Serbia

Assistance Advocacy Access – Serbia and Mine Aid – Croatia organized a friendly sitting volleyball match in cooperation with sports clubs “Smeč” (Serbia) and “Sisak” (Croatia in downtown Belgrade on Saturday 30 July. The teams played together for the first time to mark the first anniversary of the entry into force and also promote sports and cooperation in sports for persons with disabilities in the region of Southeast Europe.

On the Friday before the game, Mile Corluka, president of the Croatian Sitting Volleyball Association and Vilijam Maksimovic, director of the “Smeč” club together with Marija (Mine Aid) and Jelena (AAA–S) held at a press conference at the Media Centre in Belgrade.

Campaigners called on all the states that still haven’t joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions to do so, with special emphasis on Serbia, as the only country in the region that is still outside of the treaty. Marija stressed the importance of cooperation in the region, mentioning the existing cooperation between NGOs, campaigners and survivors and cooperation between mine action centers of Croatia and Serbia. She called on the states in the region to expand this form of cooperation into wider exchange of experiences and good practices which would make it easier for Serbia to join the treaty. Journalists asked several questions about the possibilities for regional cooperation on stockpile destruction in Serbia.

Mile Corluka of the Croatian Sitting Volleyball Association explained that cooperation is key to making things happen in the region, and that this was a motivation for the sports teams to engage in the campaign event, he summed it up by saying, “It’s in our interest to support the initiatives of others. If there is no one that can play in Serbia, if there is no one that can play in Bosnia, no one that can play in Hungary – who are we in Croatia going to play with?!”

Mile talked about his experiences as a survivor and the long process of rehabilitation and reintegration and the role that sports had played. He found his way to psychosocial recovery through sports and has dedicated 15 years of his life to motivating other survivors and persons with disabilities to engage into sports activities. Mile said that disability pensions and financial compensation alone do not solve the problems of persons with disabilities. Social inclusion is necessary at all levels and without adequate programs for social (re)integration many of the survivors and persons with disabilities cannot find the motivation to live.

“Youth with disabilities have to be included. There are programs, but still no adequate model for engaging them. You might not see them in the streets, but they exist, they live behind the walls of hospitals and rehabilitation centers and they need to be included”, he said.

Contact: Ms. Jelena Vicentic, Assistance. Advocacy. Access - Serbia, jelena@ppps.org.rs

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