Study on the implementation of the Law on the prohibition of discrimination in Serbia, published by the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights, was made by Mario Reljanovic, professor at the Law Faculty of the Union University, with the support of the UN Human Rights Team.
Study on the implementation of the Law on the prohibition of discrimination in Serbia is the result of the analysis of 87 cases (out of 150) initiated before the Serbian courts for a period of 9 years from the date when the anti-discrimination Law was applied. The analyzed cases were taken primarily from the Legal Service of the Commissioner for the protection of equality and the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights.
The study analyses to what extent the courts in Serbia handle and correctly apply clear legal concepts and precise rules in which there is little or no room for deviation in case-law, with regard to anti-discrimination law. The study showed inconsistency in the application of legal definitions relating to discrimination, even within the same court, which is a result of the inexperience of judges in the field of anti-discrimination law.
Also, the publication raises the issue of the scope this area of law has, since to this day, the categories of persons most frequently identified in human rights reports in Serbia are particularly vulnerable in terms of discrimination, yet they do not benefit from the application of anti-discrimination laws, since these and other marginalized groups rarely appear in cases that reach the courts.
