No. 07-00-90/2015-02 date: 10 July 2015

OPINION

The opinion was issued in the procedure following a complaint filed by organization “R.” from B. against media portal “Т.” due to the title of texts published on media portal “Т.” on 14 and 15 October 2014 – “Kosovo is the Heart of Serbia: This is How Shiptars United Football Fans ‘Grobari’ and ‘Delije’!”, “Potential Chaos: Shiptars are already in Knez Mihalova Street, Is There a Threat of the War of Football Fans!?”, “Exclusive Video: This is How Shiptars Smuggled the Flag of the Great Albania to Belgrade!” and “Shiptar Journalist for Т: We Knew that Our Football Fans were Up to Something Big!”. After an incident on the football match between Serbia and Albania, numerous media wrote about these events, including medial portal “Т”. In the course of the procedure was determined that, for almost half a century, calling the Albanian people “Shiptars” in Serbia has been considered to be offensive, to insult members of this national minority, and that the use of this term may, particularly in conflicts, encourage intolerance towards the Albanian people and members of the Albanian national minority. Such a manner of reporting, supported by a colloquial and defamatory name for an ethnic group, deepens the gap between members of the Albanian national minority and the majority population, provoking repulsiveness towards male and female Albanians in the majority population, a feeling of insecurity in members of the Albanian national minority, as well as labelling of their entire community. The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality issued an opinion that texts “Kosovo is the Heart of Serbia: This is How Shiptars United Football Fans ‘Grobari’ and ‘Delije’!”, “Potential Chaos: Shiptars are already in Knez Mihalova Street, Is There a Threat of the War of Football Fans!?”, “Exclusive Video: This is How Shiptars Smuggled the Flag of the Great Albania to Belgrade!” and “Shiptar Journalist for Т: We Knew that Our Football Fans were Up to Something Big!” that were published on medial Portal “T.” on 14 and 15 October 2014, that is, the use of term “Shiptar” in the titles of these texts violated the provisions of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination. For this reason, a recommendation was issued to media portal “T.”  not to publish articles in the future that insult dignity of male and female members of the Albanian national minority, and to contribute with its articles to changing patterns, customs and practices that create stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination against male and female members of the Albanian national minority, and to make sure in the future not to violate legal regulations on the prohibition of discrimination in the course of its regular operations and activities.