The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Mr. Nils Muižnieks has welcomed the ratification by Serbia of the Istanbul Convention and (re)commended “tools” developed by the Autonomous Women’s Center to monitor implementation of this international treaty.

In his Report, following his visit to Serbia in March 2015, Mr. Muižnieks noted that “in 2014 the Autonomous Women’s Centre, a prominent NGO working on women’s rights, published and disseminated a comprehensive analysis of the compatibility of Serbia’s legal framework with the Istanbul Convention, as well as indicators for monitoring its implementation. The paper contains recommendations as to which reforms are necessary in this field, focusing in particular on the criminal code, the Criminal Procedure Code, the Law on Family, the Law on Misdemeanour and the Law on the Police”.

The Commissioner pointed out that the protection of women victims of violence should be provided “in close co-operation with national civil society actors working on the promotion and protection of women’s rights, whose important work in this field is highly appreciated by the Commissioner”.

The Report is available here.