MPs debate anti-discrimination bill

Parliament’s spring session opened up with a debate today on the draft anti-discrimination law, before returning to the items on the agenda. Opposition parties exploited the loopholes in the new Code of Procedure to pose questions at the beginning of the session, and asked the government to explain why the anti-discrimination law had been pulled from parliamentary procedure. MPs debate anti-discrimination bill Democratic Party (DS) official Jelena Trivan said that the reason was that the law had to be finalized before it could be presented to parliament. She said that adoption and implementation of the law required general and widespread approval from the public, and that such an important law had to enter parliamentary procedure already confirmed by “all relevant factors.” Trivan said that the DS supported the absolute equality of all citizens, and that the party supported the law and would vote for its enactment. Nenad Canak of the Vojvodina League of Social Democrats said that parts of the anti-discrimination law regarding sexual orientation had been taken from Dutch laws. He said that law should be in accordance with the typical laws on such matters in European Union member-states. Canak said that effective implementation of this law required a high level of agreement between social groups within the country. Also on the agenda are draft laws on international legal aid in criminal matters, on combating money laundering and financing terrorism, as well as ratification of a convention on hi-tec crime, a Council of Europe (CoE) convention on laundering, seeking, seizing and confiscating income acquired through crime, and on financing terrorism. MPs are also due to debate a draft law on confirming a supplementary protocol to the Convention on Hi-Tec Crime, pertaining to incrimination of elements of a racist or xenophobic nature carried out via computer systems. Also on the agenda will draft laws on ratifying CoE conventions on combating human trafficking and terrorism. Speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic has also proposed a debate on ratification of amendments to a European convention on combating terrorism and a draft agreement between Serbia and Denmark on streamlining visa issuance procedures. The agenda also features draft laws on birth certificates, changes to laws on expropriation, fiscal procedure and fiscal administration. A hundred draft laws await MPs in parliament’s spring session, the most important of which are the adoption of a law on parliament and a new Code of Procedure, whose amendments have recently been enacted. Parliament (FoNet, archive)

MPs debate anti-discrimination bill

Democratic Party (DS) official Jelena Trivan said that the reason was that the law had to be finalized before it could be presented to parliament.

She said that adoption and implementation of the law required general and widespread approval from the public, and that such an important law had to enter parliamentary procedure already confirmed by “all relevant factors.”

Trivan said that the DS supported the absolute equality of all citizens, and that the party supported the law and would vote for its enactment.

Nenad Čanak of the Vojvodina League of Social Democrats said that parts of the anti-discrimination law regarding sexual orientation had been taken from Dutch laws.

He said that law should be in accordance with the typical laws on such matters in European Union member-states.

Čanak said that effective implementation of this law required a high level of agreement between social groups within the country.

Also on the agenda are draft laws on international legal aid in criminal matters, on combating money laundering and financing terrorism, as well as ratification of a convention on hi-tec crime, a Council of Europe (CoE) convention on laundering, seeking, seizing and confiscating income acquired through crime, and on financing terrorism.

MPs are also due to debate a draft law on confirming a supplementary protocol to the Convention on Hi-Tec Crime, pertaining to incrimination of elements of a racist or xenophobic nature carried out via computer systems.

Also on the agenda will draft laws on ratifying CoE conventions on combating human trafficking and terrorism.

Speaker Slavica Đukić-Dejanović has also proposed a debate on ratification of amendments to a European convention on combating terrorism and a draft agreement between Serbia and Denmark on streamlining visa issuance procedures.

The agenda also features draft laws on birth certificates, changes to laws on expropriation, fiscal procedure and fiscal administration.

A hundred draft laws await MPs in parliament’s spring session, the most important of which are the adoption of a law on parliament and a new Code of Procedure, whose amendments have recently been enacted.