breaks they play in remote corners of the schoolyard, teachers often give them lower grades than they really deserve. Because of their bad knowledge of Serbian, Roma children are often sent to special schools and it marks them for the rest of their life. The children leave school after 3rd or 4th grade of elementary school and start to help their parents to support the family. They collect scrap paper, wash cars etc.", says the sociologist Prof.Dr. Bozidar Jaksic. He thinks that discrimination is part of everyday life of the Roma in all the countries and that discrimination in Serbia is less than elsewhere in the world.
In order to overcome the prejudice against Roma, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, in collaboration with the French Cultural Center in Belgrade, has organized a cultural manifestation named "Life and Culture of the Roma in Serbia" to be held between October 20 and November 18. Among other things, three films by Roma authors will be presented.
"Glas javnosti", 17. 10. 2006.

- BELGRADE; Every 14th citizen of Serbia lives below the poverty line but the proportion of destitute rural population is twice as much, said Rene Clark UNDP representative to Serbia, at a convention "From poverty to prosperity" held on the occasion of the World Day of Anti-poverty Struggle. According to Clark, 70% of persons with disabilities live on the verge of poverty and only 13% manage to get a job.
Snezana Stojanovic-Plavsic, president of the Commission on Anti-poverty Struggle, says that poverty in Serbia has decreased significantly in the last couple of years so today 9,8% of the population is poor.
"Glas javnosti", 18. 10. 2006.

- GORNJI MILANOVAC: The "Swisslion" company in Gornji Milanovac was looking for people to pick potatoes on a 10-hectare field, but only 5 unemployed persons applied for the job although there are 5.000 registered unemployed persons in the local Employment Bureau. "We pay 1,4 dinars for each kilogram of potatoes. We had no other choice but leave everything and go to the field and pick around 30 tons of potatoes", said Petar Pantovic, director of the "Agriculture" working unit of the "Swisslion" company.
"Glas javnosti", 18. 10. 2006.

- BELGRADE: Members of the New Union of the Medical Staff of Serbia and the Non-medical Staff Union demanded yesterday from the ministers of health care and finances to engage in a true social dialogue, in order to improve the social-economic situation of the employed in the medical services. They reminded that a nurse's monthly salary is 18.000-21.000 dinars, a doctor - 31.000 dinars, a specialist doctor - 36.000 dinars, and the salaries of non-medical staff are under 12.000 dinars.
"Glas javnosti", 19. 10. 2006.

- GENEVA: The latest UNICEF report says that around 700.000 or 1/3 of the two million Serbia's children and youth aged up to 18 - live in deep poverty. They don't live in dry and warm apartments, they don't breathe fresh air, they don't drink clean water, they don't regularly eat fresh food full of vitamins and minerals, they don't have thick jackets and shoes to protect them from the cold, they don't have access to fast healing medicines when they are ill, they don't go to daycare, they can't afford to pay for daily snacks in the school canteen, they abandon school...
"Glas javnosti", 20. 10. 2006.

- UZICE: The Red Cross in Uzice will join the marking of the World Food Day on October 17th. The local soup-kitchen prepares food for the 250 poorest citizens of Uzice. The Red Cross has appealed to the public to, according to their economic situation, give fruit and vegetables to the soup-kitchen and they will be distributed to the soup-kitchen beneficiaries today.
"Danas", 17. 10. 2006.

- BELGRADE: 34.493 persons have died and 458.950 have been injured in traffic accidents in Serbia since 1980, announced the members of the expert group who have drafted a new law on traffic safety.
"Danas", 17. 10. 2006.

- BELGRADE: A research conducted in June by the Center for Information Technology Studies (CEPIT) shows that 24,2% of Serbia's population aged over 15 uses the internet.
Almost half the surveyed persons who don't use the internet say they don't need it; 24,9% say they don't know how to use a computer and 23,3% say they can't afford to use the internet. More than half the internet nonusers (52,1%) say they have no intention of using the internet in the future, particularly in the population aged over 50.
"Danas", 17. 10. 2006.

