A Decade of the Life Without Violence Network
At the beginning of this year's 16 Days of Activism to Combat Violence Against Women, the Parliament of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (APV) hosted the tenth jubilee annual meeting of representatives of the Life Without Violence Network member institutions and public services on 25 November, the International Day of Combating Violence Against Women. The Network was founded a decade ago at the initiative of the Provincial Protector of Citizens - Ombudsman (PPCO).
This year's conference topic was networking as a mechanism for successful handling of domestic violence cases. In her opening address and reflecting on the everyday work the PPCO, Aniko Muskinja Heinrich, the Provincial Ombudswoman, stressed that the Institution had been constantly pointing out that domestic violence is the most widespread form of human rights violation.
'The institutions are bound to undertake all legally provided measures in order to protect violence victims and other people affected by it. Overall social presence of this form of violence makes it a global phenomenon requiring an all-encompassing approach at the local, national and international level. The aim of the Life Without Violence Network is to facilitate voluntary networking of all institutional instances (legally bound to be) dealing with domestic violence cases. The ultimate objective is to improve the way domestic violence issues are being tackled, to establish partnerships and share good practice in order to improve the quality of institutional services delivered to citizens,' said Aniko Muskinja Heinrich.
The plenary addresses were those by the representatives of the Provincial gender equality mechanisms. The Gender Equality Deputy Ombudswoman Danica Todorov spoke about the experience of working with the local institutions. The draft APV Program for Protection of Women from Domestic and Violence in Partnerships from 2015-2020 was presented by the Assistant with the Provincial Secretariat for Economy, Employment and Gender Equality Anita Beretic, while the APV MP Maja Sedlarevic spoke about violence against women as a security issue. Representatives of APV Towns of Novi Sad, Zrenjanin and Sombor shared the experience of their local self-governments in combating domestic violence.
Over 120 participants from welfare and healthcare public services, the police and the judiciary institutions in APV participated in three separate workshops discussing the possibilities of improvement of institutional collaboration and the role of the local self-governments and gender equality mechanisms in protection of domestic violence victims, as well as implementation of the Action Protocol in cases of domestic and violence against women. One of the conference conclusions was that, amongst others, it is necessary to facilitate (further) institutional networking and constant information sharing for the benefit of everyday work in this field.
The Life without Violence Network annual conference was preceded by a press conference at which the forthcoming activities during the 16 Days of Activism to Combat Violence Against Women campaign had been presented. Besides the Deputy Ombudswoman Todorov, the aims of this year's Combating Violence Against Women Jointly advocacy tour in the APV municipalities of Backi Petrovac, Zitiste, Becej, Indjija and Novi Knezevac were presented by the President of the Gender Equality Board of the APV Parliament Stojanka Lekic and the Women's Parliamentary Network Coordinator Vesna Bjelic Francuski. The MP Maja Sedlarevic addressed the issue of individual cf. collective security in the light of domestic violence, while the Assistant with the Provincial Secretariat for Economy, Employment and Gender Equality Anita Beretic presented the draft APV Program for Protection of Women from Domestic and Violence in Partnerships from 2015-2020 publicly for the first time.