The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality and the Ministry of Internal Affairs continue with a string of seminars intended for police officers in Niš with the aim of helping them recognize and address discrimination.

Brankica Janković, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality presented the activities of the Institution of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality to traffic and criminal investigation police officers illustrating the most frequent forms of discrimination with concrete real life examples.
Ninoslav Mitić, the Head of Niš Police Administration stressed that this was one of the first initiatives implemented on the territory of Niš Metropolitan Police Administration and that this seminar should be attended by as many police officers as possible.

The OSCE Mission to Serbia representative Jan Stefan Wredenmark pointed out that a close link exists between the police-in-the-community concept on the one hand and recognizing and tackling discrimination as a proactive approach in addressing discrimination within the police force itself and beyond, on the other hand.

Belgrade University Law School professor Ivana Krstić gave a lecture to seminar participants on international standards and mechanisms for the protection against discrimination and as well as on related case-law of the European Court of Human Rights.

Kosana Beker, assistant to the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality delivered a workshop on detecting discrimination, while concrete real life examples of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality stemming from police every day work were also presented. During the seminar Dr Radomir Zekavica, professor at the Belgrade Criminal and Police Academy presented finding of “Police’s take on discrimination” research.

Towards the end of the seminar, Maja Bjeloš of Belgrade Center for Security Policy presented activities that have been implemented since 2000 in the field of promoting gender equality in the security sector, while Martin Matijašević of Belgrade University Security Faculty spoke of communication aspects in exercising police authority as well as on the importance of communication in preventing discrimination.

The project is supported by the OSCE Mission to Serbia Police Reform Department.