On the occasion of Day of Remembrance for Women Victims of Violence, Vedrana Lacmanovic of Serbia's Autonomous Women Centre, said on Tuesday the state should be ashamed for not preventing women who were victims of violence.
„The statistics are devastating – every fourth woman has previously turned for help to the competent institutions,“ she said.
Referring to the data saying that in the last ten years, at least 340 women were killed in domestic violence, Lacmanovic added that „they haven’t been protected and the state should be ashamed since it has guaranteed all its citizens the right to life as inalienable and inviolable.“
On the other hand, Zorana Mihajlovic, the coordinator for gender equality and Serbia’s minister, said the women were not alone in fighting against violence and that they should report the bullies.
„It’s important to encourage women to report any violence. And all of us, if we know about such cases, should report them, not turn the head away in justifying violence as a domestic issue. As long as a single girl or woman is suffering, we, as a society, cannot move forward, nor can we build a better future for our children,“ Mihajlovic said.
Since the start of 2021, seven women died as victims of domestic violence, the latest being the 34-year-old mother of one from the western town of Valjevo, gunned down outside her home by her former partner, a suspended policeman who later committed suicide.
„Only a few women report violence against them. They think they are guilty, fear perpetrators and mistrust the institutions,“ Tatjana Jokanovic, Deputy Commissioner for Protection of Equality, said.
Lacmanovic agreed. „They keep silent because a bully says ‘you will remember me, I’ll take your children from you;’ because they are told they choose him. And so, they don’t speak until that possibility is taken from them forever.“
The Autonomous Center said the state should implement laws to make women in Serbia safer, adding there was no communication among the institutions or a single victims’ register.
