9 March 2017 The National Assembly delegation at the International Women’s Day event at the European Parliament

9 March 2017 The National Assembly delegation at the International Women’s Day event at the European Parliament

Friday, 10 March 2017

European Parliament Holds Interparliamentary Meeting to Mark International Women’s Day

A National Assembly delegation comprising: National Assembly Deputy Speaker and European Integration Committee member Gordana Comic, European Integration Committee substitute member Dubravka Filipovski and Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality Committee member Vesna Ivkovic, took part in the interparliamentary meeting entitled Women’s Economic Empowerment: Let’s Act Together, 8 – 9 March 2017, in the European Parliament, Brussels.


The interparliamentary meeting was organized by the European Parliament’s Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality for women MEPs, women members of the national parliaments of EU member states and states in the enlargement process and members of the Eastern Partnership and European Economic Area.

The participants were addressed by the President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani who emphasized the importance of women’s rights, especially in areas threatened by war. The European Parliament will take active part not just by passing resolutions that condemn the violence but by constantly monitoring the institutions tasked with assisting women and children migrants, as well as by efforts to rescue the kidnapped women and children. He also stressed that the EU institutions are very mindful of gender equality and are always presented best practice examples.

Věra Jourová, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, presented the results of the European Commission’s Annual Report on Gender Equality stressing that one of the Commission’s chief goals in 2017 is to prevent violence against women. The European Commission is working on having all the EU member states ratify the Istanbul Convention and adjust their national legislation accordingly.

National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gordana Comic was the rapporteur on “Global perspective: Freedom from violence as empowerment pre-condition”. She stressed that parliamentarians stand together in their efforts to eradicate violence against women and children, which can only be achieved by adopting and abiding by strict laws in the area. Women should also work together to achieve full gender equality.

Speaking on “Global perspective: Economic empowerment of women and UN Sustainable Development Goals”, Dubravka Filipovski said that the Government of the Republic of Serbia had declared 2016 the year of women’s entrepreneurship and allocated a million euros to support women entrepreneurs, which is four times more than before. The introduction of gender-responsive budgeting and the gender equality index will provide the basis for statistical analysis in the area. There are still open issues: sustainability of private companies owned by both women and men, problematic access to funding necessary to launch and maintain a private business, few women property owners, all of which Serbia would focus more in the coming period.

Vesna Ivkovic member of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality, stressed that Serbia had ratified the Istanbul Convention in 2013. Adjusting its legislation to the Convention, Serbia passed the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence which is to come into force in 2017. This Law is one in a series of Government steps toward preventing domestic violence. It improves the necessary coordination between the state authorities and ensures their specialization which has already started in the form of compulsory training for the police and prosecution. Since economic security and independence are the most basic pre-requisites to empower women victims of violence and tackle the problem, starting from 2017 the National Employment Service has started applying active employment measures, used in the case of difficult to employ categories, to victims of domestic violence as well.

In the conclusions, European Parliament Vice-President Mairead McGuinness said that respecting the rights of women is vital for social progress in general. The rule of peace and availability of education for women are the key factors of women’s economic empowerment which is turn contributes to the development of the society as a whole and better living standards.

Winners of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for human rights Lamiya Bashar, Yazidi human rights activist, and Hauwa Ibrahim, Nigerian human rights lawyer, also spoke at the meeting.



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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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