Commissioner for Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic submitted the Regular Annual Report for 2018 on situation in the area of protection of discrimination to the National Parliament of Serbia .
Last year, the greatest number of complaints was submitted because of discrimination on ground of disability – more than one quarter of total number. In second place according to the number of complaints is age, while every tenth complaint refers to gender-based discrimination, which is third in the category of discrimination. The following are complaints of discrimination based on birth, health status, nationality and ethnic origin, marital and family status and sexual orientation, while other grounds of discrimination in complaints make a small percentage.
Regarding the area of discrimination, the sphere of provision of public services or the use of facilities and surfaces are at the forefront this year, to which almost one third of complaints were addressed. Area of work and employment is on the second place, followed by procedures before public authorities, social protection, and then the field of public information and media.
Complaints to Commissioner are certainly one of the indicators of the presence of discrimination and the level of respect for the equality principles in society, but are not the only ones. Other factors also influence the existence of discrimination in a society, including the social and cultural context in which we live, the attitude of the society towards discrimination, civic awareness of the necessity and importance of respecting the regulations and willingness to report their violation, level of tolerance towards diversity, the trust in the work of institutions, knowledge about the grounds and forms of discrimination, as well as the activities of civil society in the protection of human rights, etc.
This Report also indicate that the society is still facing challenges related to area of the improvement of equality, but no challenge is and must not be so big to endanger the construction of society in which human rights are fully respected and efficiently protected.