- BELGRADE: The staff of the "Braca Stamenkovic" Elementary School for Adult Education has been trying for years to provide basic working conditions. The students are aged between 10 and 40, most of them are Roma, they go to classes organized in the elementary schools in Belgrade that show good will for it. The School has 484 students at the moment. The classes are organized in three locations - in Vojvode Milenka Street and in the elementary schools of "Vasa Pelagic" and "Rade Drainac".
"Danas", 20. 10. 2006.

- BELGRADE: The Serbian low-cost "Centavija" airways will introduce a regular service to Podgorica and Zagreb on October 25th. The price for the ticket will be 9 euros. "Centavija" also plans to introduce regular services to a number of major European cities.
"Blic", 17. 10. 2006.

- NOVI SAD: Parents in Vojvodina get one-time cash aid of 30.000 dinars for their firstborn child.
The mayor of Novi Sad has passed a decision that parent allowance for firstborn child is to be increased from 10.000 dinars to 15.000 dinars a month for the children born as of November 1st.
"Danas", 20. 10. 2006.

- BELGRADE: More than half the unemployed persons in Serbia are young people and 1/5 of the unemployed are working as unregistered labor in the gray zone. More than 400.000 young people have emigrated, among them 30.000 experts in various fields.
Researches show that more than half the population under 30 would leave Serbia as soon as they had a chance and 65% doesn't believe the state will do anything over the next two years to improve their situation.
"Glas javnosti", 23. 10. 2006.

- SANSKI MOST: The Returnees Association in Sanski Most in the Federation of Bosnia&Herzegovina warns that more than 3.000 Serbs have gone into exile again, only this time they don't intend to return any more, due to difficult living conditions and because they are deprived of their rights, TANJUG news agency reports.
"Serb returnees are selling their properties at bargain prices and they are going back into exile to Republika Srpska or Serbia because they have no possibilities here for survival due to the discriminatory attitude of the Bosniak authorities", the Association has announced.
Around 5.500 Serbs returned from exile to Sanski Most 5 years ago.
The Association has also stated that the local Bosniak authorities direct all the funds from the budget and from international donations to the reconstruction of the infrastructure in Bosniak settlements.
"Glas javnosti", 23. 10. 2006.

- KULA: The sheep flocks owners in Sivac, in Kula Municipality, are looking in vain for shepherds although they pay 50.000 dinars in wages per month. The job offer is still open at the local Employment Bureau but no one has applied yet. It seems like no one needs the high amount of money paid for sheep herding.
"Glas javnosti", 20. 10. 2006.

- BELGRADE: As a consequence of social disintegration, the number of multigeneration families in Serbia has increased drastically in the last ten years and in this respect the country has returned to the beginning of 20th century, said the sociologist Vesna Miletic-Stepanovic. But "unlike the beginning of 20th century, when such families were predominant in the rural areas, now their number is almost the same in the urban areas", she says.
According to a research conducted in 2003 by the Institute for Social Studies, more than 25% of the families in Serbia are multigeneration families, which is a consequence of high poverty and unemployment rate. The research showed that life in a multigeneration family has a particularly negative impact on women and children.
"Glas javnosti", 22. 10. 2006.

- BELGRADE: Unemployed persons and housewives are still the social categories which are exposed to poverty the most, showed a research by the Institute for Social Studies.
"Glas javnosti", 24. 10. 2006.

- NOVI SAD: Police have arrested Lazar D. (aged 39) from Srbobran suspected of trying to kill his neighbor Dusan N. (aged 43) with a metal spear. The police statement says that the two of them started quarreling yesterday outside the suspect's house who then went into the house, took a metal spear and stabbed Dusan N. in the chest. Dusan N. sustained severe injuries and was held in the Medical Center in Vrbas for treatment.
"Glas javnosti", 24. 10. 2006.

