IPC participated at the Regional Conference in Access to Civil Registration and Documentation in South-Eastern Europe: Progress and Remaining Challenges since the 2011 Zagreb Declaration, Podgorica, 25 October 2013
Published: 2013/27/10 09:39
A regional conference on the progress and challenges in the field of civil documentation and registration in South-Eastern Europe was held on 25 October 2013 in Podgorica, Montenegro.
It was organised by the Ministry of Interior of Montenegro and supported by the European Commission, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and UNHCR and was attended by representatives from three supporting organisations, government representatives from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Kosovo, civil society and UN agencies. Participants discussed the developments two years after the adoption of the Zagreb Declaration 2011 and considered steps ahead towards solving the issue of undocumented persons in the region. The main concerns that arose during the meeting were lack of positive changes and systematic solution regarding undocumented persons in the region, lack of data on the persons assisted and in need of assistance that would allow to quantify the progress made and to identify the existing needs, the high costs for obtaining documents for undocumented persons, and the violation of the right of every child to be registered after birth in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child