Withdrawal of Antidiscrimination law from the Serbian Parliament

Friday, 06 March 2009 17:16

Coalition against Discrimination’s press announcement regarding the withdrawal of Antidiscrimination law from the Serbian Parliament


Coalition against Discrimination strongly condemns the Government’s withdrawal of the Antidiscrimination law from the Republican Parliament.  The Coalition is very concerned because the Law has been withdrawn after the pressure issued by the Serbian Orthodox Church and other traditional religious communities.

The first Antidiscrimination model law was drafted in 2001, and in 2005 the Coalition drafted the Law which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in accordance with the comprehensive Antidiscrimination law.  The Law which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities was adopted in 2006, while the comprehensive Antidiscrimination law has not been on parliament’s agenda until now, in spite of the requests made by some parliamentary parties.

Ever since the last election and establishing of the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, the Coalition against Discrimination worked together with the Ministry and made the final draft of the Antidiscrimination law.  Working together included organizing a public hearing on the law, which was attended by all relevant stakeholders and which lasted almost six months. A joint effort like this was highly appreciated and recognized by international and domestic organizations as the best model for collaboration of the government and civil society, especially after government’s adopting of the law and passing it to the parliament for adoption.  During the public hearing, there were no significant objections to the proposed draft, which was then passed to the parliament of Serbia for adoption.

Less than 24 hours before the opening of the Serbian parliament session, several religious communities, together with the Serbian Orthodox Church, requested the withdrawal of the law because of Article 18, which regulates the issue of discrimination in the field of religious rights and Article 21, which states the prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Coalition against Discrimination calls the government of the Republic of Serbia to put the law back into the parliament procedure and adopt it without altering it, considering the fact that the law, as it is now, was adopted by the government and also fully sponsored by the European Integration Committee of the Serbian parliament. The Coalition notes that the Article 44 of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia states the separation of church and state. The Coalition expects the prohibition of discrimination to be guaranteed by the law for all minorities and marginalized groups and in accordance with the highest international standards that Serbia is bound by.

Members of the Coalition against Discrimination:

Center for Advanced legal Studies

Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights

Gay-Straight Alliance

Youth Human Rights Initiative

Anti-Trafficking Center

Labris – Lesbian Human Rights Organization

CHRIS Network

Gayten LGBT

VelikiMali

Association of Students with Handicap

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