- CACAK: According to the official records of the local Employment Bureau in Cacak, there are nearly 17.000 unemployed persons in Cacak municipality and around 3.000 persons are registered as employed but they haven't received any salaries in months. The Municipality is in 87th place in the Republic when it comes to the average monthly salary.
"Danas", 21.-22. 10. 2006.

- BELGRADE: 54 Roma assistants will start working in schools and preschools in at least 20 towns in Serbia in the second semester. Their task will be to keep the Roma children in the education system as long as possible, to stimulate and encourage them, to assist the classes and supervise their progress - this was announced at yesterday's press conference.
The Roma assistant pilot project is financed by the European Agency for Development and Reconstruction and it will be implemented in 46 schools.
Ljuan Koka, president of the Secretariat for Roma National Strategy, said that very few Roma children are included in the education system and this project will correct this. He said that "in the magical circle of poverty, education is the most important".
"Danas", 25. 10. 2006.

- NOVI PAZAR: The Municipal Court in Novi Pazar has passed a decision recently that the state of Serbia, i.e. the Defense Ministry, is to pay around 13,5 million dinars in pain and suffering damages to the relatives of five civilians killed in 1999, when Novi Pazar was bombed by the NATO. The Court based its decision on the Obligations Law which prescribes for the damages resulted from casualties caused by violence and terror to be compensated by the state whose agencies had an obligation to prevent such damages.
The law suit was filed by the relatives of 5 of the 11 civilians who got killed when an apartment building in the center of Novi Pazar was bombed on May 31st, 1999.
"Glas javnosti", 26. 10. 2006.

- BELGRADE: The lack of personal documents and the lack of motivation among the Roma population and also the inconsistency of the inspection authorities allowing the Roma to sell things on the street, are the main problems when it comes to this population's employment - this is what the representatives of some of the Roma NGOs believe, who gathered yesterday at a round table on "The employment of the Roma - where to go from here?"
Nenad Vladisavljev of the Roma Students Association of Novi Sad thinks that the Roma population is especially affected by high unemployment due to the lack of documents required for legal employment and the Roma from Kosovo have difficulties communicating with the employers because of their bad Serbian.
"The inspection authorities are not doing a good job so the Roma are not motivated to look for a job and they are allowed to work in the gray economy and on the street", Vladisavljev said.
There is an ongoing project, whose implementation started a year ago and which is financially supported by the European Agency for Reconstruction. It is aimed at stimulating the Roma to actively involve in job search. Also, as part of the project, special centers have been set up to maintain daily contact with the National Employment Service and with potential employers.
"Glas javnosti", 26. 10. 2006.

- PRESEVO: Since October 1st, the joint experts team of the "Vinca" Institute and the Atomic, Biological and Chemical Weapons Department of the Army of Serbia have found 52 projectiles with depleted uranium in Reljan near Presevo which was bombed by the NATO in 1999. The Government has provided 27,5 million dinars for the decontamination of the location.
"Glas javnosti", 26. 10. 2006.

- BELGRADE: Savo Strbac, director of the "Veritas", has said for the TANJUG news agency that Croatia's Commission on Missing Persons has exhumed the remains of 59 persons from a grave in Zitnik near Gospic and that 49 of them are Serbs from Lika who were killed during the operation "Storm" on August 5th, 1995. It is believed that the other 10 victims were killed before this date.
Strbac says that all 49 bodies were buried in graves marked with the letters "NN" ("identity unknown" -Z.). The samples from the 49 bodies have been sent to Zagreb for DNA analyses.
Strbac says that "Veritas" still has around 2.500 Serbs on its missing persons list, of which around 500 are from the area of Lika.
"Glas javnosti", 28. 10. 2006.

- KRUSEVAC: The OSCE and Krusevac Municipality will finance projects aimed to improve the situation of the Roma. The OSCE has provided 18.700 euros and Krusevac Municipality has provided another 10% of the amount.
NGOs and legal persons can submit their projects until the end of November. The projects have to be related with education, employment, health care and housing of the Roma.
According to the 2002 census, there are 1.746 Roma living in Krusevac.
"Danas", 28.-29. 10. 2006.


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