The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Brankica Janković, welcomes the decision of the Ministry of Rural Care to accept the Commissioner’s initiative and amend the decree on determining the grant program for the purchase of rural houses with a garden so that the condition related to whether a criminal case has been initiated against a person or the person was convicted has now been deleted.

This ensures that all citizens participate in public competition equally and without discrimination.

Our Criminal Code stipulates that no one has the right to ask citizens to provide proof of their conviction or non-conviction, and such information can be provided only under the conditions prescribed by law. Also, when it comes to giving help, it should be kept in mind that any help is significant from the point of view of more successful rehabilitation, reintegration, and resocialization of ex-convicts into society, both those who have been fined or sentenced to probation and those who have served time prison sentences, says Brankica Janković.

According to the Commissioner, ex-convicts are free people and enjoy equal rights, and the ultimate goal of serving a prison sentence must be the return of the convicted person to social life.

After being released, they face a series of problems of a material, social, and psychological nature because the social mechanisms of reintegration are insufficient, and prejudices and obstacles are numerous. As one convict says in his confession: “People steer away from us as if we have the plague or a highly contagious disease when we get out of prison, while that’s when we need the most support”. Discrimination based on conviction is prohibited by law, and I encourage anyone who feels that they have suffered some form of discrimination to turn to the Commissioner, adds the Commissioner.