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.
Not one project intended for support to women victims of violence оr victims of criminal acts in general received the support of the Ministry of Justice at their last open call for granting funds collected on the basis of deferred prosecution in February this year.
The Coalition prEUgovor is presenting its latest Alarm – an independent semi-annual report on Serbia’s progress regarding the political criteria and the implementation of policies in the areas covered by Chapters 23 (Justice and Fundamental Rights) and 24 (Justice, Freedom and Security) of the accession negotiations with the European Union.
The Autonomous Women's Center has developed a database of free services for women with experience of violence and other citizens during a state of emergency that includes various forms of support and information.
After the initial drop in calls and messages once the state of emergency was declared, women have started contacting the Autonomous Women’s Center again, primarily because the relevant institutions were not accessible to them or provided them with contradictory or insufficient information. Data shows that in this one month the Autonomous Women’s Centre had been contacted by 3 times more women than usual, even in the situation in which SOS hotline is available only from 10 am to 3 pm due to adjusted organization of work.