The Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Marija Obradović, had received today the Head of the UNHCR Representation to Serbia, Francesca Bonelli, on a farewell visit.
Obradović and Bonelli have expressed their satisfaction with the achieved results of cooperation between MDULS and UNHCR, especially in the area of solving the so-called “legally invisible persons” and with the activities which were jointly implemented in order to enable the exercising of the right of entry into the Register of Births.
The interlocutors have concluded that Serbia is on the verge of eradicating statelessness, and have agreed that the future activities of all actors shall lead to the fulfilment of the goal of the UNHCR IBelong Campaign, which is the complete eradication of statelessness in the world by November 2024.
Obradović and Bonelli have also expressed their satisfaction with the level of cooperation achieved at the level of Local Self-government Units in Serbia, at which the employees who work with persons at risk of statelessness receive their training. In addition, good cooperation between MDULS and UNHCR in Serbia has been achieved in terms of informing the public about the ways in which the right of entry into the Register of Births can be exercised, as well as when it comes to providing support when solving individual cases of persons whose status issue hasn’t been solved.
At the meeting, it has been assessed that both MDULS and UNHCR, each within the scope of their competences, had fulfilled almost all the goals stipulated in the signed Memorandum of Understanding in the previous two years. The interlocutors have expressed their expectation that good cooperation, which was achieved thus far, shall continue in the future for the benefit of the citizens of Serbia.