Commissioner for Protection of Equality, Brankica Jankovic, met with the representatives of the movement Opre Roma Serbia. They informed her about the details of the tragic event in the informal Roma settlement in the Belgrade municipality of Cukarica last Friday, when six children and one man suffered severe burns from an electric shock, from which, unfortunately, one boy died. Representatives of this organization said that the situation is extremely difficult and that Roma men and women in this settlement have been living in inhumane conditions for years.

This tragic event should remind us all that the life, dignity and equality of every citizen, especially a child, must not be endangered or questioned, which is why we must do much more so that everyone can fulfill basic human needs, said Commissioner. She appealed for urgent measures to be undertaken in order to provide the inhabitants of this settlement with adequate living conditions and announced that the institution of Commissioner would send recommendations to the authorities, in accordance with the law.

This should also encourage each of us to greater humanity, solidarity, and tolerance, because Roma men and women are still discriminated against, excluded and marginalized in all segments of social life, despite the progress that is obviously not sufficient, concluded Jankovic.