National Assembly Speaker Maja Gojkovic endorsed the campaign, saying that the state will in future have “zero tolerance” for perpetrators of violence and is going to win that fight. Gojkovic stressed that the National Assembly has taken active part in the campaign by launching a debate on two extremely important laws - the Bill on Preventing Domestic Violence and the Bill amending and modifying the Criminal Code, which, she announced would be passed by 25 November – International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

“We want to send a message on the behalf of the house of representatives of all the citizens of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Republic of Serbia that domestic violence has no place in our society”, stressed that National Assembly Speaker.

Minister of Justice Nela Kuburovic said that the abysmal statistics on domestic violence had forced the state to react urgently and employ systemic measures to prevent violence and the appalling numbers it is faced with. The Ministry of Justice has drafted two bills adjusting the legislative framework to the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.

“The significance of the law is to advance multi-departmental cooperation of all the authorities obliged to in some way help victims of violence and prevent violence, and by working together we can achieve good results concerning this phenomenon we are faced with”, said Kuburovic.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Nebojsa Stefanovic said that the Bill on Preventing Domestic Violence is a unique opportunity to show unity in Serbia of both the state authorities and the society as a whole and readiness to tackle the problem of domestic violence together.

“Despite the fact that this type of violence is the only one unfortunately on the rise, another thing that has been noted is the victims’ rising trust in the institutions and the numbers of reported instances of the crime”, stressed Stefanovic. He believes that the amendments and modifications to the Criminal Code and the Bill on Preventing Domestic Violence would establish the tools needed to allow the state authorities to work more efficiently on suppressing the rate of violence overall.

Stefanovic said that the Ministry of the Interior, along with the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution, is ready to take on this problem and that the state and society have zero tolerance for violence.

“The members of the Ministry of the Interior will now be able to conduct adequate risk analysis and remove the violent person from the household, which was not the case before”, said the Minister and appealed to the citizens of Serbia to take part, report instances of domestic violence and join the state authorities’ active efforts to reduce the rate of this type of crime.

State Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs Dragan Todorovic said that the Ministry of Justice campaign and the adoption of the Bill on Preventing Domestic Violence are the first step toward establishing stability of the family unit and that the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs would give its full contribution to the fight against domestic violence.