“Violence against women and girls in Serbia – between obligations and reality” / “Nasilje nad ženama i devojčicama u Srbiji – između zakonskih obaveza i realnosti”

May 24th, 2018: In the premises of the UNDP Serbia was held a national debate “Violence against women and girls in Serbia – between obligations and reality”. At the conference was spoken about the international legal framework, the current situation in Serbia, the discrepancy between theory and practice, the practice of pronouncing measures for violent behavior, and the role of the state, media and education in preventing violence against women and girls.

Meho Omerovic, president of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality in the Serbian Parliament, said that the new law about  domestic violence has brought better coordination of all involved services, but that in practice there is still prejudice and the opinion that the perpetrator has the right to “do what he wants”.

Omerović pointed out that domestic violence should not be a private matter, but that it is a problem for the entire society, and that violence should also be mentioned through the education system.

According to the police, she is doing everything in her power, but their powers do not relate to prevention, adding that there is a shortage of trained persons in the Centers for Social Work, the Prosecutor’s Office and the judiciary. He points out that there are a lot of pronounced measures of removal and prohibition of admission, but few cases in which the perpetrator was convicted.

State Secretary at the Ministry of Interior Biljana Popović Ivković said that the Domestic Violence Law allows for anonymous reporting, which frees them from the fear that those who report violence will endanger the perpetrators.

Senior Advisor in the Gender Equality Coordination Body Ljiljana Lončar pointed out that the removal of established gender patterns, prejudices and imbalances in the power of men and women is a very complex process, and in this process the participation of boys and men is very important.

“Education is the key, education from the earliest times, through high schools and faculties, because once you have a stance on the attitude towards violence it is very difficult to change,” she said, adding that it would be important to form a nacional body to deal with cases of femicide.

State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice Radomir Ilic said that the message of the implementation of the new law last year was that the perpetrator should not stay at home. Now that we enter the second year of implementing this law, the message must be: recognize and report violence, and this message is addressed to state authorities, but also to citizens, and added that every report of violence means a possible life saving.

Permanent Representative of the UN in Serbia, Karla Hershi, said the issue of equality is crucial for resolving the problem of violence, and that any violation of gender equality is a violation of the rule of law. “We must all work together to change cultural and social spheres in order to create a society that does not accept violence in any way,” Hershi said.

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U prostorijama UNDP-a Srbija održana je nacionalna debata debata “Nasilje nad ženama i devojčicama u Srbiji – između obaveza i realnosti”. Na konferenciji je bilo reči o međunarodnom pravnom okviru, trenutnom stanju u Srbiji, raskoraku između teorije i prakse, o praksi izricanja mera za nasilničko ponašanje, kao i o ulozi države i medija i obrazovanja u sprečavanju nasilja nad ženama i devojčicama

Predsednik Odbora za ljudska i manjinska prava i ravnopravnost polova u Skupštini Srbije Meho Omerović rekao je da je novi zakon o nasilju nad ženama doneo bolju koordinaciju svih uključenih službi, ali da u praksi još uvek postoje predrasude i mišljenje da nasilnik ima pravo da sa žrtvom “radi šta hoće”.

Omerović je istakao da nasilje u porodici ne sme biti privatna stvar, već da je to problem celog društva, i da bi o nasilju trebalo govoriti i kroz sistem obrazovanja.

Kako kaže, policija radi sve što je u njenoj moći, ali njihove ingerencije ne odnose se na preventive i dodaje da postoji manjak obučenih osoba u Centrima za socijalni rad, tužilaštvu i sudstvu. Ističe da ima dosta izrečenih mera udaljavanja i zabrane prilaska, ali malo slučajeva u kojima je nasilnik osuđen.

Državna sekretarka u MUP Biljana Popović Ivković rekla je da Zakon o nasilju u porodici omogućava anonimnu prijavu, što oslobađa od straha da će oni koji prijave nasilje doći u opasnost od nasilnika.

Viša savetnica u Koordinacionom telu za rodnu ravnopravnost Ljiljana Lončar je istakla da je uklanjanje ustaljenih rodnih obrazaca, predrasuda i neravnoteže moći muškaraca i žena veoma složen proces, a da je u tom procesu veoma važno učešće dečaka i muškaraca.

“Obrazovanje je ključ i to obrazovanje od najranijeg doba, pa kroz srednje škole i fakultete, jer kada već jednom formirate stav o odnosu prema nasilju to je veoma teško menjati”, rekla je ona i dodala da bi bilo značajno da se formira telo na nivou države koje bi se bavilo praćenjem slučajeva femicida.

Državni sekretar u ministarstvu pravde Radomir Ilić rekao je da poruka primene novog zakona prošle godine bila da nasilnik ne sme da ostane kod kuće. Sada kada ulazimo u drugu godinu primene tog zakona poruka mora biti prepoznaj i prijavi nasilje i ova poruka je upućena državnim organima, ali i građanima i dodao da svaka prijava nasilja znači mogući spas života.

Stalna predstavnica UN u Srbiji Karla Herši rekla je pitanje ravnopravnosti ključno za rešenje problema nasilja, kao i da je svako kršenje rodne ravnopravnosti kršenje vladavine prava.

“Moramo svi zajedno da radimo na promenama kulturnih i socijalnih sfera kako bi stvorili društvo koje ne prihvata nasilje ni u jednom pogledu”, rekla je Herši i navela da je krajnji cilj “nulta tolerancija na nasilje”, kaže Herši.