Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Peaceful approach to resolving conflicts affirmed

Belgrade, 25 October 2007

Serbian President Boris Tadic said today at the opening of the national conference on fighting violence against women held in Belgrade, that violence against women, which is very frequent in Serbia, has social consequences and society must struggle to affirm a non-violent approach to resolving conflicts.

Speaking at the conference organised by the Serbian Ministry of Labour and Social Policy as part of the campaign by the Council of Europe for fighting against all forms of violence against women, Tadic said that violence against women is a major problem in Serbia.

He said that this is very frequently connected to violence against children as well, which jeopardizes the family, and then society and the state itself. He added that violence has serious consequences and cases trauma among women, and if it occurs in a family environment, it has extraordinarily destructive effects, creating a further generation of aggressive and traumatised people.

Societies in which violence against the weak, women and children is legitimate cannot be tolerated, said Tadic.

Tadic said that amendments to the criminal law, constant training of judges, prosecutors, police and all others involved in legal proceedings are steps which can create suitable conditions for effective fighting violence against women.

He stressed that this subject is of great importance and he will make efforts to promote peace in all public appearances.

Head of the Council of Europe (CoE) Office in Belgrade Denis Huber stressed that violence against women and family violence are a violation of human rights and undermine European values that the CoE is trying to build.

A report of the CoE says that between 20% and 25% women in all 47 CoE countries were victims of some form of physical violence at least once in their life, whilst 10% of them suffered sexual harassment, Huber said and added that the most common abusers are men. He recalled that the CoE in 2002 passed a recommendation suggesting an overall strategy for the prevention of violence and protection of victims.

Huber warned that violence against women remains a wide-raging problem in all societies and recalled that a campaign on informing citizens on this problem was officially launched last year.

State Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy Snezana Lakicevic-Stojacic said in a statement to Tanjug that large progress in tackling this problem has been attained in Serbia.

She recalled that under Article 118 of the Criminal Code, family violence is regarded as criminal act whereas Family Law envions that abusers must be removed from family homes so that women and children would not have to go to safe homes.