Representatives of the Autonomous Women’s Center participated in a webinar dedicated to researching violence against women and children in Southeast Europe, organized by the Sexual Violence Research Initiative – SVRI.

At the beginning of the webinar we heard the Executive Director of SVRI, Elizabeth Dartnal, speak about the importance of investing in research on violence against women and children and noted that in 2016 the ‘cost’ of violence against women was 1.5 trillion US dollars (which is 2% of the world GDP). Simultaneously, data shows that only 0.002% of official developmental assistance is directed at combating violence against women, and out of that only 6% to research of this problem.

Professor Anita Burgund from the Faculty of Political Science, and assistants Violeta Markovic and Mariana Mesi, talked about data pertaining to the problem of violence against women and children in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Albania.

Later on, organizations that work on these issues were introduced to webinar participants – Victimology Society of Serbia, NADEI, Institute for the Mental Health of Children and Youth, ATINA, ASTRA, and the Autonomous Women’s Center.

A discussion followed on the topic of the importance of researching violence against women and children, issues that are sorely lacking data, and possibilities of cooperation.

The webinar was attended by about 60 participants from around the world.

A recording of the webinar is available on this link, and the presentations are available on this link.