To a large number of families in Serbian environments in Kosovo, since September of last year, the Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfer has suspended the payment of child allowance, writes KoSSev.
Users received an email from the relevant ministry at the end of August and beginning of September stating that it is necessary to "verify" their residence and that of their children.
Ines Aljević Mihajlović from the NGO Center for Advocacy of Democratic Culture (ACDC), which these women turned to for advice, says that they were required to provide the competent center for social work with information about themselves and the residence of the members of the households in which they live.
"According to that request, the women submitted their ID cards and extracts of their children showing their place of residence to the Kosovo Centers for Social Work, as well as vaccination certificates in the case of younger children, or certificates of regular schooling in the case of older children," says Aljević Mihajlović.
Unclear verbal requests
In the centers for social work, the parents did not manage to find out why they were being asked for verification at that moment, but only received the answer that it was a request from the ministry, which is not even in written form, but verbal.
During the last three months of last year, parents received another email, this time with an order to deliver the same documentation by mail.
"They were told that the documentation is sent through the Kosovo Post Office and that the post office employees know how and to whom to send the documentation. The women then approached that method of delivering the documentation, however, the delivery of the child allowance to those families did not continue, they did not even receive an answer as to whether their documents were accepted at all or not and if not - why they were not," he says.
According to her, there followed a period when parents increased their calls, mostly informally to this organization, asking if they could explain to them what it was about and if they knew anything more about that regulation.
ACDC immediately organized a series of meetings with international organizations from which, as Aljević Mihajlović says, they failed to get concrete answers as to whether they are familiar with this regulation and whether they know all the points it contains.
A confusing sequence of events
Aljević Mihajlović goes on to say that in January users received another email. In it, it was written that they should report to the Agency for Statistics of Kosovo in order to verify the residence of them and their children and to continue with the payment of child allowance according to the protocol.
The women who came forward were confused - what does social welfare have to do with the Statistics Agency?
"Some women reported to the Agency, some families did it, some didn't, most from the north of Kosovo didn't because they simply can't understand what those two categories have to do with each other."
Aljević Mihajlović notes that it is difficult to understand, because even that part of the civil sector that could interpret such a decision cannot help them because there is no such decision and none of them had the opportunity to learn about the reasons and legal justification of such a decision.
She herself is one of the mothers whose follow-up was suspended for the reasons mentioned. He says that the amount approved for these purposes is not overly significant, but if we are talking about democratic principles, "let's apply them to everyone."
"It is problematic, devastating and humiliating to violate children's rights. The law states that all children born in Kosovo until the age of 16 are entitled to child allowance. I believe that if that rule applies to the majority community, it should also apply to the minority community. I would not like to be frustrated by the fact that I now have to prove my residence in Kosovo with some additional documents."
She notes that the source of the biggest frustration is the lack of interaction with the competent ministry, which has not given any of them an explanation of any kind.
Affected parents should report by the 15th. April
In addition to non-governmental organizations, citizens can also turn to the Office for Free Legal Aid established by the Government of Kosovo, which also exists in North Mitrovica. It is located in the North City building on the first floor.
In order to gain a clear insight into the number of families involved, the informal association of parents, of which Ines is a member, invited all fathers and mothers to contact them in order to register the cases.
"These data will help us to know the number of families we are talking about in future meetings with the international community, which has only recently become aware of this problem. I invite all fathers and mothers who are denied this right to contact us between April 1 and 15."
The invitation applies to parents from municipalities in the north and those who live in other parts of Kosovo.
Source: KoSSev
