Opening the forum, MP and member of the Women’s Parliamentary Network Dubravka Filipovski welcomed the participants saying she was pleased to see that the objectives set in the 2014 Palic Platform are being realized in concordance with the work of the Women’s Parliamentary Network.

“The objective of today’s forum is to discuss the results achieved as regards the rule of law and anti-discrimination and to contribute to their improvement, each within our scope, through various initiatives”, said Filipovski.

Aleksandra Vladisavljevic of the Women’s Platform for Development of Serbia said that the Women’s Platform is a document created as the result of the Palic Process, begun in 2000, and as such gathers a large number of women from different sectors who had joined forces to define gender equality priorities. Vladisavljevic reminded that the Women’s Platform for Development of Serbia (2014-2020) was adopted at the 2014 Palic Conference with the aim to establish constant dialogue and point to opportunities and needs that have here-to-fore remained hidden.

Antigona Andonov, Commissioner for Equality chief-of-staff, conveyed the Commissioner Brankica Jankovic’s pleasure at the adoption of the Palic Platform.

“Women’s Platform for Development of Serbia set the groundwork for numerous strategic documents and we are happy that the institution of the Commissioner for Equality is allied with all the signatories of the platform”, said Andonov.

Sanja Nikolin of the Women’s Platform for Development of Serbia reminded everybody of the priorities defined by the women’s platform concerning the rule of law and anti-discrimination and presented the progress results per indicators of the Women’s Platform for Development of Serbia, among which the progress made as regards the integration of gender perspective in public policies takes pride of place.

In the ensuing discussion, the participants adopted conclusions, among them ones concerning the establishment of the Women’s Parliamentary Network and the Gender Equality Coordinating Body. They concluded that the Coordinating Body needs to pledge to submit reports within a set deadline, and to actualize the Gender Equality Bill and the Bill for the Prevention of Violence. They also stressed the need to adjust the National Anti-Violence Strategy to the Council of Europe Convention, to implement the existing laws and conduct regular anti-discrimination and gender equality trainings at all levels.