According to media reports, 6 women have been killed by a partner or family member since the beginning of the year. Reading the reports on the last case of the murder in Selakovac near Novi Pazar, angry and sad, we ask ourselves again whether such an outcome could have been avoided?
The draft Law on Gender Equality submitted to the National Assembly by the Government of Serbia on April 26, 2021, privileges specialized services for perpetrators of violence, for which funding is planned from the national budget, over specialized services for victims of violence that will be financed from the budget of local governments.
On behalf of the Autonomous Women's Center Tanja Ignjatović participated in the online panel discussion "Tailor-made support", organized by the NGO IRIDA Novi Sad. The panel discussed the importance and effectiveness of training for professionals, but also the sensitization of citizens to provide the best possible support to victims of violence.
The representative of the Autonomous Women's Center, Tanja Ignjatović, was a guest at a course dealing with the modern family, at the Department of Sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. The issues of protection from domestic violence, parenthood and protection of the best interests of the child were discussed with the students, with an emphasis on the problems in practice in relation to the existing legal solutions and international standards.
The coalition of non-governmental organizations consisting of the Autonomous Women's Center, the Humanitarian Law Center, Women in Black and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, within the Public Debate, sent comments on the Draft National Strategy for Preventing and Combating Gender-Based Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (2021-2025). The main objection refers to the need that astrategic document dealing with the problem of gender-based violence against women recognize and name sexual violence in armed conflicts as a form of gender-based violence against women, and accordingly envisage women victims of rape and violence in armed conflicts as one from the category of women whose rights are guaranteed by this strategy.
The Autonomous Women's Center submitted to the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs comments and suggestions for amendments to the Proposal of the National Strategy for Prevention and Combating Gender-Based Violence against Women and Domestic Violence for the period 2021-2025.
The Autonomous Women's Center appealed to the Coordination Body for Gender Equality and the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue to do everything in their power, including the temporary withdrawal of the Official Statistics Program in the Republic of Serbia in the period 2021-2025 from the parliamentary procedure, until the Republic Bureau of Statistics checks whether all relevant statistical areas also contain data on gender / demographics, in accordance with the Draft Law on Gender Equality and other public policy documents of the Republic of Serbia.
The Autonomous Women's Center, in cooperation with Group 484 and ASTRA - Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, as a member of the Coalition prEUgovor, submitted comments and proposals in a public debate on the Draft Law on Prohibition of Discrimination. Bearing in mind that the working group for drafting did not accept most of the proposals made by the AWC during the public consultations on the initial bases of the law, the already submitted proposals were repeated and additionally explained, as well as new ones
After the working group for drafting the Law on Gender Equality accepted most of the proposals submitted by the Autonomous Women's Center in the process of public consultations, new proposals submitted by AWC, as a member of the Coalition prEUgovor, in cooperation with Group 484 and ASTROM - Action against Trafficking in Human Beings were submitted for public discussion. The most important proposals referred to the articles that envisage the formation of an alimony fund, gender equality in the field of sexual and reproductive rights and health, and in the field of advertising.
The Autonomous Women's Center pointed out that the Draft Strategy for the Development of Education in the Republic of Serbia until 2030 does not refer to all laws, public policy documents and international agreements concerning gender equality, the prohibition of gender-based violence and gender discrimination, and the promotion of sexual and reproductive rights and health, which is completely unjustified and inconsistent with the policy of the Republic of Serbia.
