Back Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina published series of podcasts and analytical articles about National Councils in Serbia

Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina published series of podcasts and analytical articles about National Councils in Serbia

Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina (IJAV) has recently finalised a six-month “Promotion of national minorities' equality” project financially supported within the joint action of the European Union and the Council of Europe “Promotion of diversity and equality in Serbia”. This organisation, which has been dealing with promotion and protection of national minorities in local context for three decades, emphasised a good co-operation with the National Councils who were in their research focus.

In order to enlighten the most pressing issues related to national minorities’ rights, IJAV published seven multi-media podcasts within the existing “React” podcast which was launched in 2020 as a weekly, thirty minutes long multi-media format. A special episode is dedicated to the understanding of Councils' work as well as level of trust in their work by members of the national communities. The issue of Councils' communication, both internal and external, is the topic of two separate podcasts, one of which is entitled as “noises in communication of national councils”. A special episode tackles the issue of official use of national minorities' language in Serbia, while the episode on role of schools in fighting against assimilation speaks about importance of listening classes in the mother tongue. Discrimination of Roma community is at the heart of the podcast entitled “Whether affirmative measures are sufficient” while the latest published podcast brings a story about primary and secondary school “Petro Kuzmjak” from Ruski Krstur as an example of good practice in protecting cultural diversity as a school which is unique in the world because classes are held in ruthenian language.

The second important project component was related to the publishment of analytical articles on the “Autonomy” web portal. The first published article introduces us to the topic, providing basic information on number and competencies of the national councils as well as existing legal framework, while a special article opens the question “who leads the circuit in the national councils”. Furthermore, reviewing the existing model of cultural autonomy to determine whether it meets needs of all communities that have registered Councils was recognised as one of priority activities by interlocutors. According to the opinion of political scientist and journalist Boris Varga, “national councils should represent the highest level of cultural autonomy. However, existing legal framework does not give the answer to the question what a national council actually is in the hierarchy of Serbian legal-administrative order- whether it is a consultative/advisory body or some kind of self-government at the level of local communities”.

A special attention was paid to the issue of councils' financing and census. Interlocutors share the opinion that existing budget funding is not sufficient for their adequate functioning. Jelena Perkovic, a researcher from the Centre for regionalism, emphasises that distributed funds are very often insufficient to cover annual costs of rent of those national councils which represent smaller communities. More detailed information about why the census is essential for the councils' functioning is available herе.

On the other hand, Tobias Flessenkemper, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade implies on importance of improving knowledge, collection and accuracy of data about the position of members of national minorities in the article which discusses activities to protect minority rights. Linked to this, interlocutors from civil society and international organisations believe that discrimination and human rights' violations have been seen through the prism of ethnical representation only which influences a lack of research about position of women and LGBT+ population within minority national communities.

According to information provided by IJAV, there were 4000 viewers of these articles during project implementation. Additionally, published podcasts contributed to increasing visibility of “React” podcast during project implementation, with 2662 listeners per month compared to approximately 2000 before its launch.

Serbia 29 November 2021
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