{"id":20951,"date":"2017-03-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-02T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bezbednost.org\/a-significant-number-of-women-exposed-to-threats-to-personal-safety\/"},"modified":"2020-07-21T20:50:16","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T18:50:16","slug":"a-significant-number-of-women-exposed-to-threats-to-personal-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bezbednost.org\/en\/a-significant-number-of-women-exposed-to-threats-to-personal-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"A significant number of women exposed to threats to personal safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\tA network of civil society organizations – Women, Peace and Security<\/a> and Commissioner for Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic sent an appeal to the Government of Serbia to adopt National Action Plan for implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 as soon as possible, during discussion held on 2nd<\/sup> March 2017 in Belgrade.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tKey reason for urgent adoption of this document is the fact that the significant number of women in Serbia are exposed to discrimination and other threats to personal safety which contributes to the feeling of personal fear and prevents them from full participation in democratic processes and reforms, which impedes development of Serbia as secure and democratic society for all citizens, emphasized BCSP researcher Maja Bjelos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cCivil society organizations in Serbia have through advocacy, sharing of knowledge and experience, giving recommendations, even funding have supported implementation of National Action Plan (NAP) and proved that they could be state\u2019s reliable partner. In the future, this Network intends to be the partner to all the institutions and bodies of state administration at the national, provincial and local level for the purpose of the localization of the NAP. Local government has a task to take the greater role and responsibility for implementation of NAP.\u201d Bjelosestimated.<\/div>\n

\tPersonal safety of women and respect of human rights must be on the top of political agenda, especially at the local level, said Commissioner for Protection Equality Brankica Jankovic.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWomen still don\u2019t have enough influence on decision making about security in their societies. It is necessary to establish local council for security, which should include women in their work and priority defining. Cooperation between civil society and state is necessary in order to improve women\u2019s safety and protection from discrimination and gender-based violence.\u201d said Commissioner.<\/div>\n

\tMichael Uyehara, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, said that the authorities in Serbia will have the full support of this organization in the adoption and implementation of the NAP.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWomen can play a major role in addressing security challenges. Therefore, OSCE Mission to Serbia recognizes the importance of involving women and women\u2019s organizations in security decision-making and supports civil society initiatives, such as CSO Network Women, Peace and Security\u201d, Uyehara stated.<\/div>\n

\tThe topics that the Network recognized as significant for local communities are: implementing gender-sensitive trainings in order to improve dealing with crisis and emergency situations; providing comprehensive legal protection and psychosocial support for women and girls who experienced gender-based violence, especially for those women who have experienced violence in conflicts; overcoming stereotypes and prejudices against women who have experienced violence in conflicts which also include migrants, asylum seekers, refugee women;\u00a0 implementation, research and collecting of statistics classified according to gender; confiscation of firearms from perpetrators of violence against women; sexual violence in conflicts and its consequences, it was pointed out at the conference.<\/p>\n

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\tThe second part of the discussion was dedicated to the connection between possession of firearms and violence against women in Serbia, as well as sexual violence against women as a war crime.<\/p>\n

\tBelief that the possession of weapons creates a sense of personal safety and far less likely to be understood as threat is still dominant in Serbia, said Tanja Jakobi, acting director of the Public Policy Research Centre.<\/p>\n

\tShe added that vulnerable groups such as women and young people have a different perception regarding the possession of weapons.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cExperience of women from local communities indicates that weapons situated in their homes make them feel frightened and afraid for their children\u2019s lives. Having a firearms at home represents an aggravating circumstance for victims of domestic violence to take any action in order to end the violence\u201d, stated Jakobi.<\/div>\n

\tJakobi commended that the new Weapons and ammunition law includes much more strict criteria for possession of weapons and stated that field facts indicate that work is being done on sensibilization of police teams who will deal with cases of domestic violence.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThere is a dilemma upon the state and the civil society whether the attention should solely be on preventive measures and improving culture of holding and using weapons or the intensifying of regulations should be considered, for example by introducing the need of wives and ex-wives to give consent for possession of firearm\u201d, stated Jakobi.<\/div>\n

\tShe stressed the importance of monitoring implementation of mentioned laws on the local level and role of local government and NGOs in creating this atmosphere through campaigns and public calls for handing over the weapons and promotion of responsible behavior of weapon holders.<\/p>\n

\tDirector of legal programme of Humanitarian Law Center Milica Kostic said that sexual violence against women during war time is still a taboo topic in Serbia. She stressed the importance of speaking about this problem, since there are many offenders who should be prosecuted and victims who need help.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cSince there are no precise data of women who were victims of rape in war, the extent and severity of this problem is often being reduced and disregarded. In Serbia, thus far, only two final judgements were issued for rape crimes committed during the war in ex-Yugoslavia. Judiciary treats rape as less severe crime, since it doesn\u2019t see the harmful effects of this problem on the community\u201d stressed Milica Kostic.<\/div>\n

\tTherefore, she believes it is necessary to change the view of this problem in the society and state action, since women being raped during war time as a consequence can have dissolution of marital and family ties, rise of suicide rate, post-traumatic stress disorder – PTSD, domestic violence, etc.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cConsequences of crimes in the community should be one of the criteria for selecting cases by Prosecutor\u2019s Office while prosecuting war crimes. Our laws and strategies in this field are not in accordance with international standards, because, even though criminal act of rape is included in Criminal law, rape of women during war time is not defined as war crime\u201d, she stated.<\/div>\n

\tBesides improving legal framework and compliance with international standards, Kostic suggested doing trainings for judges and prosecutors who prosecute rape during war, using funds from local governments\u2019 budget for compensation of rape victims and objective reporting about sexual violence in wartime in media.,<\/p>\n

\tAll panelists agreed that it is crucial to conduct researches and collect gender classified statistics in order to give a real image of the situation of safety in local communities and personal safety of women. Numerous representatives of women organizations from whole Serbia, as well as representatives of state institutions, international organizations diplomatic missions and media, attended this conference.<\/p>\n

\tThe disscussion was organized with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia within the project \u201eConsolidating the democratization process in the security sector\u201c which was financially supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).<\/em><\/p>\n

\tBCSP intern Dusan Stankovic contributed to the article.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\tThis article was translated by BCSP interns\u00a0Nevena Vasic and Emilija Davidovic.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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