Legal source(s)

• Constitution of the Republic of Serbia,Official Gazette RS, Nos 98/06 and 16/22 (Ustav Republike Srbije), Article 138
• Law on the Protector of Citizens,Official Gazette RS, No 105/21 (Zakon o Zaštitniku građana)

Human rights capacity support

Functions

• Oversight
• Providing remedy
• Collecting data on human rights violations
• Performing promotional activities
• Other

Specific mandates

• Ombud with a mandate on maladministration
• National preventive mechanism (NPM) under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT)
• National monitoring mechanism under the CRPD
• Monitoring of forced returns
• Reporting in trafficking in human beings
• Rights of the child
• Any other function under international human rights conventions, under EU legislation or under the national legal system

Structured cooperation with partners at national level

• To prevent the risk of statelessness, the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, the Protector of Citizens (ombudsman) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees signed an agreement on understanding and further cooperation in 2019.
• The ombudsman is a member of the association of local ombudsmen.
• The ombudsman cooperates with civil-society organisations and has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Network ofOrganizationsfor Children of Serbia.

Structured cooperation with partners at international and EU level

• The ombudsman is a member of the following international networks: Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, European Network of National Human Rights Institutions, Association of Mediterranean Ombudsmen of the International Ombudsman Institute, European Network of Ombudsmen, European Network of Ombudspersons for Children, Children’s Rights Ombudspersons’ Network in South and Eastern Europe and European Ombudsman Association.