Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans' and Social Affairs, which in February 2019 without public debate submitted to the National Assembly Amendments to the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination after the reaction of the Coalition Against Discrimination and the organizations that supported the request to withdraw the proposal (among which was also the Autonomous Women's Center), however, had to open a public debate on the Draft. This prevented obvious violation of the provisions of the Law on Planning System of the Republic of Serbia by the competent ministry.
The Court of Appeal in Belgrade, with the support of a court expert and a lawyer, violates the rights of the child and the rights of minors who are warranted by ratified international conventions and laws of the Republic of Serbia, because by its acquittal sends a message to anyone who has sexual relations with girls of Roma origin that they will not be held responsible.
The first draft of the revised Action Plan for Chapter 23, on anti-discrimination policy, does not contain the CEDAW Committee recommendations that Serbia received in March this year, although this would be expected. Surprisingly, the new Action Plan for the Implementation of the Gender Equality Strategy, in the planned activities, budgets and impact assessment indicators, does not sufficiently integrate these recommendations. What does this say about the "commitment and seriousness" of state actors, read in the text by Tanja Ignjatovic from the Autonomous Women's Center, which is an integral part of the 19th issue of the rEUformator newsletter on Chapters 23 and 24.
Commenting on the measures and activities in the new Action Plan for the implementation of the Gender Equality Strategy for the specific objective 1.5. referring to the "increased safety of women from gender-based violence", the Autonomous Women's Center noted that the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, which Serbia received on March 8, 2019, was not taken into account. It was also pointed out that the planned budgetary funds for the realization of this specific objective are completely inadequate (in the next two years it will be allocated 1,550,000 dinars, which is the sum of a smaller project), but also that the cost structure is inadequate (because it includes the financing of consultations, research, analysis, study and only three trainings), while the means to establish central records on the implementation of the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence are unknown (planned from donor funds, but it is not yet known whether these funds are secured).
The AWC has prepared the first independent report on the activities of the newly formed National SOS Helpline for women with experience of violence, for the period January-June 2019. The report indicates that the number of received calls in the observed period is twice less than the number displayed by the newly formed SOS Helpline, and amounts to 934 calls (155.7 calls on average per month). The other 861 calls, made up of "test" calls, should not be counted and displayed because they do not originate from callers.
The Autonomous Women's Center, in cooperation with the Women's Rights Center and the Women's Safe House in Podgorica, held three seminars aimed at training professionals from social work centers in Montenegro, attended by representatives of the police, prosecution, judiciary and civil sector. The seminars were well evaluated, and it was an opportunity to exchange views of experts from two countries that share similar experiences regarding the problem of protection of victims of domestic violence, especially women and children.
The Autonomous Women's Center addresses you with a request that, under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior, to supervise the work of police officers, you should examine the responsibility of the Chiefs of Police Offices and police officers who acted on notifications and criminal charges regarding the cases of domestic violence that ended with the murder of a woman victim of violence in Pancevo, the murder of an abuser by the uncle of a female victim and severely wounding of a longtime victim of violence in Smederevo in front of her two minor children.
Exactly two years after our letter to you regarding the tragic killings of women and children in the premises of social welfare centers in Belgrade, to which we have never received an answer, the Autonomous Women's Center once again addresses you with a request to supervise the work in accordance with the competences of the Republic Public Prosecutor's Office of all public prosecutors' offices.
The media reports that D.M. who was stabbed to death in Pancevo this morning by ex-husband P.M. has passed away. This is the fourteenth woman killed since the beginning of the year and the third since the beginning of this month. The media reported that a divorce was pending, that the abuser had a restraining order measure and that the victim was placed in a safe house. It could also be read that the abuser had been known to the police before, had a history of criminal behavior and had been in prison for several years, that the entire local community knew that he was a dangerous type and that the victim was afraid of him.
Almost a year after the public hearing on the Draft Law on Social Protection, the Ministry in charge has organized a consultation meeting with interested parties on the "updated harmonized Draft Law". If we leave behind the fact that the purpose of the meeting is not completely clear in regard to the regulations on the process of developing legal documents, the key problem is that the proponent did not conduct an analysis of the effects of the options considered on society, including effects on different categories of population, and especially on vulnerable groups, whose situation may be aggravated by the implementation of public policy measures.