The significance of national councils and the activism of national minorities in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina

The empirical research on nine national minorities at the territory of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina was carried out in May 2010, just before the elections for the national minority's councils in the Republic of Serbia. According to findings, the majority of respondents were familiar with the possibility of establishing the national councils (over 60%), although there are notable differences depending on national affiliation. The expectations from the councils are most frequently the keeping of tradition and customs (28%) and the group identity (25%), as well as the care for economic status of the members of national and ethnical communities (22%). Among the respondents there is about 35% active in various organizations and associations, mostly in civil associations (12.4%), political parties (12.2%) and sport societies (11.3%), but less in NGOs (5.8%). At the same time it is appointed that there is more significant readiness for engagement on behalf of their own national community, especially by means of volunteer work activities. There were also inquired the normative regulation of national council's jurisdiction and functions, as well the problems of appropriate designation of ethnical minority groups. The conclusion is that respondents mostly recognize the national councils as the means of keeping their collective identities, but do not consider them as an additional institutional mechanism of protection and improvement of their minority rights in Serbia