Towards a New Minority Policy
Serbia needs a new minority policy focusing on
integration, inter-ethnic and intercultural communication and cooperation. The
existing policy has segregating effects and leads to a parallel life of
minorities as opposed to the majority. The responsibility for it is both with
the state and the minority elites which, striving to stay in power, influence
the minority communities in a way that makes them ever less open. These are
some of the observations from the presentation of the Integrating Minority
Policy Communication Strategy presented yesterday in Novi Sad by the Ethnic
Relationships Forum.
'It is discouraging and worrying that today, fourteen years
after the October upheaval, there is still talk about the need to make a step
forward in the field of minority policy, instead of the step having been
already taken,' pointed out Aniko Muskinja Heinrich, the Provincial
Ombudswoman.
In her address she warned that after the elections - and
bearing in mind the decision of the Constitutional Court - minority rights have
been decreased, as well as that the activities of the ruling coalition
concerning the minority policy have been completely negligible.
According to
her, falling back and even going backwards in this respect is evident in a
series of issues.
The Serbian Government Decision provided for establishment of
the National Minorities Council, but this national body has never met or held a
single session, pertaining thus to the simulation policy characteristic of the
Council founded by the 2009 Government Decree.
Neither the alleged
establishment of the Public Policies Secretariat nor the announcements
concerning establishment of respective advisory bodies, holds Muskinja
Heinrich, have any special significance if there is no Ministry in charge of
human rights, while the Human Rights Office of the Serbian Government is not an
authority with executive powers.
Establishment of show-off institutions is just one in a
series of problems. Formulation and, moreover, implementation of the new
minority policy would have to deal with other obstacles as well, starting with
the psychological ones.
It is necessary, for instance, to diminish and
eventually disperse the minorities' fear of integration they perceive as a way
towards their assimilation.
A special problem is the lack of political will to
embark on changing and amending the legislation, such as the National Minority
Councils Act. There are other limiting factors as well, such as the ban on
employment in the public sector or wrong interpretation of certain
constitutional provisions.
For instance, the provision that no one is bound to
declare his or her ethnicity is interpreted in a way that it is not allowed to
ask anybody about their ethnicity. Absurdly enough, this has led to a situation
that no one in today's Serbia has precise data on the ethnicity of the
employees in the legislative and executive authorities and the judiciary.
If
there is no such data, how is it possible, wondered Aniko Muskinja Heinrich, to
pursue an affirmative measures policy?
The Deputy Ombudswoman in charge of the minority rights
protection Eva Vukasinovic reminded the round table organizers of the results
of the research study on the operation of the national minority councils.
These
results could be very useful in formulating an integration strategy.
Integration being a process involving both minorities and the majority, there
is a need for a continuous education of minorities about their rights, as well
as for education of the majority about the minorities' tradition and culture
and the significance of affirmative action measures.
It is also necessary to
instigate national minority councils to be more active and use their authority to
its full extent, whereas relevant authorities in the local self-governments
should learn their obligations concerning national minority councils in order
not to hinder the process of the national councils exercising their authority.
The level of reversal or prevention of (self-) segregation of minorities is in
direct proportion with the success of minority integration, both as related to
the majority and other minority communities.
A special problem, as the Deputy Ombudswoman pointed out, is
the legal system not acknowledging the national minority councils. For
instance, the Public Property Act does not recognize them as beneficiaries of
public property, while the form of the national minority councils (property)
ownership is not defined at all.
The Antidiscrimination Act does not recognize
national minority councils as bodies that can file a suit and initiate
proceedings to investigate alleged discrimination, while the Serbian Budgeting
System Act does not recognize them as indirect budget beneficiaries.
In here
address Eva Vukasinovic reflected also on the Serbian Constitutional Court
Decision saying that certain provisions of the National Minority Councils Act
are not in accordance with the Constitution.
The issue with the ruling of the
Constitutional Court is that exactly the same problem has been detected both in
the field of culture and education, but only the provisions relating to
education have been ruled unconstitutional, unlike those pertaining to culture.
According to the Ethnic Relationships Forum, national
minorities have not been fully integrated into the society, so the Forum has
initiated drafting an Integrating Minority Policy National Strategy.
This
process is one of the major public policies and its implementation would
strengthen both links between and among various ethnic communities and the
social cohesion in general.
Ka novoj manjinskoj politici
Srbiji je potrebna nova manjinska politika čiji će fokus
biti na integraciji, međunacionalnoj i interkulturalnoj komunikaciji i
saradnji. Postojeća politika ima segregativne učinke, vodi paralelnom životu
većine i manjina, a odgovornost za to snose i država, i manjinske elite, koje u
želji da sačuvaju svoju moć utiču na zatvaranje manjina – istaknuto je na
predstavljanju Komunikacione strategije integrativne manjinske politike koju je
juče, u Novom Sadu, organizovao Forum za etničke odnose.
Obeshrabruje i zabrinjava činjenica da danas, četrnaest
godina nakon oktobarskih promena, govorimo o potrebi da se učini iskorak u
oblasti manjinske politike, umesto da je taj iskorak već učinjen, naglasila je
Aniko Muškinja Hajnrih, pokrajinska ombudsmanka.
