OPINION

The opinion was issued in the procedure regarding the complaint of A. A. against the Provincial Secretariat for Culture, Public Information, and Relations with Religious Communities, due to discrimination based on sexual orientation and residence. The complaint stated, among other things, that the evaluation of a project by A. A. was approached with prejudices because it was a project intended for the LGBT population and because the project applicant is from Belgrade, and that not a single project was supported that had the LGBT population as its target group, as well as that only one project was supported that was submitted by a registered legal entity outside the territory of Vojvodina. In the statement and supplement to the statement, it was specified that all projects were evaluated in the same way, regardless of who proposed them and where they were based, and only those projects were proposed for support that fully met both criteria stipulated in the Rulebook on co-financing of projects for the realization public interest in the field of information in all elements that are evaluated separately based on those criteria. It was further stated that project A. A. did not fully satisfy the first criterion provided by the Rulebook in the specific elements that are evaluated separately: the representation of the innovative aspect in the project and journalistic research approach, compliance of the planned activities with the goal, expected results and needs of the target groups and the measurability of the indicators that enable the monitoring of the project implementation. It was also stated that it was established that the only activity of the project by A. A. is based on the publication of 30 interviews in six issues of a magazine, which represents a classic journalistic method, that one of the goals of the project is to reduce the social distance towards the LGBT population in Vojvodina, while as the primary target group the project envisages LGBT organizations, the LGBT population and cultural centers, coffee shops and places where the Optimist magazine is distributed, and not a part of the population whose attitudes, awareness and behavior need to be acted upon, that is, who potentially establish a social distance towards the LGBT population. During the procedure, it was established that the Provincial Secretariat presented arguments that, based on the established factual situation, prove that the expert commission assessed the fulfillment of the criteria prescribed by the Rulebook. The Commissioner did not consider the assessment of the decision of the competition commission whether the project by A. A. fulfills the criteria prescribed by the Rulebook on co-financing of projects for the realization of public interest in the field of public information because this is not within the competence of the Commissioner but of other bodies that supervise the implementation of these regulations. Therefore, during the procedure, it was determined that the decision of the Provincial Secretariat not to support the project by A. A. was based on an assessment of the fulfillment of the prescribed criteria and that it is not causally related to any personal attribute of the complainant. Due to all of the above, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality issued the opinion that the Provincial Secretariat for Culture, Public Information, and Relations with Religious Communities of AP Vojvodina did not violate the provisions of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY

Brankica Janković