Belgrade, 26 – 27 November 2020. The annual international Conference of the Victimology Society of Serbia will be organized online this year, on 26th and 27th November 2020, titled COVID-19 in the Balkans: patterns of victimization and victims’ rights. The conference aims to enable the exchange of experiences and knowledge related to the impact of COVID-19 on patterns of victimization, rights and victim support in the Balkans.
Belgrade, 25th November 2020. On the occasion of November 25th, World Day against Violence against Women, the French Institute in Serbia, in cooperation with the feminist cultural center BeFem, is organizing a debate Internet for all ?! Violence, misogyny, sexism and possible sources of resistance, which starts the campaign of 16 days of activism against violence against women.
230 women's NGOs from the Western Balkans sent a letter to UN agencies appeal them that during the realization of their activities include and respect the expertise and commitment of women's organizations, as well as to increase funds intended for support and protection of women's NGOs.
Violence in the emotional relationships of high school students, especially digital sexual violence, is not a topic that is completely close to high school teachers. This topic is generally not part of professional exchanges among teachers, and it is rarely discussed with students’ parents. However, teachers are extremely interested in finding out more about the causes and consequences of digital violence in partner relationships of young people, i.e. their students.
The Protector of Citizens (Ombudsman) and the Autonomous Women's Center, with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, conducted an in-depth study on the implementation of the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence in the City of Belgrade, which was publicly presented at the Round Table on October 8, 2020 in Belgrade. The research, which analyzes the actions of the competent authorities in the system of protection of victims of domestic violence, is the first of its kind and was conducted on the basis of submitted records of guardianship authorities, copies of minutes from the Coordination and Cooperation Groups, as well as individual protection and support plans designed at the meetings of the groups for coordination and cooperation in May 2018.
This year's CHANGE award for activism and contribution to the community of Sensa magazine was awarded to the campaign "I can choose to say NO - Love is not Violence" of the Autonomous Women's Center. On behalf of the campaign, the award was received by Jovana Markulić, a peer educator and SOS consultant, who said on that occasion that we are proud of this recognition and that we thank the Sensa magazine team for recognizing our work on changing patriarchal patterns.
On September 10th 2020 at 10:00 the Foundation Kvinna till Kvinna (Kvinna till Kvinna) will organize a presentation of the publication "Where is the money for women's rights? Financing trends in the Western Balkans. " The event will be held online, via the Zoom platform, and will be open to the public.
Over half of secondary school girls in Serbia have been exposed to online comments of a sexual nature, while almost every tenth of them experienced having their photos or videos published online by someone that they sent these materials to privately. Over half of secondary school boys were, on the other hand, exposed to online threats of physical violence, and 15% of them were faced with pressure to watch pornography or participate in acts inspired by pornography. One third of girls says that almost all forms of cyber violence they were exposed to more than once, was perpetrated by their current or former partner. Girls, more frequently than boys say they felt helpless and scared, while boys more frequently said that being exposed to cyber violence was not a big deal to them.
This is part of the results of the survey conducted on cyber violence and youth at the end of the previous and beginning of this year by the Autonomous Women’s Center (AWC) within the multi-year campaign dedicated to secondary school girls and boys „I can say no – Love is not violence“.
Autonomous Women’s Center presents a study on social policy in Serbia, from the gender perspective and from the perspective of women with experience of gender-based violence. It is a presentation of activities aimed at transposing the acquis communautaire of the European Union into the legislation of the Republic of Serbia, from the recently adopted Action Plan for Chapter 19 - Social Policy and Employment. The analysis focuses on four areas: social inclusion, social protection, prohibition of discrimination and equal opportunities.
Three years into the implementation of the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence, we do not have an official, unified report of state bodies on the effectiveness of its implementation, because no sessions of the government Council for the Suppression of Domestic Violence have been held since July 2018. In addition, no central records on cases of domestic violence (in electronic form) have been established, which would unite the data from the competent state bodies.