Contribution to the Serbia 2022 Annual Report
The Network of Organizations for Children of Serbia (MODS)
The progress achieved in the field of child rights and the state of vulnerable children
The Network of Organizations for Children of Serbia (MODS) points out that the child’s rights still do not take a high place among the Government priorities. Serbia still lacks essential strategic documents on child’s rights and coordination of activities and measures to protect and realize child’s rights.
The process of adopting the required legislation has been slow. We want to stress that there has been no progress regarding adopting the Bill on the Child’s Rights. Also, there was no progress in developing The Strategic Plan for the Realization of the Child’s Rights, which should serve as a state policy framework with clear priorities. The previous National Action Plan for Children expired in 2015. Also, even the Strategy for Prevention and Protection of Children from Violence was adopted in 2020. and that Strategy envisages the establishment of a Working Group for the implementation and monitoring of the Strategy, which, besides representatives of relevant ministries and state bodies, should also include representatives of civil society organizations for children. Unfortunately, however, the establishment of the Working Group did not take place.
Regarding The Child Rights Council, on July 21, 2021, the constitutive session was held, at which new members of the Council were appointed with a mandate until March 31, 2022. Until April 2022 two sessions were held but without concrete results. We must point out that the Council for the Rights of the Child was without adequate financial and human resources for effective monitoring of the implementation of action plans and strategies for child’s rights.
On February 10, 2022, The Government of The Republic of Serbia adopted a new General Protocol for the Protection of Children from Violence, drafted by a Working group formed by the Ministry of Family Care and Demography. The General Protocol recommends other entities whose activities include working with children to adopt special protocols to improve systemic and institutional responses to violence against children, following the principles and objectives of the General Protocol for the Protection of Children from Violence.
Also, in 2022, the Strategy for deinstitutionalization and development of social protection services for the period 2022-2026 has been adopted.
The Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans’ Affairs and Social Affairs has prepared a draft of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Social Protection, but it has not been adopted yet. The MODS gave numerous objections to the draft, which is essential for realizing child’s rights. Furthermore, the Social Protection Strategy has not yet been adopted. Deadlines for the implementation of these measures expired at the end of 2020.
Therefore, there has been no major progress in social protection and the deinstitutionalization process.
The national document which directly should address the challenges of social inclusion and poverty reduction – the Economic Reform Programme 2022-2024, was adopted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia on January 20, 2022. but there is a lack of STRUCTURAL REFORM in the field of SOCIAL PROTECTION AND INCLUSION. This gap is visible mainly in the absence of measures and activities related to increasing the coverage and adequacy of social benefits and improving the quality of social protection. Thus, it is of the utmost importance to establish and expand the reform by introducing measures that will directly contribute to the improvement of the situation of the poorest and most vulnerable categories in the country.
The full document is available at the following link.