Meetings with National Minority Councils Continued

Last week, Eva Vukasinovic, the National Minority Rights Protection Deputy Ombudswoman, met with Presidents of five National Minority Councils. They discussed current issues relevant to each minority community specifically, as well as the ways its members hold that the Provincial Protector of Citizens - Ombudsman (PPCO) could contribute to the advancement of their personal and collective human rights exercise and protection.

The fact that National Minority Councils (NMCs) are not recognized in other laws that concern minority rights exercise directly or indirectly is a key problem faced by the NMCs in their everyday work. Other issues discussed on these occasions were the experience concerning the last elections for new NMCs, along with the representation of women in them.

Based on its mandate, the PPCO has established cooperation with all NMCs the members of which live in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and monitored their work based on the provisions of the National Minority Councils Law. Detailed data on the exercise of the NMCs mandate during their first term have been published in the PPCO research study report „Four Years of the NMCs”.