Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

The Ombudsman Saša Janković said on July 28 that after the murders of women in family violence he conducted the control procedures in 14 cases in 12 cases of which he found errors in the work of the competent authorities which had preceded the murders. The police, centers for social work and health care institutions do not exchange information some of which are vital for the protection of a victim.

According to the data of the network of non-governmental organizations Women against Violence between 30 and 40 women are killed in Serbia every year. This year has not brought improvements considering the fact that 16 women were killed until now. Saša Janković points to the omissions whose corrections could bring to the reduction of this number.

The Ombudsman conducted the research from January 2013 to June 2014 which indicated that in this period 5.352 criminal charges had been filed by the police for violence in family. 4.399 charges referred to violence against women. 71% of these cases ended with a written warning for an offender. Only 25% of criminal charges come to the indictment phase, he said and added that probation makes more than two thirds of verdicts for violence against women.

Janković said it was necessary to apply all regulations and procedures related to protection, introduction of the concrete responsibility for negligence in competent authorities and services and provision of conditions for the work of these authorities as well as the additional improvement of legislation based on experiences from its implementation.

The problem is recognized in Brussels too; thus, EU as one of the measures of progress in accession negotiations in the Chapter 23 on basic rights requires Serbia to improve the framework for the suppression of violence against women as well as to create the new National Strategy and Action Plan for the prevention and suppression of violence against women in family and partner relations and the building of the institutional capacity for these documents to be implemented.

Source: Beta, downloaded from www.euractiv.rs