The closing event of the Twinning project “Support to the advancement of human rights and zero tolerance to discrimination” took place on 07 June 2017 at Palace Serbia. Audiences were addressed by Acting Director of the Office for Human and Minority Rights, Suzana Paunović, Commissioner for Protection of Equality, Brankica Janković, Nicolas Bizel of the EU Delegation to Serbia, the Ambassador of Austria, Johannes Eigner, and Ecomonic Advisor at the Embassy of Slovenia, Goran Križ.
The project, which lasted for 22 months, is financed by the EU with € 1.2 million and co-financed by the Republic of Serbia with € 60,000. The project aimed at strengthening and promoting the implementation of the relevant legislative and strategic frameworks on protection against discrimination, protection of minorities and of human rights defenders and bringing it in line with European standards. An important element of the project was to promote the implementation of measures related to fundamental rights in the Action Plan for Chapter 23 and to focus on the principle of anti-discrimination and the position of socially vulnerable groups as well as national minorities. Furthermore, the project contributed to strengthening the existing capacity of the Office for Human and Minority Rights, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality and other key stakeholders for the implementation of human rights and to make anti-discrimination policies more effective at national and local level.
Activities implemented within the project supported the Office for Human and Minority Rights in monitoring the implementation of the Action Plan on the Realization of the Rights of National Minorities as well as in monitoring the implementation of recommendations of UN Human Rights Mechanisms. A special focus was put on the procedure for preparing the next state report for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which is due in October 2017. Besides that recommendations informing the planning for the next Strategy for the Prevention and Protection against Discrimination and the accompanying Action Plan as well as deepening the impact of the current Strategy (2013-2018) and Action Plan (2014-2018) have been drafted. A broad range of stakeholders such as police officials, judge trainees, representatives of National Councils of National Minorities as well as of CSOs had the opportunity to participate in training activities primarily aiming at supporting the exchange of experience in the realm of anti-discrimination as well as of protecting the rights of human rights defenders. Currently, an e-learning tool aiming at strengthening the capacities of key local actors, particularly local self-government units in developing awareness raising measures for the phenomenon of discrimination and preventive measures against discrimination is being developed.

The Commissioner for Protection of Equality was able to further increase her visibility at the local level to ensure equal access to justice for persons who have experienced discrimination. A special focus was put on increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the recommendations issued by the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, which contribute to establishing structures effectively preventing future discrimination. Guidelines for creating anti-discrimination policies were developed as a tool to motivate employers in Serbia to abide by the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination and prevent discrimination at the work place. Via a training of trainer program the Commissioner for Protection of Equality had the opportunity to strengthen the skills of her staff for tailoring awareness raising methods to the needs of a broad range of stakeholders, which will in the long run contribute to further increasing the number of complaints reported to the Commissioner for Protection of Equality.

The most important outcomes so far are the following:
• Recommendations on how to further improve the processes of developing strategic documents in the area of protecting the rights of national minorities and in promoting equality,
• Recommendations on how to improve the monitoring of the implementation of recommendations of UN human rights mechanisms as well as the monitoring of the implementation of action plans in the area of anti-discrimination and the realization of rights of national minorities,
• Input for strategic documents of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality by way of a survey on “Citizens’ Attitudes towards Discrimination in Serbia”,
• Strengthened capacities of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality to do awareness raising and outreach work at the national and local level as well as collect evidence and proof in cases of discrimination,
• E-learning tool targeting key local actors, particularly local self-government units, in developing preventive and promotional measures ending discrimination at the local level,
• Capacity building for civil servants (74), National Councils of National Minorities (64) and CSOs (25) to promote access to justice and improve the protection of rights of vulnerable groups,
• Training activities on actual discrimination court cases targeting judge trainees (54) and training activities for police officials (28) on enforcing the protection of human and minority rights,
• Public awareness raising activities for the protection of the rights of human rights defenders and of national minorities.

The project has been implemented by the Vienna based Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights and the Office for National Minorities of the Republic of Slovenia who offered experiences and knowledge gained within a broad range of human and minority rights regimes as well as anti-discrimination mechanisms established in different EU member states. Some forty European experts cooperated with the Office for Human and Minority Rights, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality and a wide range of stakeholders by exchanging experiences, knowledge and skills through training events, working meetings, on the job trainings, developing legal and institutional analyses and drafting recommendations.
The closing event was attended by representatives of UN agencies present in Serbia, and of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Serbian actors including representatives of line ministries, National Councils of National Minorities, the Judicial Academy and Civil Society Organizations involved in the protection of human and minority rights.