No. 021-01-74/2021-02  Date: 16.3.2021.

GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA, President

11000 BELGRADE

Nemanjina 11

Dear Ms. Brnabić,

A number of citizens, as well as representatives of various associations, addressed the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality with letters and complaints, pointing out that the regulations for implementing economic measures to reduce the negative effects caused by the coronavirus pandemic, adopted by the Republic of Serbia, did not equally cover all categories of citizens, highlighting children, women, informally employed and unemployed persons, but also representatives of the Roma national minority, as the most affected.

Having in mind the above, on May 7, 2020, the Commissioner sent a memo no. 626/20 to the Government, pointing out that when creating measures aimed at reducing the negative effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it should be taken into account that the consequences of the pandemic, but also the measures taken to combat the spread of COVID-19 did not affect all categories of population equally. In this memo, in accordance with the competencies from Article 33, item 7 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination, which stipulates, among other things, that the Commissioner for Protection of Equality initiates the adoption or amendment of regulations to implement and improve protection against discrimination, we proposed to the Government to particularly take into account the allegations from the mentioned addresses of the citizens when creating additional measures in the future.

First of all, the Commissioner once again welcomes the Program of Economic Measures to Support the Serbian Economy Affected by the Consequences of the Pandemic, which envisages four sets of measures aimed at preserving employment during the state of emergency, as well as helping businesses who have difficulties dure to the pandemic. Namely, by adopting these measures, which were mostly related to financial support to the economy, the Republic of Serbia, despite the negative effects that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the economy, managed to preserve a large number of jobs and thus reduce these negative effects on the economic position of, primarily, employed citizens.

In accordance with the above, the Commissioner once again points to the letters of the parents’ associations, but also of the parents themselves, especially those with more than two children, stating that the adopted package of economic measures did not have direct effects on improving the situation of children, because minors were not covered by any of the proposed measures, not even the one-time financial assistance measure, and the effects of this measure certainly did not have an equal impact on reduction of the negative effects caused by the pandemic for families with more children. The Commissioner points out that the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had a great impact on the decline in the income of families with children, including families with more children, families with a child with a disability or a child with a rare disease, families in which one or both parents are unemployed, and the like. Namely, due to the closure of kindergartens, cessation of work of day care centers for children with disabilities, that is, reduction of the extent of home aid services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as switching to distance learning for school-age children, a large number of these families had numerous difficulties in reconciling work and parenthood. In addition, the poorest families faced the problem of lack of free meals in the school or kindergarten, due to cessation of their work.

The Commissioner therefore proposes to analyze the negative effects that the pandemic had on these families and consider the possibilities of increasing the amount of money for holders of the right to child allowance and other benefits for the poorest families with children..

The Commissioner also points out that the proposed economic measures did not equally cover employed and unemployed citizens. Namely, in addition to the measure related to direct donations to companies in the form of aid for payment of minimum wages for entrepreneurs, micro, small and medium enterprises, i.e., subsidies of 50% of the minimum wage to large companies, which saved a large number of jobs, a number of citizens still lost their job. The Commissioner reminds that the employment rate of women is still lower than the employment rate of men, and that in our society women are still being paid less for work of the same value or for the same work, and that these problems are further complicated when considering the position of women over the age of 45, housewives, women farmers, young women and women from multiply discriminated groups. The latest Labor Force Survey shows that there are a total of 974,200 women between the ages of 45 and 64 in Serbia, of which close to 500,000 are unemployed or inactive in the labor market. The Commissioner points out that during the state of emergency, a large number of women from the above categories performed the work of informal caregivers and thus made a great contribution in providing assistance to elderly relatives or family members who were unable to meet basic living needs due to their health condition or disability. In this way, they have made a significant contribution to combating the spread of the COVID-19 disease and preserving the health of citizens who are at greatest risk of contracting the virus. We note that the previous practice of the Commissioner in dealing with complaints shows that discrimination on the grounds of sex/gender most often occurs in the field of labor and employment. Also, inequality is visible when it comes to Roma, because a large number of these citizens (out of the total number of Roma who perform some economic activity, as many as 59.3% work as cleaners, collectors of secondary raw materials and auxiliary workers[1]) who work as collectors of secondary raw materials have not earned any income on that basis in the period when the measures pertaining to the total ban or restriction of movement was in force. According to the above, this category of citizens, which in the Commissioner’s practice is one of the most frequently discriminated groups and at the highest risk of social exclusion and poverty, was covered only by the measure related to the payment of one-time financial assistance. Given the existing inequalities, and that women and Roma are one of the most vulnerable groups in the labor market, the Commissioner proposes that this be taken into account when creating new economic measures. When prescribing measures to be determined by the National Employment Action Plan for 2021, consider the possibility of increasing the amount of funds for existing active employment and self-employment measures and measures facilitating the transition from informal to regular work, as well as of creating special affirmative action measures, which would mitigate the negative effects that the COVID-19 pandemic had on unemployed citizens, and especially on unemployed women and Roma.

In accordance with the competencies established by the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality will continue to monitor the situation and continuously point out the more serious problems the most vulnerable categories of citizens face and address to us, which need to be taken into account and considered when creating various measures aimed at suppressing the spread of the COVID-19 disease, but also at mitigating the negative consequences that the pandemic has on these citizens.

[1] Republic Statistical Office, Roma in Serbia, 2011 Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in the Republic of Serbia.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY
Brankica Jankovic