1 August 2014 The members of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality visit the Belgrade Safe House

1 August 2014 The members of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality visit the Belgrade Safe House

Friday, 1 August 2014

Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality Committee Members Visit Safe House in Belgrade

The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence came into force on 1 August, having been ratified by a sufficient number of Council of Europe member states.


Among other things, the Convention demands that the signatories secure enough safe houses for victims of violence.
To learn more about the situation in the field, the members of the National Assembly’s Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality visited the Belgrade Safe House on the day the Convention came into force.
On the occasion, the coordinator of the Counselling Office against Domestic Violence and the safe house, Vesna Stanojevic, outlined the problems relating to funding, police surveillance, disparate local self-government practice as regards the one-time assistance for victims of violence, as well as the many problems of those who use the safe house when they address the relevant authorities such as social welfare centres, the police and courts.
As the most severe problem they face, the women using the safe house drew attention to the fact that the social welfare centres demand that they stay in contact with the father of their child – the perpetrator of said violence, and do not set up due court dates once they receive the request for temporary custody. They also said that the police does not react appropriately to the offenders and waits for a re-occurrence of the violence. In addition, they pointed out the lack of support from the primary family which leaves the woman suffering violence with no recourse and unable to ask for help.
The Committee members highlighted the importance of the ratification of the Convention and the actions the state needs to conduct in order to strengthen the protection of the victims of domestic violence, stressing that the Committee would talk to the relevant ministries and social welfare centres about the disputed issues and problems brought to their attention and employ measures within their scope. Civil society institutions dealing with domestic violence will be included in the Committee’s further activities.
MPs Meho Omerovic, Ljiljana Malusic, Milanka Jevtovic Vukojicic, Biljana Ilic Stosic, Elvira Kovacs and Marija Stevanovic took part in the visit.



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friday, 29 march
  • 9.00 - the National Assembly Speaker meets with the Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, Speaker’s Cabinet)

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