OPINION

The opinion was issued in the procedure regarding the complaint lodged by J.Ž. against the Secretariat for Child and Social Protection of the City of Niš and the City of Niš for discrimination on the grounds of residence as a personal characteristic. The complaint stated that J.Ž. was not granted the right to one-time financial aid for the firstborn child because she had not had permanent residence in the territory of the City of Niš for at least six months before the date of birth of the child. The declaration of the Secretariat for Child and Social Protection of the City of Niš stated that Article 5, paragraph 1, of the Decision on Financial Support to Families with Children in the Territory of the City of Niš stipulates that the right to one-time financial aid is exercised by the mother for her firstborn child if she has had permanent residence in the territory of the City of Niš for at least six months before the child’s birth (or temporary residence if she is a refugee or displaced person from the territory of Kosovo and Metohija), provided that she is the one who personally takes care of the child. It was pointed out that at the time of the birth of the child J.Ž. had not had permanent residence in the territory of the City of Niš for at least 6 months before childbirth, and that there was no basis for granting her the right to one-time financial aid for the firstborn child. The City of Niš did not submit a declaration regarding the allegations contained in the complaint. In the course of the procedure it was established that, when deciding on the request made by J.Ž., the Secretariat for Child and Social Protection of the City of Niš acted in accordance with the Decision on Financial Support to Families with Children in the Territory of the City of Niš, which it is obliged to comply with. Bearing in mind that the complaint was also filed against the City of Niš, an analysis of the requirements prescribed by the Decision on Financial Support to Families with Children in the Territory of the City of Niš was made. Namely, the Decision stipulates that the right to financial allowance for the firstborn child can be exercised by a mother who has had permanent residence (or temporary residence if she is a refugee or displaced person from the territory of Kosovo and Metohija) in the territory of the City of Niš for more than six months before the birth of the child. The analysis showed that the requirement for exercising the right to financial allowance for the firstborn child that relates exclusively to the mother’s residence does not have an objective or reasonable justification, since stipulating this requirement, without taking into account the residence of the father of the child and of the child him-/herself, is not justified either in terms of its purpose or in terms of its effects. Therefore, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality issued the opinion that the Secretariat for Child and Social Protection of the City of Niš did not violate the provisions of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination, while the City of Niš, by prescribing the requirements for exercising the right to one-time financial aid for the firstborn child which are linked to the length of mother’s residence, violated the provisions of Article 8 of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination. Accordingly, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality recommended to the City of Niš to amend the provision of Article 5 of the Decision on Financial Support to Family with Children in the Territory of the City of Niš, by stipulating that, in addition to other requirements, the right to financial allowance for the firstborn child shall be exercised by the child’s mother if she or the child’s father have had permanent residence (or temporary residence in case of refugees or displaced persons from the territory of Kosovo and Metohija) in the territory of the City of Niš for more than six months before the child’s birth, provided that the child has a registered permanent residence in the territory of the City of Niš.