At the very beginning of the meeting, Dubravka Filipovski, coordinator of the Women’s Parliamentary Network, said that the manner in which media content treats human security is of paramount importance because it creates the citizens’ perception of it.

The MP was followed by Natasa Milojevic, President of FoSDI, who asked whether the media are still the so-called seventh power or reflect a threatened security.

The meeting was also attended by the Commissioner for Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic who spoke about the development of human security and making the individual the focus of security, as well as the basics of human security and protection of human rights.

Lola Milojevic, FoSDI project manager, presented the results of the four-month research on human security content in the Serbian media with a special focus on its gender aspect in the context of the migrant crisis, covering printed, electronic and Internet publications. The research showed that very little of the media content was dedicated to the migrants, gender equality, also demonstrating a lack of understanding of the term human security, lack of analysis of the migrant issues and inadequate use of gender sensitive language in the media at the local level.

After the discussion, which included MPs, MA Svetlana Jankovic, Dr Zorica Mrsevic, MA Dragana Petrovic, members of the Government Working Group for the drafting of the NAP for Resolution 1325, Tamara Skroza, reporter of “Vreme” weekly, and other media representatives, the participants concluded that there is a clear need to boost supervision of the work of public institutions and their authority, to sanction the violations of the Serbian Journalists’ Code, and to increase the role of civil society organisations who would monitor the implementation of laws and regulations concerning security in media content.