On Monday, 30 October 2023, the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) integration team
held the second workshop on labour rights in Serbia and the importance of business ethics and
communication. The session, held within the Refugees for Refugees (R4R) project activity, aimed
to rally refugees and asylum seekers who want to join the labour market in Serbia and familiarise
themselves with their rights and business ethics.
The session was conducted by BCHR service advisers Milena Ančić and Andrijana Miljković.
Communication standards, the dress code and work attitude, as well as the legal framework in
Serbia, differ greatly from those in the countries of origin of most of BCHR’s clients. We wanted
to discuss in detail with our clients this issue that is of exceptional importance in the process of
their integration.
The first part of the session focused on the concepts of business communication and culture, the
rules and tacit standards in the field, as well as the key legal provisions governing the workers’
rights and obligations, on the one hand, and the employers’ obligations, on the other. We
highlighted the importance of legal employment and its advantages, especially for vulnerable
individuals, such as those who are not fluent in Serbian or familiar with Serbian law.
During the second part of the session, BCHR’s client from Iraq, Ahmed Al-Riebat, who has also
been engaged within R4R as an assistant for refugees, shared his experience of joining the Serbian
labour market. He spoke about the differences between the business culture and communication
in Serbia and his country of origin. He tried to alert the attendees planning on finding a job in
Serbia to the employers’ expectations and the difficulties they may encounter in communication
with their coworkers and how to overcome them more easily.