no. 07-00-211/2023-02 date: 26.9. in 2023

OPINION

The opinion was issued in the proceedings regarding the complaint of AA against the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Department for Human Resources, due to discrimination based on nationality. In the complaint, among other things, it was stated that he applied for the competition to enroll 300 participants in the basic training of members of the fire and rescue units, which was published on 22.3.2022, and that on 30.9.2022, he received a notification from the Ministry of Internal Affairs that he was not accepted because he did not meet the conditions of the competition. It was further stated that he sent a complaint to the notification mentioned above, and on 15.12.2022 he received a notification that his complaint was rejected because he did not meet the conditions of the competition as there were security obstacles to his employment. The complainant believes he did not establish an employment relationship with the Ministry of Internal Affairs because of his nationality. In the statement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it was stated, among other things, that the complainant did not fulfill the condition for establishing an employment relationship prescribed in Article 49 of the Law on Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Management, which stipulates that uniformed members of firefighting and rescue units can only be persons who, after the competition, have completed the Basic Training for members of the firefighting rescue units of the Ministry. It was further stated that after the selection that the complainant successfully passed, the Police Department in P. determined that there were security obstacles to his employment in the Ministry, defined by Article 138 of the Law on Police, and accordingly, he was not ranked based on the aggregate results he achieved in all parts of the selection process. Bearing in mind that the complainant stated national and religious affiliation as a personal attribute, in this particular case, the subject of consideration by the Commissioner is whether the refusal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to admit the complainant to the Basic Training of members of the fire-rescue units according to the Competition published on 22.3.2022. for the territory of Prijepolje is in connection with his personal property mentioned in the complaint. Therefore, the proceedings considered whether the right from the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination was violated in the specific case, while other possible violations of rights from the Law on the Police were not considered, as well as whether a security assessment was adequately carried out and a procedure was carried out regarding suspicion of corruption. etc., considering that the aforementioned is not within the competence of the Commissioner. Based on the facts and submitted evidence, the Commissioner concluded that persons of Bosniak nationality also applied to the published competition of the Ministry of 22.3.2022, for the fire and rescue units for the territories of the cities of Novi Pazar and Prijepolje and the municipalities of Sjenica, Tutin, and Priboj, but that some of them did not respond to the call for selection or did not successfully pass the selection process and that one participant of Bosniak nationality, although second in rank, applying the principle of national representation from the Rulebook, was accepted as a participant in the Basic Training of members of the fire-rescue units. Bearing in mind that the existence of a comparator is essential for the existence of discrimination and that in comparable circumstances, a person of Bosniak nationality was accepted as a participant of the Basic Training, as well as the fact that for other candidates a security problem was also determined, thus not only for the complainant, in this particular case the existence of a cause-and-effect relationship between the actions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the personal characteristics of the complainant could not be established. However, this does not mean that the procedure does not have possible irregularities or violations of rights related to whether the security assessment, in the specific case of the complainant, was carried out in a manner and in accordance with the procedures prescribed by law, which is the responsibility of other state authorities. Bearing in mind all of the above, in the proceedings based on the complaint the Commissioner issued the opinion that the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not violate the provisions of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination.

Using the competencies from Article 33, Paragraph 1, Item 9 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination, which prescribes that the Commissioner submits recommendations for measures to achieve equality and protection against discrimination to public authorities and other persons, the Ministry of Internal Affairs was recommended to take special (affirmative) measures regarding the appropriate representation of national minorities, when announcing subsequent competitions for referral to training and employment in organizational units of the Ministry in a certain area, in compliance with the law, and with the aim of ensuring that the structure of employees corresponds to the national structure of the population in that area.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY
Brankica Janković