Community of Serbs in Rijeka
tel. ++385 51 / 330 - 867
fax. ++385 51 / 330 - 873
e-mail: vsnm-ri@net.hr
City Council of Serb National Minority Rijeka
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donators:
- Ured za udruge Vlade RH
- Ministarstvo evropskih integracija RH
- Primorsko-Goranska County
- City of Rijeka
- Istarska County
- American Embassy in Croatia
- Open Society Institute Croatia
- Westminster Foundation for Democracy
- Minority Rights Group International
- Council of Europe
Community of Serbs in Rijeka is a non-government and non-political organization that brings together citizens, members of the Serb ethnic community from the region of Rijeka and the Primorsko-Goranska County with an aim to foster and care for their cultural, religious and national identity, but also for the protection of human and minority rights in conformity with the existing legal regulatory rules of the Republic of Croatia and international conventions and instruments, which Croatia adopted to adhere as its standards.
The Community was founded in 1992 and at the time it operated within the regional Community of Serbs in Rijeka, Istria and Gorski Kotar, and as of 1994 it has been performing under its current name. Not long after the Serbian Democratic Forum of Zagreb, it was the first organization of the Serb ethnic community in the Republic of Croatia. The SCR is one of the founders and members of the Serb National Council. The SCR performs in conformity with the law on Associations in the Republic of Croatia, an the following organizational forms are within its structure: Sector for Cultural and Sports Activities, Sector for International Co-operation, Committee for Human Rights.
Community of Serbs cooperates with numerous NGOs from Croatia (Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Zagreb, GOLJP - Zagreb, DOS from Split, Centre for Peace and Human Rights from Osijek and Vukovar, Committee for Human Rights from Karlovac, Serbian Democratic Forum from Zagreb etc.) from Bosnia and Hercegovina ( Helsinki Committee for Human Rights from Sarajevo, Independent from Zenica, Serbian Democratic Forum from Banja Luka, ZGP from Mostar etc.), from FR Yugoslavia (Helsinki Committee for Human Rights from Belgrade, Agency of Local Democracy from Subotica, Swiss Disaster Relief from Belgrade, Serbian Democratic Forum from Belgrade etc.). The co-operation with the Minority Rights Group International from London will intensify in 1999 and 2000 with the organizing of an international conference on the topics of application of a Framework Convention on protection of minorities of the Council of Europe and on minority self-government with participation of Serb and Croat minorities from Hungary and Croat and Hungarian minorities from Vojvodina.
For its projects in the realm of protection and promotion of human and minority rights, SCR is financed through international donators (Open Society Institute Croatia, MRG from London, Westminster Foundation from London, American Embassy in Croatia), whereas for the realm of culture, the financing is through local government, the City of Rijeka, and Primorsko-Goranska County.
With the enactment of the Constitutional Law on National Minorities brought forth at the end of year 2002, the key law regulating the rights and position of national minorities in the RH (Republic of Croatia), and previously the Law on the Official Use of the Languages of National Minorities in the RH and the Law on Education in the Languages and Script of National Minorities, the Republic of Croatia has finished coordinating its legislature in the segment of protection of national minorities according to the criteria that must be fulfilled for entry into the European Union.
City Council of Serb National Minority in Rijeka
The Council of a national minority is a legal person that becomes such upon registration into the Register of Councils of National Minorities which is kept by the Ministry for General Administration Affairs and Judiciary Matters of the Republic of Croatia,
The Council is entitled to:
- propose to units of local self-government measures for the advancement of the position of the national minority in the state or in an area thereof, including the submission of proposals of general acts which regulate the issues of significance for a national minority to the bodies which adopt them;
- be informed about each issue which the working bodies of the representative body of a self-government unit will discuss, and which pertains to the position of a national minority;
- propose candidates for duties in state administrative bodies and bodies of self-government units;
- provide opinions and proposals with regard to the programs of radio and television stations at the local and regional level intended for national minorities or programs which deal with minority issues.
The units of local self-government, according to the stipulations of the Constitutional Law on the Rights of National Minorities are obliged to:
- provide the funds for the work of The Council of National Minority, including the funds for the performance of administration tasks for their needs, and they may also provide the funds for the conduct of specific activities set forth in the working program of the Council of National Minority.
- The authorities of a self-government unit shall be obliged, in the preparation of proposals of general acts, to request from the Council of National Minority established for its area an opinion and proposals with regard to the provisions which regulate the rights and freedoms of national minorities.