OPINION

The opinion was issued in the proceedings regarding the complaint of the organization AA, filed on behalf and with the consent of BB, VV, GG, DD, ĐĐ, EE, ŽŽ and ZZ, against BAS – Belgrade bus station a.d. Belgrade, due to discrimination based on nationality. In the complaint, it was stated that these persons, members of the Roma national minority, have been informally engaged for years on the arrival platforms of the Belgrade bus station where they work as luggage carriers, that at the insistence of BAS employees, they registered the job of carrying luggage, and that since the platforms were moved, that is, from July 1, 2019, they are prohibited from accessing these platforms and performing the job of carrying luggage. As indicated in the complaint, luggage carriers were told in catering facility II, located on the arrival platforms, that “Gypsies do not have the right to drink coffee or even water at the station”, as stated by one of the employees of this facility. In the statement BAS – Belgrade bus station a.d. Belgrade it was specified that the complainant’s allegations that the persons on whose behalf the complaint was filed are prohibited from entering the arrival platforms, because access to the arrival platforms at the new location is free and unrestricted for all natural persons, regardless of race, religion, nationality or any other another affiliation, that these persons performed the luggage carrying service in their own name and on their own account, and BAS had neither the right nor the ability to control, allow or prohibit the presence and performance of job of those persons in that area, that the change in the way of operation and the possibility for BAS to control and secure the area of ​​the arrival platforms was created when they were moved to a new location due to the implementation of the “Belgrade Waterfront” project, that the control is carried out preventively and continuously, in order to preserve human lives, property of BAS, carriers and passengers, as well as for timely intervention in case of terrorist attacks, thefts, fights, smuggling, fraud and the like, and that all economic activities in the area of ​​departure platforms are carried out by BAS services or legal entities that have contractual business relations with BAS, in the premises intended for that purpose. In the statement, it was further specified that BAS is considering the issue of organizing help for passengers with the transfer of luggage, which will be resolved in due course, that the allegation that one of the employees told the luggage carriers in catering facility II located on the arrival platforms that “Gypsies do not have the right to drink coffee, not even water, at this station” is false, arbitrary and tendentious, and that BAS cannot be attributed any discriminatory behavior. In the procedure, it was determined that the motives of increasing security and the desire to establish a professional luggage handling service that will improve this service and possibly bring profit to the station operator can be considered reasonable and permissible reasons for controlling the movement of people through the station facility, as well as for regulating all activities that take place in it. Also, although it was never prohibited, it cannot be considered that the previous informal type of engagement of the person on whose behalf the complaint was filed was approved or organized by BAS. When it comes to excerpts from the APR for the persons on whose behalf the complaint was submitted, the Commissioner points out that they are not relevant for reaching a decision in this procedure, because in them these persons are registered as entrepreneurs with addresses at various locations in the City of Belgrade, and such registration does not allow them to perform work on the premises of the Belgrade bus station without a specially concluded contract that would regulate the rights and obligations of the contractual parties. Bus station platforms are places of high turnover of people on a daily basis, and as BAS is responsible for the safety of passengers, it is understandable that it must have developed procedures as well as the legitimate right to regulate the way the bus station infrastructure is used. Also, the organization of a professional, uniformed station service for the transfer of luggage would certainly significantly improve the overall standard of the station service provided, which is a legitimate interest of both BAS, which has full freedom to organize activities on the premises of its station building, and of the passengers themselves. However, the described strategic determination should have been formalized in the appropriate internal acts and business decisions of the company, for which evidence was not provided to the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality. Therefore, in the absence of any formal decisions made by BAS regarding the new regime for the movement of people and the provision of services in the area of ​​the station building, the Commissioner found that the ban has no legitimate basis, nor is it based on the aforementioned security and economic interests, while preventing members of Roma nationality to perform the activity that they had been performing for several years without opposition from BAS. Furthermore, bringing such a ban into the context of reasons for the safety of passengers and goods, without proof that any person on whose behalf the complaint was filed has anything to do with any criminal offense at the bus station, is an expression of deep-rooted prejudices about Roma, and further ignites prejudices that make this category the most difficult to get an employment on the labor market. BAS has not provided any evidence that would make such a ban legitimate, especially considering that no normative changes have occurred in relation to the previous period in which BAS, in the absence of their own service, tolerated these entrepreneurs to perform their job. A special issue is the attitude of BAS employees towards the persons on whose behalf the complaint was submitted, and the insults on the national basis to which these persons were exposed when trying to perform their activities on the station platforms, but also when they wanted to use the services of the catering facility II, which is under the management of the Belgrade bus station. A large number of persons who witnessed this behavior, and similar interpretations of the life event that is the subject of this complaint, led to the conclusion that the allegations of the complaint are true in the part where the inappropriate attitude towards the persons on whose behalf the complaint was filed is described, namely the addressing of the head the security and manager of the restaurant in a derogatory and insulting manner. The Commissioner is of the opinion that in this way a hostile, humiliating and insulting environment was created for the luggage carriers, and that the mentioned statements of the BAS staff represent harassing and humiliating treatment of this group of persons based on their nationality. Although in the BAS statement it is specified that such statements are arbitrary and tendentious, BAS has never dissociated itself from such statements or provided evidence that it asked the employees to declare themselves on these circumstances, since such behavior was at the work place in the performance of work tasks, so that it could be determined what happened in the specific situations as well as whether the employees’ responsibility exists, especially bearing in mind that the AA organization pointed out such treatment of persons of Roma nationality even before submitting a complaint to the Commissioner. Also, considering that some of these entrepreneurs have been working as luggage carriers for decades, with which BAS was familiar and issued them monthly tickets for special purposes, it was also necessary to provide information and notifications about the new business policy and the possible establishment of a new service that would deal with the transfer of luggage or possible new ways of providing porter services, in a dignified rather than humiliating way. Due to all of the above, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality issued the opinion that in the proceedings based on the complaint of the organization AA, submitted on behalf of BB, VV, GG, DD, ĐĐ, EE, ŽŽ and ZZ against BAS – Belgrade bus station a.d. Belgrade, it was determined that the provisions of Art. 6 and 12, in connection with Art. 24 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination were violated. BAS – Belgrade bus station a.d. Belgrade, was recommended to send a written apology to the persons on whose behalf the complaint was submitted; to organize a training for employees on recognizing discrimination with special reference to discrimination against members of the Roma national minority; to enable all members of the Roma national minority to use the bus station services without hindrance, including the services of catering facilities; to consider, when organizing the station service for the transfer of luggage, bearing in mind statistical data related to the employment of members of the Roma national minority, the possibility of applying affirmative (special) measures members for the Roma national minority when employing.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY

Brankica Janković