On the November the 16th 2015, in the Palace of Serbia, a big conference “Serbia on the path of equality and tolerance: The experiences of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality” was held, with more than 200 participants.
Commissioner for the Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic pointed out that Serbia is going on the path of equality, tolerance and respect for every type of diversity and human rights.
From the stereotypes about minorities and marginalized groups, we are able to create a prejudices very quickly. We could jump easily in discrimination which is, despite notable step forward and visible progress in certain segments of society, still exist, she said.
Brankica Jankovic noticed that Serbia must push much more efforts to guarantee gender equality and suppress discrimination on basis of national affiliation and ethnic origin. She added that discrimination in the field of work and employment is most frequent.
Speaking on the occasion of the International Day of Tolerance at the event, Vucic said that diversity is the wealth of Serbia and the tolerance is condition of its future peace and stability.
The Prime Minister recalled that Serbia has adopted the Strategy for Combating Discrimination and Action Plan, and allocated funds to help improve the status of vulnerable groups – women, persons with disabilities, LGBT people, older people, members of ethnic minorities, refugees, internally displaced persons and others.
He also said that all countries in the world are faced with intolerance and discrimination, and the whole society has to fight against that.
Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport said that Serbia in the last few years has shown a commitment to further improvement of human and minority rights, as evidenced by the completion of work on the Action Plan for Chapter 23, which is crucial for the negotiations on Serbia’s membership in the EU.
The EU Delegation in Serbia will continue to support Serbia’s efforts in the promotion of human and minority rights through new twinning projects with partners from Austria and Slovenia, he said.
This conference attracted a lot of media, since all relevant subjects, whose strategic goals and priorities were fulfilment of human rights, striving towards an open and democratic society based on the rule of law – the president of the parliament, ministers and state secretaries, ambassadors, diplomats of international organisations, as well as a large number of representatives from the civilian sector, were present.
The whole event was broadcasted live by the public media service, and the majority of reported the statement given by the Commissioner and the participants of the conference, as well as the conclusion that an even more intensive work should be undertaken on the promotion of tolerance and equality, as well as creation of the society in which the rights of all are respected, regardless of diversity.
