Belgrade, December 20, 2022
At the proposal of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, a meeting was held with the representatives and associates of the Autonomous Women's Center where they discussed the upcoming amendments to the Criminal Code regarding its harmonization with the Council of Europe Convention against violence against women and domestic violence. The meeting agreed on the future regular exchange of information from both sides on proposals for amendments to laws that are of interest to women's rights and gender equality issues.
Commissioner Brankica Janković and assistant commissioner Mirjana Kecman presented initiatives for changes to the Criminal Code, as well as two initiatives sent to the Ministry of Justice that related to changes to the Law on the Execution of Criminal Sanctions (to prescribe the obligation of competent authorities to inform victims of gender-based violence ex officio and domestic violence on the release of a convicted person from prison), as well as an initiative aimed at better coordination and work of competent state authorities in order to prevent domestic violence.
AWC representatives, attorneys Tanja Drobnjak and Vanja Macanović, as well as Tanja Ignjatović, briefly presented the amendments to the Criminal Code regarding the criminal offenses of rape and sexual violence from Chapter 18, as well as the proposal for the new criminal offense Misuse of a video with sexual content 145a, presented a proposal for defining of protective supervision for serious crimes, as well as the intention to compare the contents of acts related to cyber violence in the draft EU Directive on violence against women and in Recommendation no. 1 of the GREVIO expert group with solutions containing the Criminal Code.
Other weaknesses in the application of laws and regulations related to the prevention of violence against women were also discussed, about which there will be more information exchange between the Office of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality and the AWC in the coming period, in order to achieve harmonization and synchronization of actions.
You can see the AWC amendment proposal HERE.
