Non-Territorial Autonomy and Legal Protection of the Symbols of Religious Organizations and National Minorities in Serbia Presented by: Dr. Đukić Date: 7 November 2023 Historical Overview - Ottoman Millet System • In the Ottoman Empire there was a parallel system of non- territorial governance based on the coexistence of religious/cultural communities called the millets, literally 'nations', which were given religious and cultural autonomy. • - - Serbian Orthodox millet Principality and Kingdom of Serbia • Gypsy tax collector • Serbian Jewish community Kingdom of Yugoslavia • Paris Peace Conference • Bilateral agreements • Legislation on churches and religious communities Socialist Yugoslavia - Minorities-Nationalities - 1974 Constitution SFRY - Article 245. - The nations and nationalities of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia shall have equal rights. - Article 248. - In addition to the constitutional rights which they enjoy in other socio-political communities, the nationalities shall also realize their sovereign rights in the Communes as the basic self-managing and socio-political communities. - 1977 Law on the Use of Coats of Arms, Flags and Anthems. FR Yugoslavia - Declaration of the people's representatives of Serbia and Montenegro - 1992 Yugoslav Constitution, Article 11 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia shall recognize and guarantee the rights of national minorities to preserve, foster and express their ethnic, cultural, linguistic and other peculiarities, as well as to use their national symbols, in accordance with international law. - 2002 Law on the Protection of the Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities Republic of Serbia - 2006 Constitution of the Republic of Serbia - Article 75 • Persons belonging to national minorities shall be guaranteed special individual or collective rights in addition to the rights guaranteed to all citizens by the Constitution. Individual rights shall be exercised individually and collective rights in community with others, in accordance with the Constitution, law and international treaties. • Persons belonging to national minorities shall take part in decision-making or decide independently on certain issues related to their culture, education, information and official use of languages and script through their collective rights in accordance with the law. • Persons belonging to national minorities may elect their national councils in order to exercise the right to self-governance in the field of culture, education, information and official use of their language and script, in accordance with the law. - Article 79 • Members of national minorities shall have a right to: expression, preservation, fostering, developing and public expression of national, ethnic, cultural, religious specificity; use of their symbols in public places; use of their language and script; have proceedings also conducted in their languages before state bodies.... • Under the Law and in accordance with the Constitution, additional rights of members of national minorities may be determined by provincial regulations. - Law on the Protection of the Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities • 1. National councils of national minorities • 2. Council for National minorities - National symbols of minorities may not be identical with the symbol of another country. - Law on National Councils of National Minorities • The National Council is an organization legally entrusted with certain public competences to participate in decision making or to independently make decisions about certain issues in the area of culture, education, information, and official use of languages and scripts in order to achieve the collective right of a national minority to self-government in those areas' - Elections • 23 National Councils are registered in Serbia • Council for National Minorities • Presidents of National Councils of national minorities and heads of state administration bodies (ministers) whose scope of authority includes issues concerning the position of national minorities. • Special decisions of the Council for National Minorities from 2006 have enforced the national symbols of the Bunjevac, Bosniak, Hungarian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, Macedonian, Romanian, Ruthenian and Ukrainian national minorities in Serbia.