The Gender Equality Committee held its eighth sitting on 27 November as a Roundtable commemorating 25 November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Representatives of relevant ministries as well as the Republic Ombudsman, and representatives of Social Work Centres and non-government organisations participated in the Roundtable.

At the beginning of the sitting the participants of the gathering were addressed by the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Oliver Dulic, who stressed that “we must build a Serbia where violence against women will be the exception, not, unfortunately, practically the rule, as it is still in some communities.” In his opening address Dulic called upon the public and the state organs to show zero tolerance to domestic violence.

The sitting was chaired by the Committee Chairperson, Elena Bozic-Talijan who greeted the Committee members, the attending deputies and numerous guests – participants of the Roundtable. She stressed the tragic fact that women suffer violence all over the world, which demonstrates that this is a universal problem transcending country borders, class, culture and religion, independent of the level of development and political stability, present in all social strata and societies, including Serbia.

During the several hours of work the representatives submitted reports on their work so far, mentioning the problems they encounter, as well as opinions on possible solutions. They briefed the attending participants on the fact that every second woman in Serbia is mentally harassed, that every third woman suffers physical violence, while every fourth is threatened with violence. “In more than 92% of cases of domestic violence the perpetrator is the husband or the partner”, the advisor at the Gender Equality Sector of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Jelena Nadj stated.

After the representatives’ presentations, the Roundtable went on to open a discussion in which the participants agreed that the problems of domestic violence and violence against women require a multilevel approach, an improvement of efficiency and promptness of judiciary organs, that it is necessary to provide psychological and other expert help for the victims, as well as to advance their work on the prevention of violence.

Elena Bozic-Talijan concluded the work of the Roundtable with the parting note that “elimination of violence against women must become this society’s priority”.