International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is marked worldwide every year on November 25. It is also the day of the beginning of 16 Days of Activism against Women campaign, which is aimed at drawing attention to this global problem.
Within the global campaign 16 Days of Activism against Women, Praxis in cooperation with local Commissions for Gender Equality will organize two public forums on the protection against sexual and gender-based violence: on 1 December 2011 in Kragujevac and on 8 December 2011 in Prokuplje. The goals of public forums are to network the relevant local stakeholders, identify problems within the mechanism of protection against sexual and gender-based violence, and formulate recommendations on their solving.
Despite numerous regulations of the Republic of Serbia defining sexual and gender-based violence as a prohibited form of behaviour, their implementation in practice does not guarantee the complete protection of domestic violence survivors.
During the five-year implementation period of the project “Sexual and Gender-Based Violence among the Refugees and the Displaced – Prevention and Response” supported by UNHCR, Praxis has noticed the inconsistent implementation of regulations: (1) the reaction of state institutions, which domestic violence survivors address for help, depends on sensibility of their service providers, (2) the competent local institutions fail to exchange information and (3) there are no integral records of sexual and gender-based violence cases. Due to stated obstacles, domestic violence survivors are left on their own when in need of systemic support.
Praxis wants through public forums to invite the State once again to improve the system of prevention and protection against sexual and gender-based violence.
Download (Serbian only): Program of the Public Forum in Kragujevac
Download (Serbian only): The Invitation Letter for the Public Forum in Kragujevac
Download (Serbian only): Program of the Public Forum in Prokuplje
Download (Serbian only): The Invitation Letter for the Public Forum in Prokuplje
