OPEN CALL FOR THE EU’S "RIGHTS, EQUALITY AND CITIZENSHIP (REC) PROGRAM“

The European Union's Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC) program is an instrument of the European Union aimed at promoting, protecting and enforcing the rights that ensure the equality of citizens guaranteed by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Treaty on European Union, the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as the international human rights conventions.

The Agreement on Accessing the European Union’s program "Rights, Equality and Citizenship", which Zoran Djordjevic, Minister of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, signed with Ambassador Sem Fabrizi, the Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, enabled the Republic of Serbia to join the REC program.

Joining this EU’s instrument will, by implementing the projects to be funded through this program, allow a better implementation of the laws, which the Republic of Serbia adopted in the previous period, as required by the EU. In addition, the participation in this program will provide the necessary experience of the EU member states for the purpose of fully reconciling the national legislation and practices with those of the EU member states.   

The goals of the program, which are important for the Republic of Serbia, are as follows:

• Encouraging effective implementation of the principle of non-discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation, including the respect for the principle of non-discrimination;

• Preventing and combating racism, xenophobia, homophobia and other forms of intolerance;
• Encouraging and protecting the rights of disabled persons;
• Promoting the equality of women and men and integrating the principle of gender equality;
• Preventing and combating all forms of violence against children, young people and women, as well as violence against other groups that are at risk of violence in close relationships and protecting the victims from this kind of violence;
• Protecting the rights of the child;  
• Contribution to achieving the highest level of protection of privacy and personal data. 

The total budget of the Program for the period from 2014 to 2020 amounts to 439,473,000.00 euros. The Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs provided an annual membership fee for the participation in the program and thus allowed the interested entities in the territory of the Republic of Serbia (national, regional and local authorities, employment offices, social partners, non-governmental organizations, higher education institutions and research institutes, experts  for the evaluation and assessment of the impact, national statistics offices, the media, etc.) to access significant funding for the implementation of the programs and projects for combating domestic violence, protecting the rights of disabled persons, gender equality and other segments of the protection of fundamental rights. 

Open calls for submitting project proposals under the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship program are as follows:

A limited call for submitting project proposals to support the national platforms of Roma persons

• The total funds earmarked for the call: 1,000,000.00 euros
• The deadline for submitting project proposals is November 8, 2018 

The call for submitting project proposals on the topic of preventing and combating gender-based violence and violence against children

• The total funds earmarked for the call: 13,300,000.00 euros
• The deadline for submitting project proposals is November 13, 2018

All calls for submitting project proposals are available on ec.europa.eu (http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/rec/calls/rec-ag-2018.html#c,topics=callIdentifier/t/REC-AG-2018/1/1/1/default-group&callStatus/t/Forthcoming/1/1/0/default-group&callStatus/t/Open/1/1/0/default-group&callStatus/t/Closed/1/1/0/default-group&+identifier/desc)  

The contact point for the program is the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs (https://www.minrzs.gov.rs/program-pravo-gradjanstvo-jednakost.html), which all interested parties may turn to for further information.

Source: civilnodrustvo.gov.rs  and Coordination Body