No. 07-00-896/2025-02  Date: 25. 3. 2026.

OPINION

The opinion was issued regarding a complaint by A.A., B.B. and V.V. against D.D. from …, due to discrimination against members of the Roma community. The complaint stated that D.D. initiated and submitted to the municipal authorities a Citizens’ Petition against the construction of social housing in the settlement … for displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija, most of whom are members of the Roma community. In the statement of D.D., it was stated, among other things, that he was not the initiator of the petition and that “at the initiative of neighbors who were disturbed, it was proposed that they address” the matter by petition; that the problem was of an urban planning, communal and similar nature, and “not, as stated in the complaint, a matter of discrimination, segregation or the like”; that the position of the residents was that there were so many other locations in the Municipality … and that it was not clear to them why the settlement … had been chosen, which is multi-ethnic, as can be seen from the petition and the signatures of Serbs, Albanians and Macedonians, and that the Roma from the settlement did not sign the petition because “they were not even offered it, in order to avoid conflict within the Roma community itself”. During the proceedings, the Commissioner established that the Municipality … was planning the construction of so-called social housing for displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija in the settlement … and that among the displaced persons there were Roma families currently living in a collective center; that D.D. was a signatory of the petition, and that, when giving a statement to the portal … on 6 November 2025, he stated that he had submitted the petition, while in the text he was identified as the initiator of the petition. It was further established that the petition stated, among other things, that the residents of the settlement … expressed their dissatisfaction with the construction of apartments for displaced families because “We appeal for another location to be found that would correspond to the structure of the population planned, because we certainly do not agree and will not allow construction for such purposes. We request that the Municipality … reconsider the proposal and find another location that would correspond to the structure of the population, in order to preserve the peace, existing character and spatial balance of our settlement”, and that D.D. had also, in October 2025, before submitting the petition, sent the local authorities a written statement calling on the competent authorities to look for another adequate location “that would correspond to the structure of the population planned to be settled”. By inspecting the text published on the portal … on November 6, 2025, under the title “Residents of … Submitted a Petition against the Construction of Apartments for the Displaced”, it was established that the text referred to a petition signed by citizens in the settlement … opposing the construction of apartments for displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija, who have been living in collective centers since 1999. The text further stated that these were six families from the Roma community, and that it was possible that other socially vulnerable families in … would also be included in the project. It was also stated: “The initiator of the petition, D.D., told … that he had submitted the citizens’ signatures to the president of the Municipality …, his deputy …, the Office of the Coordination Body for Southern Serbia and the municipal Department of Urban Planning.” By inspecting the text published on the portal … on October 24, 2025, under the title “Togetherness: Find Another Location for Apartments for the Displaced, … Is Not a Good Choice”, it was established that the text stated: “The news about the construction of apartments for displaced persons from Kosovo in the … settlement … disturbed the residents of this part of the town, according to the Serbian Organization Togetherness (SrBska organizacija “Sabornost” – SOS). The president of the organization, D.D., called on the competent authorities to reconsider the decision.” Following the conducted proceedings, and by applying the rule on shifting the burden of proof from Article 45 of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination, the Commissioner issued the opinion that D.D. violated the provisions of Article 12 of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination. D.D. was given a recommendation to issue a public apology to the Roma community in … through the portal … for the stated activities, as well as to refrain in the future from such and similar statements, that is, not to violate the regulations on the prohibition of discrimination in the future.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY

Milan Antonijević