The invisible people
Originally published on: http://roberthardhenglish.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/the-invisible-people/
All over the Western Balkans, in all the countries that formerly constituted Yugoslavia, it lives thousands of Roma who have neither identity cards nor birth certificates. Without these documents, they do not have access to health services, the children do not receive education and the adults get no employment. The law gives them no protection because they do not exist. They are legally invisible.
One example is the case of Djulijan, who was born in 1999 in Kosovo Polje, but whose birth was never registered with the authorities. In 2006 Djulijan became seriously ill and was hospitalized in Belgrade. For him to get treatment the parents borrowed the health insurance certificate of Djulijan’s two years older cousin, Senad. Unfortunately Djulijan dies in the hospital in Belgrade, only seven years old, and his cousin Senad gets registered as dead with the authorities. In early 2007 Senad’s parents initiate a legal process with the help of the organization Praxis, in order to delete the inaccurate registration of Senad’s death. The years go and it is only after a long and protracted legal process that the, on paper seemingly deceased, Senad may begin in school and get access to health care, etc. Djulijan, however, lived and died as a legally invisible person with no rights whatsoever.
In Serbia, the government argues that the current legislation is sufficient and does not constitute an obstacle in order for ‘legally invisible’ persons to obtain the registration required. This despite years of criticism from the UN, EU, Council of Europe and international and national human rights organizations such as Civil Rights Defenders and Praxis. This despite the fact that the authorities has been offered a solution – A Model Law on the Procedure for Recognition of Persons before the Law, which prescribes simplified procedures, aimed at solving the issue in a very short time. The legislation, prepared by our partner organization the Center for Advanced Legal Studies, would simplify the registration process, which today includes the submission of up to 16 different documents to the authorities – and that by people who in many cases lack proper housing and hardly are able to travel. Civil Rights Defenders is working for the introduction of similar legislation in other countries in the Western Balkans.
The Serbian government has for years denied that the system must change so that the thousands of people who today are living outside the society’s safety net can get access to their rights. It is time for the Serbian government to face the facts and to show that there is a willingness to correct a legislation that discriminates against a very vulnerable group – neither the people nor their problems will disappear by believing that they do not exist if you just keep them invisible.
