Disturbing posters against migrants have been removed from Belgrade buses

Photograph: STAW BLGRD

City public transport company JKP GSP “Belgrade” has committed to regularly control and remove posters and photographs of discriminatory and xenophobic content from their vehicles, after the reaction of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality at the initiative of NGO Atina.

JKP GSP “Belgrade” informed the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Brankica Janković, that disturbing posters against migrants which, among other things, showed a photograph of decapitation, have been removed and that public transport vehicles will be checked daily before entering traffic, after her reaction to NGO Atina's report on the existence of the disputed content.

NGO Atina had previously addressed the Commissioner on March 10, 2021, pointing out that posters were seen on the city line 96, which express hatred and intolerance toward migrants, including “Stop the settlement of migrants in Serbia”.

The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality recommended that JKP GSP “Belgrade” remove posters expressing hatred and intolerance toward migrants from public transport vehicles as soon as possible, as well as to inspect the vehicles on a daily basis in order to remove any discriminatory content, and to inform the Commissioner of the measures taken to implement this recommendation.

At the end of March, JKP GSP “Belgrade” informed the Commissioner that they acted in accordance to the recommendations and “immediately upon learning of the presence of stickers and inscriptions of inappropriate content, inspected all the vehicles and removed them”. GSP “Belgrade” also issued an order which regulates the obligation to control trams, trolleys and buses on a daily basis before entering traffic. According to that order, directors of all traffic facilities and the director of OU “Corporate Security” are obliged to control vehicles on a daily basis when entering traffic, in terms of the existence of stickers or inscriptions that are not in the function of public transport (hate speech, disturbing and degrading content which aims to provoke fear in individuals or groups, i.e. to create intolerance and hatred toward them, is a call for violence against persons due to their personal characteristics, a call for a boycott, isolation, political content, etc.).

“If during the inspection it is determined that previously-mentioned stickers or inscriptions are present in the vehicle, it must not go into traffic until they are removed. Drivers are obliged to visually inspect the vehicle both inside and outside before exiting the garage, and during the shifts at the peripheral terminus, and check whether there are stickers or inscriptions that are not used for the functioning of public city transport,” the order cites. “If they notice anything, drivers are obliged to immediately inform the dispatcher of the traffic facility they work in, who is to organize further actions to remove the disputed content,” as stated in the response of JKP GSP “Belgrade” that was sent to the Commissioner.

The Commissioner also reminds that the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia prohibits any discrimination direct or indirect, on any grounds, especially on the grounds of race, sex, nationality, social origin, birth, and religion, political or other belief... It is also prohibited to incite racial, national, religious or other inequality, hatred and intolerance.

In the research of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality “Attitudes of citizens toward discrimination in Serbia”, from 2019, migrants i.e. asylum seekers represent a group that experiences the greatest social distance. “From the practice of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, it can be concluded that words and expressions used in forms of discrimination such as hate speech, harassing and humiliating treatment, aim to cause fear in individuals and groups, to create intolerance and hatred toward them, and often represent a call for violence against persons due to some of their personal characteristics”, the Commissioner stated. It is certain that every individual has the right to express their opinion and personal views, which is the basis of any free, democratic society. However, freedom of speech, regardless of the way in which ideas and views are presented, must never be an excuse for discrimination.

NGO Atina welcomes the reactions of both the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality and JKP GSP “Belgrade”, and confirms its further efforts in building a society free of xenophobia and discrimination.