no. 07-00-120 / 2021-02 date: 22.6.2021.

OPINION

The opinion was issued in the proceedings regarding the complaint of A.A. from K., against B.B., due to discrimination on the basis of national affiliation – Serbian national affiliation. The complainant stated that at the session of the Management Board of the Newspaper-Publishing Institution “N. Lj.” (hereinafter: NIU “N. Lj.”) B.B. publicly expressed her intolerance towards her based on national grounds, by saying, in front of the members of the Management Board, employees and the President N.s.s.n.m., “as long as there is a Serb woman sitting on the Board, a person with unprofessional employment, she is not” and she continued “besides being a Serb, she is not qualified to sit on the Management Board”. It is further asserted that this statement created a hostile and offensive environment towards the complainant. In a statement on the complaint, B.B. stated that she considered that the allegations from the complaint were completely taken out of context and that she once again wanted to apologize to the complainant, because, as she alleges, her intention was not to discriminate against the complainant but to point out non-compliance with the rules of the Management Board of NIU “N. Lj.”. After the conducted procedure and presented evidence, it was determined that on February 23, 2021, a session of the Management Board of NIU “N. Lj.” was held. Further, it was determined that at the session of the Management Board B.B.said ” as long as there is a Serb woman sitting on the Board, a person with unprofessional employment, she is not” and then added, ” besides being a Serb, she is not qualified to sit on the Management Board”. Taking into account the allegations from the complaint and the statement, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality determined that the actions of B.B. represent harassment and degrading treatment aimed at violating the dignity of A.A., due to her nationality. Therefore, the Commissioner gave the opinion that B.B. violated the provisions of Article 12 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination by discriminatory treatment and making insulting comments towards A.A. B.B. is recommended to take care in the future to comply with anti-discrimination regulations.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY

Brankica Janković