Tuesday, 25 November 2014

16th Sitting of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality

At the sitting held on 25 November, the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality was presented the Ombudsman’s Special Report on the application of general and special protocols for the protection of women against violence.


Committee Chairman Meho Omerovic said that the sitting was organised in cooperation with the Ombudsman, OSCE Mission to Serbia and the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM). The Committee Chairman said that the number of women victims of domestic violence has been halved this year which means the protocols are giving results. He also pointed out that all relevant institutions need to interact in their efforts to protect women against violence.

Speaking of the Ombudsman’s Special Report on the application of general and special protocols for the protection of women against violence, Lepojka Carevic Mitanovski, member of the Ombudsman’s Gender Equality Council, said that, with the Report, the Ombudsman aimed to offer recommendations on how to apply the general and special protocols to best provide women with adequate protection.

Gordana Stevanovic, Deputy Ombudsman for Gender Equality and Rights of the Child, presented the Ombudsman’s Special Report on the application of general and special protocols for the protection of women against violence. She said that in compiling the Report the Ombudsman applied two methods of data collection and analysis – on the level of the republic and local self-government unit. Gordana Stevanovic said that in order to analyse the application of general and special protocols at the local level the Ombudsman visited 16 municipalities and towns, organising data collection and analysis in 14. Explaining the Special Report Stevanovic presented the assessment of the situation, analysis of the work of authorities responsible for the protection of women against domestic violence, as well as the Ombudsman’s recommendations. Out of the 5352 reports filed in the period covered by the Report, mostly by phone and verbally, 4399 were filed by women. 101 social welfare centres received 5847 reports of domestic violence with women being the victim in 3658 of them. Stevanovic also said that in most cases women, most often between 26 and 64 years of age, fall victim to violence from men between 26 and 64 years of age. She stressed that an exchange of information and cooperation among the relevant authorities is a prerequisite for an efficient operation of the system and a comprehensive and correct assessment, planning and implementation of preventive measures.

Vanja Macanovic, member of the Ombudsman’s Gender Equality Council, spoke of the experience gathered in the application of general and special protocols for the protection of women against violence at the local level.

Representative of the gender equality mechanism of the municipality of Vrbas and MP Marjana Maras presented the work of the Commission for the monitoring and implementation gender equality in the municipality of Vrbas as a best practice example.

In addition to the Committee members, the sitting was attended by representatives of relevant ministries and state institutions, as well as the non-governmental sector.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairman Meho Omerovic.


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thursday, 28 march
  • 9.00 - consultations of representatives of the parliamentary groups about the election of deputy chairpersons of the National Assembly working bodies (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, hall 1)

  • 10.00 - visit of the students of Stevan Dukic Elementary School to the National Assembly House (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square)

  • 11.00 - visit of the students of Drinka Pavlovic Elementary School Student Parliament to the National Assembly House (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square)

  • 11.00 - press conference of the Green-Left Front – Don’t Let Belgrade D(r)оwn Parliamentary Group (National Assembly House 13, Nikola Pasic Square. Central Hall)

  • 13.00 - the National Assembly Speaker meets with the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Republic of Serbia (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, Speaker’s Cabinet)

Full event calendar