With the appeal issuded to the MPs, Autonomous Women's Center has expressed concerns about the proposed Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Amendments to the Criminal Code because of provisions that could lead to a reduction in the achieved rights to the protection of victims of domestic violence.
Representative of Autonomous Women’s CenterTanja Ignjatović participated in the Fourth National Conference of the Women’s Parliamentary Network (WPN), which was held on 4th of November 2016 in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. Participating in the working group “Women’s alliances in the fight for a better position of women in society”, she invited WPN to support amendments to the Draft Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence in order to get the best possible version of this law. She also invited the representatives of the WPN to jointly stop that the Criminal Code enter the parliamentary procedure, because there was no a public debate on 14 articles relating to compliance with the Council of Europe on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.
On the invitation of the Ministry of Justice, representatives of the Autonomous Women’s Center, Vanja Macanovic and Vedrana Lacmanovic, met on November 7th with the Minister of Justice, Nela Kuburovic ,and Ministry representatives. On this occasion, the Minister, Nela Kuburovic, signed the petition calling for the proclamation of May 18th as the Day of Remembrance of Murdered Women Victims of Violence.
The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure and President of the Coordinating Body for Gender Equality, Zorana Mihajlovic, gave her support and signed the petition to proclaim May 18th the Day of Remembrance of Murdered Women Victims of Violence. She signed the petition at the Republic Square, in Belgrade.
The Commissioner for Protection of Equality, Brankica Jankovic, supported the petition to proclaim May 18th the Day of Remembrance of Murdered Women Victims of Violence. She put her signature on the petition at the Commissioner’s Office, as did all employees of this institution.
The PrEUgovor Coalition (Group 484, ASTRA, and AWC) presented their study “Migrants in Serbia Have Irregular Status – Current Issues and Perspectives” at the Media Center on October 31st 2016. The study makes an overview of the migrants irregular status and the state service’s response. The report in particularly focuses on women, identifying gender based violence and human trafficking risks.
At a press conference, held at the Media Center on October 31st, the PrEUgovor Coalition presented their independent report on advancements made by Serbia in implementing judicial and human rights policies (Chapter 23) and justice, freedom and security policies (Chapter 24).
During the press conference held on 17th of October in Media Center in Belgrade, Autonomous Women's Center and Women Against Violence Network officially started collecting signatures in support of a petition to designate May 18 - Day of Remembrance of the murdered women victims of violence. This date was chosen because in 2015, within a period of 72 hours, on the 16th, 17th and 18th of May, seven women were killed in domestic-partnership context. The first signatures of support were given by members of the families of women victims of femicide, and during the conference there were collected more than 80 signatures.
"There is no apology to the victims and families, no compensation, no personal nor professional responsibility", said the representative of the Autonomous Women's Center, Tanja Ignjatović, during the press conference organized by the Ombudsperson on the occasion of the presentation of failures found in the work of relevant institutions in 12 out of 14 cases of killings of women in Serbia. According to the Special report of the Ombudsperson, in these 12 cases, including mass murder in Zitiste, it was found that the institutions had knowledge of the existence of violence against women in the family, but they did not not react properly or didn't act at all.
After a meeting of ministers and Prime Minister within the technical government, the systemic measures were announced against different types of violence faced by Serbian society – domestic violence, sexual offences, peer violence, hooliganism, etc. Although it is difficult to imagine that the “one package” of measures can solve all types of violence, which may have the same resources and similar manifestations, but make a specific problem, PM announced changes of the penal legislation and its harmonization with the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, the increase in the minimum penalties for offences of sexual violence, the new Law on Protection against Domestic Violence (i.e. organizational), the adoption of the Law on Free Legal Aid, specialization of experts and their better mutual cooperation.
Women's Platform for the Development of Serbia 2014-2020 organized a meeting with female MPs, representatives of the Women's Parliamentary Network, in order to monitor and assess the progress in implementing the measures to achieve the rule of law and non-discrimination.