No. 07-00-31/2013-02, June 12, 2015

OPINION

The opinion was issued in a procedure following a complaint filed by S. K. from N. S. against N. A. from N. S. due to a petition filed on behalf of E. p. N. S. submitted to the Serbian Association of Employers on December 19, 2014 and a public notice of E. p. N. S. of October 7, 2014. The complainant stated that S. K. suffered discrimination from N.A. who had used a public notice and a letter from E. p. N. S. to discriminate her on the grounds of belonging to Croatian national minority. Among these documents, among other things, it is stated that “the Croatian National Council was certainly not established for the purpose of spreading Croatian culture and that Serbian Association of Employers should “weed out” its members, while in a press release he said to a certain Croatian businessman “that he can notify “his beautiful” no one else will racketeer him because he is a Croatian councilor in Vojvodina”. During the procedure, it was established that the stated views refer to S. K, although his first and last name were not mentioned, given that the contents of the letter undoubtedly imply to S. K. The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality issued an opinion stating that N. A, who is a Director of E. p. N. S. by submitting a public notice and a petition to the Serbian Association of Employers in which he expressed views and ideas that are disturbing and humiliating, impaired dignity of S. K, as well as dignity of other members and members of the Croatian national minority, thereby violating the provisions of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination. Thus, in the light of the allegations made in the public notice and the petition of E. p. N. S, it was recommended N. A. should send a letter of apology to S. K, to invite representatives and representatives of the Croatian National Council to the meeting, in order to directly inform them about the work and competencies of the Council. In the future, he is not to issue public notices and statements that insult dignity of members of Croatian or any other national minority.