The meeting of representatives of the GREVIO Group and NGOs from Serbia / Održan sastanak predstavnika GREVIO grupe i NVO

25th of February, 2019: Consultative roundtable was held in Belgrade between GREVIO Expert Group of the Council of Europe and specialized expert associations working in Serbia on the prevention of violence against women and providing services to women who survived the violence.

This consultative meeting is part of the regular GREVIO Investigation Committee of the Council of Europe Committee for the Implementation of the Istanbul Convention. The meeting took place after the state of Serbia submitted its official report to the Council of Europe in July 2018 and after a number of independent reports from expert organizations from Serbia were accepted. With such a comprehensive process of consulting and gathering information, the GREVIO Committee wants to ensure objectivity in reporting.

At the meeting, there were speeches on services for women victims of violence – specialized shelters, SOS telephone lines, role of institutions – police, social services, emergency protection, as well as the support and protection of children who are secondary victims of domestic violence and issues of custody of children from foreign court when children live in a family where one of the parents is a bully.

There was also talk about sexual violence, the lack of support services for victims of sexual violence by the state, the lack of crisis centers, the lack of forensic centers for the collection and preservation of evidence of sexual violence, as well as the current case of sexual abuse by the president of the municipality of Brus and the problem of non-transparency in cases violent high political officials.

Good practice has been established in dealing with victims of sexual violence established by the SOS Network of Vojvodina, however, the service is supported by donors, and the state has not taken over the financing of this service, which is being worked in cooperation with the Health Centers. Except in Vojvodina, this service is not present in other parts of Serbia.

It was noted that our law incorrectly defined rape, contrary to the Istanbul Convention. Namely, the RS Law says that the act of rape requires the application of physical force, which is a retrograde understanding of this serious problem and does not go hand in hand with solving the problem. The Istanbul Convention states that rape is defined as a lack of consent.

_________________________________________________

U beogradskoj kancelariji Saveta Evrope održan je konsultativni okrugli sto između GREVIO ekspertske grupe Saveta Evrope i specijalizovanih, ekspertskih udruženja koja u Srbiji rade na prevenciji nasilja nad ženama i pružaju usluge ženama koje su preživele nasilje.

Ovaj konsultativni sastanak je deo regularne istražne procedure GREVIO komiteta Saveta Evrope sprovođenja Istanbulske konvencije protiv nasilja nad ženama. Sastanak je usledio nakon što je država Srbija predala svoj zvanični izveštaj Savetu Evrope u julu 2018. godine i nakon što je prihvaćen niz nezavisnih izveštaja ekspertskih organizacija iz Srbije. Ovakvim sveobuhvatnim procesom konsultacija i prikupljanja informacija, GREVIO komitet želi da obezbedi objektivnost u izveštavanju.

Na sastanku je bilo reči o uslugama za žene žrtve nasilja – specijalizovanim skloništima, SOS telefonskim linijama, ulozi institucija – policije, socijalnih službi, hitnim merama zaštite, kao i podršci i zaštiti dece koja su sekundarne žrtve porodičnog nasilja i pitanjima dodele starateljstva nad decom od strane suda kada deca žive u porodici gde je jedan od roditelja nasilnik.

Govorilo se i o seksualnom nasilju, nedostatku usluga podrške za žrtve seksualnog nasilja od strane države, nedostatku kriznih centara, nedostatku forenzičkih centara za prikpljanje i čuvanje dokaza seksualnog nasilja, kao i o aktuelnom slučaju seksualnog zlostavljanja od strane predsednika opštine Brus i problemu netransparentnosti u slučajevima kada su nasilnici visoki politički funkcioneri.

Konstatovana je dobra praksa u radu sa žrtvama seksualnog nasilja koju je uspostavila SOS mreža Vojvodine, međutim, usluga je podržana iz donatorskih sredstava, a država nije preuzela finansiranje ove usluge koja se radi u saradnji sa Domovima zdravlja. Osim u Vojvodini, ova usluga nije prisutna u drugim delovima Srbije.

Konstatovano je i da naš zakon na pogrešan način definiše silovanje, suprotno Istanbulskoj konvenciji. Naime, zakon RS kaže da je za akt silovanja neophodna primena fizičke sile, što je retrogradno shvatanje ovog ozbiljnog problema i ne ide uprilog rešavanju problema. Istanbulska konvencija nalaže da silovanje bude definisano kao nedostatak pristanka.