|
The Helsinki Committee received several complaints
from Serbian citizens of Albanian ethnicity who are unable to
register because the "system" discards them. Actually, it is about
the fact that all "passivated" Albanians (which the Helsinki
Committee for human rights reported three years ago) thereby lose
all civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Serbia.
The Law on the Census of Population, Households
and Dwellings in 2022, which was adopted by the National Assembly on
April 7, 2021, does not include passivated domestic citizens.
Namely, Article 4 of the Law stipulates that the
Census includes only persons who have residence/stay in Serbia, as
well as permanently resident foreigners or persons who have been
granted temporary residence in Serbia.
As the subject of the Census the Law foresees
apartments and inhabited premises but, paradoxically, not
necessarily their owners - even if they are citizens of the Republic
of Serbia.
Such a solution, apart from the fact that in the
given context it seems at least questionable, does not take into
consideration the fact that in the municipalities in the south of
Serbia with an Albanian population, the systematic passivization of
residences of persons of Albanian ethnicity was carried out. In this
sense, it can even be interpreted as an effort to convalidate
current situation by such a Census, which would set another obstacle
to these persons in exercising a wide range of rights guaranteed by
the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, for which it is
necessary to have a registered residence in Serbia.
For the mechanism of passivization itself, it
seems that the misuse of the legislative provisions dealing with
that matter in the Law on Residence and Stay of Citizens is of key
importance. Specifically, Article 11, paragraph 1 of the Law sets an
unreasonably wide circle of persons who are actively legitimized for
initiating the passivization procedure.
Particular point of interest is the fact that the
competent authority is obliged to determine the place of residence
of passivated persons in accordance with the provisions of the Law,
which stipulates "property right to real estate/apartment" as one of
the main basis for registering the place of residence.
The Helsinki Committee urges to find an
institutional solution to resolve this unsustainable situation, as
soon as possible, in a way that would be most suitable for a country
that is a candidate for full EU membership.
The report of the Helsinki Committee can be found
at the link:
https://www.helsinki.org.rs/serbian/doc/izvestaj presevo srb.pdf
https://www.helsinki.org.rs/doc/izvestaj presevo eng.pdf
|
