The Deputy Protector of Citizens for children's rights, Jelena Stojanović, stated that it is necessary to further improve the protection of children and families in the area of social policy, first of all through changes to valid normative acts, professional trainings and an increase in the number of employees in centres for social work, but also through a change of image of these centres among the public.

“In the first place, amendments to the Family Law are needed to make it impossible for persons over 16 to marry with the approval of the court. Also, the Law on Public Order and Peace should be amended, which currently does not exclude the responsibility of a child for participating in begging and does not recognize the status of a child as a victim involved in these activities”, stated Stojanović at the conference “Festival of Rights and Social Protection 2023” in Leskovac.

At the gathering, organized by the Social Protection Chamber and the Association of Lawyers in Social Protection “Argument”, Stojanović stated that the restrictions on employment in centres for social work that were in force, the failure to establish all centres for family accommodation and adoption at full capacity, the absence of social health institutions and uneven financing of personal companion services, all had negative consequences on the provision of services to families and children.

Another challenge in realizing children's rights is the insufficient number of professional workers in centres for social work, which is a consequence of the employment ban that was valid until recently, as well as the outflow of professional staff, while at the same time, the number of activities and beneficiaries of services on various grounds is increasing, Stojanović said, adding that this kind of situation affects the behavior of employees, but also the omissions that occur in procedures that reach the Protector of Citizens.

“Regulations on employment restrictions have had a negative impact on the development and availability of services in the field of social protection, when it comes to children. We have also determined that workers in social protection need to be provided with appropriate training to strengthen the professional capacities of institutions and professionals in social protection”, said Stojanović and reminded that after the recommendation of the Protector of Citizens, at the beginning of 2021, the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs secured the consent of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the employment of 187 new professional workers.

The Deputy Protector of Citizens also stated that the media image of social protection institutions is unfavourable and that citizens often do not trust them, especially when there is no reaction from the centres in cases that receive the attention of the media, and that they need to improve trust in them with their work and communication with the public.

“A few years ago, a case arrived at the Protector of Citizens which received huge attention in the media. The media influenced the public opinion, which led to an increased pressure of the public on the competent institutions, even though that same public was not fully aware of the situation. The media, by reporting on this case on a daily basis, influenced the creation of the public opinion towards the work of social welfare institutions, and created a negative attitude towards foster care, which is seen as a way of earning money and not as a form of care for the child, which occurs in extreme situations, when the child is at risk", Stojanović said.

Stojanović announced that the Protector of Citizens will continue to continuously and with great attention monitor the work of all competent state bodies and institutions responsible for the protection of children's rights and will urgently react to all their failures in their work with the aim of providing children with the highest degree of protection of their rights and interests.

Based on information from the media that a two-year-old girl from a village near Zaječar died after being beaten by her mother's common-law husband, the Protector of Citizens launched investigations to control the legality and regularity of work of competent state authorities.

The Centre for Social Work Zaječar should inform the Protector of Citizens within 15 days whether even before the tragic event, there were reports or knowledge of domestic violence in the family of the deceased girl or child neglect by the mother, as well as all about the facts and circumstances of this case.

Also, the Protector of Citizens requested the Ministry of Family Welfare and Demography to supervise the professional work of the Zaječar Centre for Social Work, and inform the Protector of Citizens within 15 days if there were any omissions in the work of the centre in the procedures related to the girl's family, and especially when it comes to the actions of guardianship authorities in protecting the child from violence, abuse and neglect.

The Protector of Citizens asked the Health Centre in Zaječar to inform him within 15 days whether, regarding the health status of the child, signs of violence or parental neglect were observed or reported by the centre's health care workers, who have provided health care to the girl until now.

Furthermore, it is necessary for the Ministry of Interior to inform the Protector of Citizens whether, even before the tragic event, the competent authorities of the MoI had knowledge or received reports of violence or child neglect in the family where the girl lived, as well as about all the police activities undertaken after the tragic event.

On the World Day of Social Justice, on 20 February, Deputy Protector of Citizens Nataša Tanjević, PhD, participated in a social dialogue entitled "Homelessness – solving the issue of personal documents on the way to social inclusion". The dialogue was organized by the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, in cooperation with the City Secretariat for Social Protection of the City of Belgrade.

Tanjević, PhD, in her opening presentation, pointed to specific examples from the work practice of the institution of the Protector of Citizens, that is, the activities undertaken by that body in order to protect the rights of complainants related to the issue of solving personal documents of persons in a situation of homelessness. She also reminded that last year, the third Memorandum of Understanding was signed on the continuation of cooperation between the Protector of Citizens, the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and the UNHCR, on the eradication of statelessness in Serbia.

In the second part of the presentation, the Deputy Protector of Citizens drew attention to the problems faced by ex-convicts after being released from prison, among which is the resolution of the issue of personal documents, which ensures the basic right to the functioning of every member of society.

On the occasion of the rape of a girl in the vicinity of Plandište, the Protector of Citizens asked the Centre for the Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking for information on the handling of this case, and launched an own-initiative investigation to control the legality and regularity of work of the Centre for Social Work Plandište and the Ministry of Interior.

The Protector of Citizens, based on information from the media that the father and son paid a sum of money to the girl's family after the proposal, that she tried to escape on the way to their house, that the two of them caught her and raped her alternately in their house, requested the Centre for the Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking to inform the Protector of Citizens within 15 days about the activities it undertook in this case.

The Protector of Citizens asked the CSW Plandište to inform him within the same period whether the families of the abusers as well as the victim are on their records, whether there were previous reports of violence and whether they were considered by the Coordination and Cooperation Group, as well as what actions has the centre taken, in cooperation with other authorities, upon possible reports of violence.

The Protector of Citizens asked the MoI to submit to him a report within 15 days on the actions taken in this case, but also on any previous reports of violence in the family of the abusers and the family of the victim, as well as the actions taken in cooperation with other competent authorities, in order to provide adequate protection to possible victims of violence.