Only in sports, everyone has equal starting positions and this area should be the best example of how to continue to build a society of equal opportunities and tolerance, said Commissioner for Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic at the award ceremony of the newly established Commissioner for Equal Opportunities award “Municipality / City of Equal Opportunities”, which was established in order to promote and strengthen equality in local self-governments in Serbia.

The municipality of Gadzin Han won the first place, Novi Sad was placed on second, while Svrljig municipality was third. The awarded municipalities and cities will be promoted as an example of best practice in our country, but also in Europe, through the European Network of Equality Bodies – EQINET. Representatives of Gadzin Han, Novi Sad and Svrljig received a specially created Logo of Equality and will be able to use it for a year, until the next winner is selected.

Jankovic stressed that the Commissioner has constituted this award in order to continue to promote and motivate all actors of social life to nurture and promote the principle of equality, and that among the key criteria of this competition were the participation of vulnerable groups in all social activities, the relationship and support they have and through projects the local community provides.

74 municipalities from all over Serbia participated in the election, and the winners, who implemented the concrete activities within the limits of their competence that influenced the suppression of discrimination in their midst, were announced by the jury consisting of Sonja Liht, Ivan Milivojević, doc. dr Vuk Cucić, prof. Dr. Miroslav Brkić and prof. Dr. Tanasije Marinkovic.

The awards were officially handled over by Commissioner and the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway Arne Sannes Bjornstad, who sponsored the project “Strengthening Local Anti-Discrimination Capacities and Institutional Capacities of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality”, within which the award was established.

Minister of State Administration and Local Government Branko Ružić also attended the ceremony.