no. 07-00-00735/2021-02 date: 12.8.2022.

OPINION

The opinion was issued in the proceedings upon the complaint of the AA women’s national team, whose legal representative is BB, the president of the club, with the written consent of the players of the women’s national team and their legal representatives, against the VV institution, whose legal representative is the director GG and DD, and the manager of the hall XX, due to discrimination based on gender. In the complaint, among other things, it was stated that the women’s selections of pioneers, younger pioneers, and mini-basketball players were not allowed to hold training sessions and matches in the XX hall, which is under the administration of VV, while that was made possible for the men’s selections, and that the reason why the women’s selections could not play in the hall was the fact that the club does not have a senior women’s basketball team. In the supplement to the complaint, it was stated that in addition to women’s selections, the club also has boys’ selections that were also not allowed access to the hall. The Commissioner conducted the procedure in order to establish legally relevant facts and circumstances, and thus requested a statement from DD, the manager of the hall XX, as well as VV, in which, among other things, it was stated that neither VV nor the manager of the hall discriminated against the complainants. The statement also specified that the basketball games are played in accordance with the EE schedule, and that only once did the game have to be postponed due to a volleyball tournament, the holding of which could not be postponed for organizational and technical reasons. In the statement, it also specified that VV is not the owner of the said sports hall, as well as that the local self-government exempted the clubs that have a professional senior team from paying for the time slots, which is a guideline for GG when considering conditions for the allocation of time slots, since XX is the only sports facility in which there is no payment for commercial time slots, neither for training nor for matches. It was clarified that if, after the allocation of free slots to sports associations that have senior teams, there are still vacant slots, they are evenly distributed based on the submitted application for the use of slots and based on the rank of the competition in which that sports association competes, and no difference is made based on the type of sport or gender. It was stated that in February 2022, female cadets of the AA club were allocated five training sessions a week in the XX hall, as well as that matches for the same selection of this club, were made possible from the beginning of the competition, in the mentioned hall, every weekend when it was planned by the EE schedule and that only one exception was made, on March 20, 2022, when according to the schedule received from the AA club, which was on the official website, the EE club was supposed to play as guest, instead of playing at home, and that the hall was given to the YY volleyball club for all-day use for the purpose of holding a volleyball tournament. Evidence was also submitted in support of these claims. During the procedure, it was established that AA has teams of female pioneers, younger female pioneers and female cadets, a male team of younger pioneers, and that it does not have a team in the category of seniors. From the attached evidence, namely from the schedule of the use of the XX hall for the year 2021/2022, it was also established that the time slots are used by ZZ, from Monday to Friday in three time periods from 18:00 to 22:00, by II, from Monday to Friday in one period from 21:00-22:00, and by JJ, from Monday to Friday in the period from 22:00-23:00. It was also determined, based on the data available on the EE website, that II and JJ are clubs with senior teams, which compete in LL and KK. II is a small football club, whose senior team plays in the MM, which was determined by inspecting the OO website. Bearing in mind all of the above, the Commissioner is of the opinion that in this particular case no difference was made, when allocating dates for training sessions and matches, which could be in a cause-and-effect relationship with gender as a personal attribute, but that is possible to debate on different treatment in relation to clubs that have senior selections and to clubs that do not have these selections. In the procedure, it was determined that the Rulebook stipulates that, when allocating the time slots, professional senior selections have priority, because these selections do not charge a membership fee, while in the case of junior selections, clubs charge a membership fee, and thus have the option of renting other sports halls. As it was specified in the statement that NN exempted the clubs that have a professional senior team from paying for the time slots, the Commissioner ascertains that it is a decision of the municipality, and not the persons against whom the complaint was filed. Furthermore, in addition to the requirement that the club has a senior team, according to the Rulebook on the allocation of time slots, one of the conditions is that it competes in a league of a certain rank. By applying these two criteria, it is determined which of the clubs will be allocated time slots in the XX hall. As AA only has younger categories (cadets, juniors, pioneers, mini-basketball players), it can be concluded that because of this, it has a problem with the space in which it will regularly hold training sessions and matches. Although this is not the subject of this complaint, because the complaint was not filed because of age as a personal characteristic, the Commissioner used their competencies prescribed in Article 33, paragraph 1, point 9 of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination to send recommendations for measures to achieve equality to public authorities and other persons, and analyzed the allegations from the complaint and the statement related to the fact that only the XX hall meets the criteria defined by the Rules of Competition, the Official Rules of the Game, the Propositions of the Competition and the like. Based on the importance of playing sports for both adults and children, as well as the provisions of the Law on Sports, which stipulates, among other things, that everyone has the right to play sports, and that playing sports must be humane, free and voluntary, healthy and safe, in accordance with natural environment and social environment, fair, tolerant, ethically acceptable, responsible, independent of abuses and goals that are contrary to the spirit of sportsmanship and accessible to all citizens under equal conditions, regardless of age, level of physical abilities, degree of eventual disability, gender and other personal property, the Commissioner sent VV and GG, the manager of the XX hall, a recommendation of measures to consider, in cooperation with the NN, the possibility of allocating a larger number of time slots for younger categories (cadets, juniors, pioneers, mini-basketball players) if this does not jeopardize regular classes for school students.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY

Brankica Janković