6. KEY QUALITATIVE FINDINGS OF THE SURVEY The primary objective of the qualitative part of the Survey was to build upon the findings of the quantitative portion by looking at the actions of stakeholders who directly or indirectly target statelessness in the Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian community. In-depth interviews were selected as the most appropriate method for collecting this information. A tailor-made questionnaire was developed for each stakeholder group to identify actions taken to reduce and eliminate statelessness amongst the Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptians and understand the obstacles faced by the RAE population in both obtaining personal documents and exercising rights. As such, the qualitative survey focused on: • • • Laws and regulations relevant for statelessness in Serbia. The interviewees were staff of the Office of the Ombudsman, the Government watchdog that initiated a number of legislative amendments, as well as officers of the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Government (MoPALG) and the Ministry of the Interior (MoI). Exercise of rights by persons at risk of statelessness and obstacles encountered by the relevant stakeholders in practice. The interviews were conducted with five local authorities (Obrenovac, Čukarica, Kostolac, Bujanovac, and Leskovac) and an NGO involved in this issue from the very beginning (Praxis), as well as with organisations dealing with the socio-economic dimension of statelessness amongst the Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian population (the A11 Initiative for Economic and Social Rights). Lastly, the assessment also focused on the next steps to prevent the spread of statelessness in the RAE population. In addition to the Government institutions and local authorities mentioned above, the civil sector also provided valuable input in this regard. 6.1 Amendment of primary and secondary legislation The most significant change of legislation in this area took place in 2012, with the adoption of amendments to the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure that introduced a new procedure for formal establishment of date and place of birth.20 This procedure is intended for individuals unable to obtain birth registration in the administrative procedure (which is often the case with those whose parents are deceased and so unavailable for the retrospective registration procedure, individuals whose parents also lack documents, and those unable to provide sufficient proof for other reasons). This piece of legislation was highly significant for many legally invisible Roma, who had previously been unable to secure birth registration for years. The amendments were initiated by the Office of the Ombudsman, which reported receiving many complaints from CSOs in 2009 and 2010 about the birth registration procedure, with the problem especially pronounced in the Roma population and IDPs from Kosovo and Metohija. In addition, field visits to Roma communities by the Ombudsman and CSOs concluded that improvements to legislation were needed to address inefficiencies. 20 Law on Non-Contentious Procedure, Arts. 71a to 71lj. PERSONS AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS IN SERBIA OVERVIEW OF CURRENT SITUATION AND THE WAY FORWARD 47