Ona je u svom izlaganju upozorila da su nakon izborne smene
vlasti, a imajući u vidu odluku Ustavnog suda, prava manjina smanjena, te da su
aktivnosti vladajuće koalicije na planu manjinske politike potpuno
zanemarljive. Nazadovanje je, po njenim rečima, evidentno u nizu stvari.
Odlukom republičke vlade obrazovan je Savet za nacionalne manjine, ali se ovo
telo do sada nijednom nije sastalo, čime se nastavlja politika simulacije kakva
je bila karakteristična i za Savet formiran uredbom Vlade iz 2009. godine. Ni
navodno ustanovljavanje Sekretarijata za javne politike, kao i najave o
uspostavljanju odgovarajućih savetodavnih tela nemaju, smatra Muškinja Hajnrih,
poseban značaj, kada se ima u vidu da ne postoji resorno ministarstvo za
ljudska i manjinska prava, a Vladina kancelarija za ljudska i manjinska prava
nije organ uprave.
Formiranje fasadnih institucija samo je jedan u nizu
problema. U formulisanju, a još više u
primeni nove manjinske politike morale bi se otkloniti i druge prepreke -
psihološke, pre svega. Potrebno je, recimo, otkloniti strah manjina da će
insistiranje na integraciji dovesti do njihove asimilacije. Poseban problem je
odsustvo političke volje da se pristupi izmenama i dopunama zakona, kao što je
Zakon o nacionalnim savetima nacionalnih manjina. Pored ovih, postoje i drugi
limitirajući faktori, poput zabrane zapošljavanja u javnom sektoru ili
pogrešnih tumačenja pojedinih ustavnih odredbi. Na primer, ustavna odredba po
kojoj niko nije dužan da se izjašnjava o svojoj nacionalnoj pripadnosti tumači
se tako da niko ne sme biti pitan o nacionalnoj pripadnosti, što je dovelo do
apsurdne situacije da u Srbiji danas niko ne raspolaže preciznim podacima o
nacionalnoj pripadnosti zaposlenih u zakonodavnoj, izvršnoj i sudskoj vlasti,
kao i u organima državne uprave. Ako ovi podaci ne postoje, kako onda, zapitala
se Aniko Muškinja Hajnrih, voditi politiku afirmativnih mera?
Eva Vukašinović, zamenica pokrajinskog ombudsmana zadužena
za prava nacionalnih manjina, podsetila je organizatore okruglog stola na
istraživanja u vezi sa radom nacionalnih saveta, čiji bi rezultati, kako je
istakla, mogli biti veoma korisni u formulisanju integrativne strategije. Pošto
je integracija proces u kome učestvuju pripadnici i većine i manjine, potreban
je kontinuiran rad na edukaciji manjina o njihovim pravima, ali i pripadnika
većine o tradiciji i kulturi manjina, odnosno o značaju afirmativnih mera.
Potrebno je, zatim, podstaći nacionalne savete da budu aktivniji i u punoj meri
koriste svoja ovlašćenja, a nadležne organe pojedinih lokalnih samouprava da se
upoznaju sa svojim obavezama kada su nacionalni saveti u pitanju, kako ih ne bi
sprečavali u korišćenju njihovih ovlašćenja. Radi što uspešnije integracije
moraju se opozvati ili sprečiti procesi zatvaranja manjina, kako prema
većinskoj zajednici, tako i prema drugim manjinama.
Pored ovih, poseban problem je što pravni sistem, kako je
istakla zamenica pokrajinskog ombudsmana,
ne prepoznaje nacionalne savete. Primera radi, Zakon o javnoj svojini ne
prepoznaje nacionalne savete kao korisnike javne svojine, niti je definisan
oblik svojine nacionalnih saveta. Zakon o zabrani diskriminacije ne prepoznaje
nacionalni savet kao telo koje može, podnoseći tužbu, pokrenuti postupak za
utvrđivanje diskriminacije, dok Zakon o budžetskom sistemu ne prepoznaje
nacionalne savete kao indirektne korisnike budžeta. U svom izlaganju Eva
Vukašinović se osvrnula i na odluku Ustavnog suda Srbije koji je utvrdio da
pojedine odredbe Zakona o nacionalnim savetima nacionalnih manjina nisu u
saglasnosti sa Ustavom. Problem sa odlukom Ustavnog suda je u tome što je uočio
istovetan problem u oblastima kulture i obrazovanja, ali je proglasio
neustavnim samo odredbe koja se odnose na oblast obrazovanja, ali ne i na
oblast kulture..
Pošto nacionalne manjine nisu, po oceni Foruma za etničke
odnose, ostvarile punu integraciju u društvo, Forum je pokrenuo inicijativu za
izradu Nacionalne strategije integrativne manjinske politike. Izrada strategije
spada u red najvažnijih javnih politika, a njezinom primenom ojačale bi se veze
između različitih nacionalnih zajednica, kao i društvena kohezija.
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