The second phase of the campaign "I sign", dedicated to the full implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, started today in Serbia. Billboards and city-lights on the bus stations in Belgrade, as well as billboards in Niš, Novi Sad, Kruševac, Kikinda, Vranje and Užice, marked the continuation of the campaign and pointed out which messages we want to send.

At the time when the campaign started, in the autumn last year, the Serbian parliament has already ratified the Convention but it was not binding because it was not ratified by sufficient number of states. After the Parliament of Andorra had confirmed it on 22 April, conditions that it enters into force on 1 August 2014 were met, which represents the beginning of a new era in the protection of women’s human rights in Europe and beyond.

Since August this year, Serbia will be required to fulfill all the requirements of the Convention, set for countries that have ratified it. Because of that, at this stage of the campaign, we want to remind of the given promises, respectively what the state of Serbia committed.

The main messages of our campaign are: „It has been promised stalking to be a criminal offence. Stricter sentences for perpetrators have been promised. Support to SOS help lines has been promised. Urgent measures for protection victims of violence have been promised. Rape crisis centres have been promised. Nobody likes empty promises. Things that nobody likes have to be changed!“