Within the framework of public consultations on the Draft Law on Gender Equality organized by the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans' and Social Affairs, the Autonomous Women's Center submitted its comments on the Draft Law, as well as comments made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, the Alliance independent trade unions of Serbia and others.
The Compliance Study of the Criminal code of the Republic of Serbia with the binding standards of the Convention is guided by the importance of the existence of an adequate legal framework in the area of criminal substantive law, especially after the amendments to the Criminal code, adopted in November 2016. The aim of the Study is to point out the most important changes resulting from the adoption of these amendments to the Criminal code, the degree of compliance with the existing obligations assumed by the ratification of the Convention, and in particular the key segments of criminal justice protection that continue to deviate from the Convention's standards whether due to inadequate changes or whichever changes to the law.
On 26.12, representatives of the Autonomous Women's Center took part at the consultative meeting of the Ministry of Youth and Sports on the preparation of the Action plan for the implementation of the National Strategy for Youth for the 2018-2020 period, for the areas of health and well-being, and the safety of young people. The meeting was attended by non-governmental organizations representing interests, gathering or conducting activities for young people.
At the celebration of its 57th birthday, the Association for Market Communications of Serbia honored the best marketing creators of 2017, and the Traces campaign made by the agency Publicis One - Leo Burnett with the Autonomous Women's Center received two silver awards - in the category for outdoor campaigns and in the category for socially responsible campaigns in the non-profit sector.
The Autonomous Women's Center organized an expert meeting that discussed the harmonization of the Criminal code of the Republic of Serbia with the standards of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, which was ratified in 2013. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Republic Public Prosecutor's Office, the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office from Belgrade and Novi Sad, the Office of the Protector of Citizens, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia - the Secretariat in Belgrade (III Departments) and the National Criminal and Technical Center, the Institute for Mother and Child, UNDP agency.
The Autonomous Women's Center explicitly demands that the state of Serbia change the definition of the criminal offense of rape, so that every act of sexual penetration is punishable, regardless of the form and nature of the act, committed against a person who has not given his/her free consent, which will be taken into account in the context of each individual case. This is also an explicit demand of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence which was ratified by the Republic of Serbia in 2013.
The Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans' and Social Affairs made a decision to put an end to the Open call for associations for providing an SOS helpline for women who have experienced violence, published on November 10th, 2017.
On November 10th 2017, the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans' and Social Affairs announced an open call for associations to provide an SOS helpline service for women who have experienced violence (worth 30 million dinars). One of the requirements of this call is to have a license to provide this service, although the licensing of this service is a mission impossible, and, at the date of announcing the open call, no organization in Serbia had a license, which the Ministry, as the licensing authority, would have to have known.
Although the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans' and Social Affairs adopted most of the AWC's remarks at the first Open call for associations to provide an SOS helpline for women who have experienced violence (October 31st, 2017.), and repeated the Open call (decision from November 10th, 2017.), unfortunately, the newly announced tender also has elements that aren’t in accordance with the Law on Social Protection.
Following a letter sent by the Autonomous Women's Center to the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans' and Social Affairs, with a proposal to withdraw the open call titled "Public invitation for associations to provide the services of an SOS helpline for people who have experienced violence", the ministry issued a decision to withdraw the open call.
