Commissioner for Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic gave lecture at the seminar “Judicial Civil Legal Protection” dedicated to judges of civil departments of higher courts in Serbia.

Stressing that the acting of courts is of outmost importance for adequate implementation of non-discrimination regulations, Jankovic stated that Commissioner for Protection of Equality has mechanisms which allow it to actively participate in the court processes for protection against discrimination. One of them is the initiation of strategic litigations before Higher Courts in Serbia, which the Commissioner leads in the general public interest, with the aim of contributing with its procedural activity, as a prosecutor in the lawsuit, the consistent implementation of regulations, creation and improvement of judicial practice, as well as to sensitize the public for the issue of discrimination.

The decision to initiate a strategic litigation is made in cases where its goal and purpose outweigh the importance it has for the protection of the discriminated individual or group of persons. At that time, Commissioner is guided by following criteria – that discrimination is made towards particularly vulnerable social groups, that specific form of discrimination is widely accepted in the society, that strength balance between the perpetrator and the victim justifies the intervention of the Commissioner and that the case has a great chance to lead to a meritorious decision, explained Commissioner Jankovic.

Beside Commissioner Jankovic, lecturers at this seminar were also Vesna Sekulic, judge of Higher Court in Belgrade and Irena Garcevic, judge of Appelation Court in Belgrade. Seminar was organized by Judicial Academy in cooperation with OSCE Mission in Serbia.