Intercultural awareness 

The key top‑level policy document addressing social inclusion and intercultural awareness in Serbia is the Strategy for the Social Inclusion of Roma in the Republic of Serbia 2022–2030 (Strategija socijalnog uključivanja Roma i Romkinja za period 2022–2030). The Strategy aims to improve the quality of life of Roma by promoting human and minority rights, combating discrimination and antigypsyism, as a specific form of racism, and ensuring greater social inclusion in all segments of society.

Findings from the Regional Roma Survey (2017) highlight the continuing challenges faced by marginalised Roma, who experience limited access to opportunities across various domains of human development. The observed gap between Roma and non-Roma peers is particularly significant among young people: Roma youth aged 18–24 were almost twice as likely to be neither employed, nor in education or training (NEET), with substantial lifelong consequences. In response, the Strategy defines targeted measures for Roma youth as well as awareness‑raising measures aimed at public sector employers and the wider population to reduce discrimination and antigypsyism, identified as one of the Strategy’s primary objectives. Objective 1, Reducing discrimination and antigypsyism as a form of racism against the Roma national minority, includes the following measures:

• Improve and fully implement the legal and institutional framework to strengthen prevention and protection from discrimination and antigypsyism as a specific form of racism.
• Empower Roma to access their rights and preserve their cultural identity.
• Raise public awareness – particularly among public service providers – about the importance of combating discrimination and antigypsyism as a specific form of racism.

The publication “Analysis of the Implementation of Roma Social Inclusion Measures at the Local Level” (Analiza implementacije mera socijalne inkluzije Roma na lokalnom nivou) published in 2024 shows that not enough progress was made in the area of antigypsyism as a form of racism and discrimination. When asked whether training programmes that include topics on antigypsyism were organised for employees, 122 out of 135 local self‑government units responded negatively, while only 10 units responded positively. The publication concludes that this finding indicates a serious gap in the systemic approach to combating discrimination against Roma in Serbia and that more systematic efforts are needed in this area.

Young people's rights

The Ministry of Tourism and Youth (previously, the Ministry of Youth and Sports), as part of its regular activities, publishes different studies and reports. One of these surveys is the Survey on Position and Needs of Youth in the Republic of Serbia (Istraživanje položaja i potreba mladih u Republici Srbiji). 

As already mentioned in Chapter 1/1.6 Evidence Based Youth Policy/National Statistics and available data source, the responsible Ministry has been conducting regular annual surveys since 2008 aiming to analyse the rights, status, challenges and attitudes on social issues that young people in Serbia share. The Ministry’s aim is to incorporate these findings into youth policy-making processes. Therefore, research on the position and needs of young people, conducted at the national level, remain one of the key starting points of the Ministry for the development and monitoring of the implementation of strategic documents in the field of youth policy. 

Key initiatives to safeguard democracy and prevent radicalisation leading to violent extremism

In Serbia, at the national level, no initiative has been established that is directed solely at the prevention of radicalisation leading to the violent extremism of young people.

However, the Ministry of Education implements numerous activities and campaigns against violence in schools and among peers. In the past, the nationwide programme “School without Violence” (Škola bez nasilja) was implemented. On the Ministry of Education website, a dedicated page on prevention of and protection against of violence and discrimination is available with guidelines on the topic including procedures for crisis situations. 

More recently, in 2021 a national platform for the prevention and suppression of violence involving children, titled “I Protect You” (Čuvam te) was launched. The platform offers wide range of informative and educational content about violence, types of violence, and guidance on how to act in cases of violence. It includes online courses for students, parents and teachers, as well as a system for reporting violence.