10. 04. 2024.

On April 10, 2024, the conference "Labor Law Aspects of Human Rights - Theory and Application" was jointly organized by the Republic Agency for Peaceful Resolution of Labor Disputes, the Office of the Provincial Ombudsman, the Office of the Local Ombudsman of the City of Kragujevac and the Office of the Local Ombudsman of the City of Niš, with the support of the Serbian Ombudsman Association.

It is very important to note that a Cooperation Agreement between the Agency and the Serbian Ombudsman Association was signed on that occasion. The agreement was signed by the director of the Agency, Dr Ivica Lazović, and the president of the Serbian Ombudsman Association, Miljko Valjarevic.

The goal of the meeting, which brought together all local ombudsman in one place, was to gain new knowledge, share good practices and open a dialogue on improving the protection of human rights and the labour rights arising from them. The participants had the opportunity to hear the views of eminent experts in this field and to express their ideas and observations through an interactive approach.

The meeting was opened by the republican ombudsman Zoran Pašalić. Dr Gordana Damnjanović, assistant to the mayor of the city of Kragujevac in charge of health and social protection, human and minority rights, Katarina Mitrovska, local ombudsman of the city of Nis, and Snežana Knežević, deputy provincial ombudsman from Novi Sad, welcomed the participants in their opening speeches.

The labour law aspect of human rights, theory and application were discussed by Prof. Dr Bojan Urdarević from the Faculty of Law, University of Kragujevac and Prof. Dr Marko Davinić from the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade.

The interactive part of this conference was organized in the form of a panel discussion – sharing of best practices - on the topic of: "Labor Law Aspects of Human Rights - Theory and Application" moderated by docent Dr Dragana Ćorić - provincial protector of citizens, ombudsman, in which Miljko Valjarević, president of the Association of Ombudsman of Serbia, Jelena Milivojević, local ombudsman of the city of Kragujevac, Katarina Mitrovska, local ombudsman of the city of Niš and prof. Živko Kulić, PhD, conciliator and arbitrator of the Agency.

At the end of the conference, a fruitful discussion was opened on examples and challenges in the practice and work of local ombudsmen as well as conciliators and arbiters of the Agency.