No.07-00-168/2015-02  Date: 10 August 2015

OPINION

The opinion was issued in the procedure regarding the complaint lodged by S.P. on behalf and with the consent of J.P. against the City Administration for Social Activities of the City of Čačak. The complaint claimed that S. and J P. tried to exercise their right to parental allowance, and that the Head of the Social Childcare Service of the Čačak City Administration gave them a verbal explanation that they could not get parental allowance because the mother of the child is a foreign citizen. At their request, they were issued a note confirming that J.P. had not exercised the right to parental allowance because she is a foreign citizen. The declaration made by the Head of the City Administration for Social Activities stated that J. and S.P. had not submitted an application to exercise the right to parental allowance and that the statutory requirements for the exercise of this right, inter alia, prescribe that the mother must be a citizen of the Republic of Serbia. In the course of the procedure it was established that the City Administration for Social Activities did not offer an objective and reasonable justification for the City Administration official’s conduct, which was not caused by the fact that J.P. is a foreign citizen. In addition, the City Administration did not act in accordance with the Decision of the Constitutional Court. Namely, the Constitutional Court has brought the decision that the provisions of the Law on Financial Support to Families with Children shall be interpreted and applied in such manner so that the right to parental allowance can also be exercised by the father of the child, if he meets the requirements prescribed by law in cases when the mother of the child is not a citizen of the Republic of Serbia. The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality issued the opinion that the conduct of the City Administration for Social Activities of the City of Čačak, in terms of giving false information related to the exercise of the right to parental allowance when the child’s mother is a foreign citizen, and its failure to take all necessary actions to enable J. and S.P. to exercise the right to parental allowance, constitute a violation of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination. For this reason the City Administration for Social Activities of the City of Čačak and N.V, as its Head and responsible person, were recommended to extend a written apology to J. and S.P. for discriminatory treatment against them, to post on the notice board of the City Administration for Social Activities and of the Social Childcare Service or other place available for everyone to see the information that the right to parental allowance can also be exercised by the child’s father when the child’s mother is a foreign citizen if the father meets other prescribed requirements, as well as not to violate anti-discrimination regulations in the future when performing activities within their competence.