Meetings with National Minority Councils

The National Minorities' Rights Protection Deputy Ombudswoman Eva Vukasinovic started a series of meetings with presidents of the newly elected National Minority Councils (NMCs) with seats on the territory of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (APV). The aim of these meetings to discuss issues relevant for each national minority and ways in which its members hold the Provincial Protector of Citizens - Ombudsman (PPCO) institution could contribute to a more successful exercise, development and protection of their individual and collective rights. 

The key issues faced by the NMCs stem from the fact that they are not recognized in other laws concerning national minority communities members' rights exercise directly or indirectly. NMCs are formally neither government institutions nor public authorities or citizens' associations (i.e. non-governmental organizations), but they do perform public authorities and are funded from the state budget. This had direct implications concerning planning and implementing their activities since funds from the budget are transferred to their accounts at irregular intervals and are always late. Some of the topics of today's meetings with the Presidents of the Slovak and Romanian NMCs, Ana Tomanova Makanova and Daniel Petrovic respectively, were the experience of the last NMC elections, as well as the representation of women in them.

Within its mandate, the PPCO has established collaboration with all NMCs the members of which live on the territory of APV and has been monitoring their work according to the National Minority Councils Law. Detailed data on the exercise of the NMCs' authority during their first mandate have been published in the 'Four Years of the National Minority Councils' research survey.