We demand the immediate replacement of the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self Government, Aleksandar Martinovic, as the only acceptable and civilized result of the scandalous statements he made at the National Parliament when he egregiously insulted Serbian citizens. Employing fascist rhetoric and dehumanizing political adversaries Martinovic called on discrimination of a large number of citizens (contrary to the Constitution and all laws of the Republic of Serbia), noting that those who do not have children are not equally valuable and cannot have the same rights as those who are parents.
On Tuesday, June 27, 2023, the Autonomous Women's Center held an online expert meeting on The needs and rights of minor children and other family members after femicide. That is the second expert meeting intended for women's civil society organizations within the Strong Resistance Movement of women human rights defenders for protecting women victims/survivors of gender-based violence and their children project, funded by the European Union. Forty-six representatives of women's organizations from the countries of the Western Balkans and the European Union attended the meeting.
In Serbia, femicide isn’t defined as a criminal act all on its own, so the courts don’t keep any statistics on it. More than half of the femicide cases analyzed were not qualified as first degree murder and therefore more lenient sentences were given out.
In the first six months of last year there have been two mass murders where more than ten children, eight youths and adults have been murdered, and where at least 17 women, two girls and two boys have been murdered in a family-partner context, but the government has not found it fitting to support any projects aimed at providing free legal aid, and support to victims of criminal offences. The government gave out half a billion dinars of money gathered through fees collected from those paying for the principle of opportunity (delay of filing criminal charges).
The High Prosecutorial Office made a decision on June 19th 2023 about the selection of public prosecutors and with it undermined the already achieved level of protection afforded to victims of violence in Belgrade, which is especially worrisome considering the context and timing when it’s taking place.
The Network of associations of citizens, journalists and media against violence, which supports the demands of the civil protest "Serbia against violence", reminds the Minister of the Interior, Bratislav Gašić, and the director of the Security and Information Agency, Aleksandar Vulin, of the demands of citizens to resign and thus open up space for the reform of the security system that is captured by party interests does not stand in the way of widespread violence. The Autonomous Women's Center is a signatory to the statement.
At a meeting of the Administrative Board of the Press Council an AWC Coordinator, Sanja Pavlovic, was selected to be a member of the Complaints Commission as a public representative for the coming four year period.
Citizens’ associations, journalists and the media demand that competent institutions urgently take concrete steps in order to fulfill the demands of citizens from the protest. For years, we have been pointing at the destructive effects of media content that promotes violence, spreads panic, misinformation, malicious content and manipulation. This kind of media scene has developed solely because the laws of this country are being flaunted systematically, and the institutions (judicial, ministries, independent bodies) do not react to the violation of valid laws and accompanying by-laws.
The Autonomous Women's Center is one of the organizations for the protection of human rights that is a signatory to the call to REM members to resign. The long-term monitoring of media coverage fully justifies the demands of the citizens participating in the "Serbia against violence" protests.
At the 43rd Social Workers’ Encounters entitled "Overcoming Inequality: Answers from the Theory and Practice of Social Policy and Social Welfare", organized by the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Belgrade, we participated with two announcements: on the perception of women who have experienced violence in a partner relationship and institutional relationship and response to their needs (prepared by Tanja Ignjatović, Jovana Markulić and Anja Zečević) and about the characteristics and prevention of femicide (prepared by Tanja Pavlov, Tanja Ignjatović and Vedrana Lacmanović).
