Anti-discrimination law changes next week

A draft law anti-discrimination law, which the Serbian government pulled from parliamentary procedure, will be returned next week with amendments. Tanjug learns from the prime minister’s cabinet that changes to the draft law will be completed quickly, as it is an extremely important law from a set of laws, whose adoption is a prerequisite for Serbia’s accession to the Schengen white list. Anti-discrimination law changes next week The government pulled the draft law from parliamentary procedure yesterday at the request of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC). Notification arrived from the government today of the decision to pull the law from procedure, before the session began. The draft law was first on the day’s agenda. Labor and Social Policy Minister Rasim Ljajic, whose ministry proposed the law, said that the decision to pull the contentious law had been taken at a cabinet meeting yesterday that he himself had not attended. “They did not call me on the pretext that I wasn’t available,” said Ljajic, speaking to journalists. He added that he had been visiting the Pcinjski district yesterday. He said that the SPC had asked for the law to be withdrawn for further "finalization", although it remained unclear what exactly needed to be finalized. He emphasized that it was especially dangerous because the SPC was not only contesting two articles, but the entire law. The minister added that the law was a condition for Serbia’s accession to the Schengen white list, and that the deadline for adopting the law was April. He warned that those who had insisted on pulling the law would bear all responsibility if it was not adopted on time. B92 has learned that the SPC asked for changes to Article 18, which guarantees freedom of religion, and contested adopting Article 21, which outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation. Rasim Ljajic (Tanjug, archive) Bill pulled at SPC’s behest? The Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) has confirmed that it sent a protest against the Law against Discrimination, which was pulled from parliamentary procedure. According to B92’s sources, this law was pulled from procedure at the request of the SPC. The Church confirmed to daily Blic that it had sent a letter to the Human and Minority Rights Ministry, but it could not confirm whether any other churches had lodged objections to the law as well. The decision to pull the law from procedure was made at a telephone session, even though parliament must adopt that law as part of the conditions for getting Serbia on the Schengen white list for visa-free travel. Human and Minority Rights State Secretary Marko Karadzic told B92 that the law against discrimination met all the highest standards and had gone through every procedure of adoption. “I can clearly say that this is a secular country and that no church can have any such say in the passing of such laws. The Human and Minority Rights Ministry will not allow any substantial changes to the law and will demand that the law be adopted as soon as possible,” Karadzic said. Director of the Belgrade Center for Human Rights Vojin Dimitrijevic told B92 that whoever was sabotaging the law did not want Serbia in the EU. “It’s a sorry country where one law is prepared for eight years, where everyone has had a chance to give their opinion—the parliamentary committees, and places where a real public debate was held—and when the law arrives for parliamentary procedure, that someone is powerful enough, the Church or someone else, to have that law pulled on the basis of one telephone session,” he said. The Coalition against Discrimination, the Gay-Straight Alliance and the Liberal Democratic Party have condemned the withdrawal of the laws from procedure. They are calling on the government to return the laws and to have them adopted by parliament in their unchanged form.

Anti-discrimination law changes next week

The government pulled the draft law from parliamentary procedure yesterday at the request of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC).

Notification arrived from the government today of the decision to pull the law from procedure, before the session began. The draft law was first on the day’s agenda.

Labor and Social Policy Minister Rasim Ljajić, whose ministry proposed the law, said that the decision to pull the contentious law had been taken at a cabinet meeting yesterday that he himself had not attended.

“They did not call me on the pretext that I wasn’t available,” said Ljajić, speaking to journalists. He added that he had been visiting the Pčinjski district yesterday.

He said that the SPC had asked for the law to be withdrawn for further "finalization", although it remained unclear what exactly needed to be finalized. He emphasized that it was especially dangerous because the SPC was not only contesting two articles, but the entire law.

The minister added that the law was a condition for Serbia’s accession to the Schengen white list, and that the deadline for adopting the law was April. He warned that those who had insisted on pulling the law would bear all responsibility if it was not adopted on time.

B92 has learned that the SPC asked for changes to Article 18, which guarantees freedom of religion, and contested adopting Article 21, which outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Bill pulled at SPC’s behest?

The Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) has confirmed that it sent a protest against the Law against Discrimination, which was pulled from parliamentary procedure.

According to B92’s sources, this law was pulled from procedure at the request of the SPC. The Church confirmed to daily Blic that it had sent a letter to the Human and Minority Rights Ministry, but it could not confirm whether any other churches had lodged objections to the law as well.

The decision to pull the law from procedure was made at a telephone session, even though parliament must adopt that law as part of the conditions for getting Serbia on the Schengen white list for visa-free travel.

Human and Minority Rights State Secretary Marko Karadžić told B92 that the law against discrimination met all the highest standards and had gone through every procedure of adoption.

“I can clearly say that this is a secular country and that no church can have any such say in the passing of such laws. The Human and Minority Rights Ministry will not allow any substantial changes to the law and will demand that the law be adopted as soon as possible,” Karadžić said.

Director of the Belgrade Center for Human Rights Vojin Dimitrijević told B92 that whoever was sabotaging the law did not want Serbia in the EU.

“It’s a sorry country where one law is prepared for eight years, where everyone has had a chance to give their opinion—the parliamentary committees, and places where a real public debate was held—and when the law arrives for parliamentary procedure, that someone is powerful enough, the Church or someone else, to have that law pulled on the basis of one telephone session,” he said.

The Coalition against Discrimination, the Gay-Straight Alliance and the Liberal Democratic Party have condemned the withdrawal of the laws from procedure. They are calling on the government to return the laws and to have them adopted by parliament in their unchanged form.