SERBIA (December 5, 2007)— The Parliament of Serbia and its Committee for Labor and Social Affairs, in cooperation with UNDP, organized a public hearing today on which draft Law on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities was discussed. Parliament is planning to adopt the Law in 2008.

The government of Serbia adopted a decision on signing of the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol to it at a session held November 22, 2007. The delegation, which consisted of the assistant minister, head of Department for Protection of Persons with Disabilities and a disability expert who represented Serbia in Ad Hoc Committee, agreed to travel to UN Headquarters in New York to sign the two instruments on December 18, 2007.

According to information from Serbia's Ministry of Justice, five complaints have been submitted to courts under the Law on Prevention of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities so far. In one case, a court adopted 1st degree adjudication in favor of the plaintiff, a blind person who sued the Center for Social Welfare in city of Sabac. The plaintiff was demanding that his allowance money be transferred to his banking account rather than cash payment at home. The Center for Social Welfare rejected the request, claiming "it is acting in beneficiary's best interest.” Even though Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs was the defendant, its Department for Protection of Persons with Disabilities interpreted the Law in favor of plaintiff, claiming that positive discrimination is prohibited by Law. Three complaints are still being processed by competent courts and one of the claims had been rejected as inadmissible.