“To all the women in Serbia, happy 8 March, International Women’s Day. Together, we have managed to make considerable progress in the women’s fight for gender equality and equal opportunities. That is why I would like to ask all the institutions to focus on a consistent implementation of the law to make sure violence against women is reduced, to economically empower women, to ensure better representation and visibility of women and oppose hate speech in all its forms.

The Serbian Assembly has taken a substantive step forward in a more equitable participation of women in political life by amending the laws on parliamentary and local elections to ensure that 40% of the candidates on the electoral lists are women.

I would again like to appeal to the society at large to focus more attention on suppressing domestic violence, protecting women from it and encouraging them to report said violence, and it is also important to support and empower women living in rural areas, as well as elderly women. I believe that by working together and persevering we can move things toward full equality and creation of a society without discrimination where every woman would be given the same opportunities and chances.”