Mothers of children with disabilities in Bečej on hunger strike over unpaid transport costs

Two mothers in Bečej, Serbia, are escalating their protest by beginning a hunger strike outside the municipal building, demanding reimbursement for transportation costs for their children with disabilities. This follows a warning strike last week, during which no concrete agreement was reached with local officials.

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The mothers are demanding that the authorities respect the laws or tell us that we should keep the children in the basement.

The mothers assert that they have exhausted all administrative and legal avenues and are now resorting to this drastic measure. Kristina Demeter Filipčev, a mother and journalist for the local portal Bečejski mozaik, explained that the municipality is failing to comply with regulations, including the Law on Combating Discrimination and the Law on the Foundations of the Education System. These laws, she contends, mandate the refund of transportation expenses for children with disabilities.

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We are resorting to such a radical move because we have exhausted all other possibilities.

Filipčev highlighted Article 189 of the education law, which obliges the municipality to finance travel costs for students with disabilities. She stated that the law does not require parents to submit specific requests, as the municipality should have data on such students through inter-departmental commissions and schools. "This means the municipality has unlawfully acquired money because they have not paid it to us, and we were forced to finance the transportation costs ourselves so that the child could attend primary school, which, as a reminder, is mandatory for every child by law, even for immobile children," she emphasized.

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The municipality does not respect regulations, starting from the Law on Combating Discrimination to the Law on the Foundations of the Education System, which provides for the refund of costs for children with disabilities and developmental disorders.

The mothers are not only fighting for financial reimbursement but also for the enforcement of existing laws. Filipčev noted the financial strain on families, especially those with limited income and small local media outlets facing financial exhaustion. "This is not primarily a fight for the payment of money, but a fight for local self-governments and the state to respect their own laws while they exist," she stated, adding that they would file a lawsuit with the Administrative Court regarding the rejection of their appeal.

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According to the law on the foundations of the education system, in Article 189, it is written that the municipality is obliged to finance the travel costs from and to school for children with developmental and other disabilities, and there is no provision regarding whether we as parents should submit a request for this.