Karanac thanked the OSCE Mission for its support and assistance to the National Assembly and the Committee, as well as the Women’s Parliamentary Network. She said that the Committee will intensify its work in the coming period and thanked the OSCE Mission for organizing the entry seminar for MPs which was, she opined, more than useful. Karanac said that, despite being just a substitute member before, she is well aware of the OSCE Mission’s cooperation with the Committee and thanked the Mission for its help in the organizations of Committee sittings outside of the National Assembly seat dedicated to combating violence against women, economic empowerment of women, minority rights, asylum and migrations. Karanac also added that the Committee members’ study visit to the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, realized with the support of the OSCE Mission, was very useful. The Chairperson of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality also said that the regional parliamentary cooperation, especially between competent committees on human rights and gender equality, is very important and useful and the Committee is ready to continue its cooperation with the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

The Head of the Democratization Department in the OSCE Mission to Serbia John Clayton said that he is pleased to see the Committee operate in full capacity again after almost a year and that the Committee Chairperson is ready to continue with the cooperation. He said that the OSCE Mission’s objective is to continue to support the Committee in concrete ways they will define together, adding that he was happy the entry seminar for MPs, co-organized by the National Assembly and the OSCE Mission, was deemed useful. The OSCE Mission could continue its cooperation with the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality on organizing sittings outside of the National Assembly seat, advancing cooperation with competent parliamentary committees in the region and strengthening the supervisory role.

The officials agreed that the activities they could organize together, in addition to the abovementioned, could be monitoring the implementation of the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence by reviewing the reports of competent state authorities and organizing public hearings, including the Committee in the preparation of reports of the Republic of Serbia on the implementation of international human rights conventions, monitoring the implementation of received Committee recommendations, following the execution of the sentences of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and fostering closer cooperation with the national councils of national minorities.