UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report Annex:
Within MoESTD there is a group for protection against violence and discrimination, which in December 2013 conducted a survey to explore the incidence of gender-based violence in primary and secondary schools in RS. The authors of this research are, in addition to MoESTD, Centre for Gender Studies of the Faculty of Political Sciences, UNICEF and the Institute of Psychology of the Faculty of Philosophy.
The survey was conducted as part of two programs: the United Nations Joint Project "Integrated Response to Violence against Women" in cooperation with UNICEF, UNDP and UN Women. The other program is "School without Violence", which is implemented by the MoESTD with the professional and financial support of UNICEF. The results showed that a total of 69% of primary school students and as many as 74% of secondary school students at least once experienced at least one form of gender-based violence. The Group for protection against violence and discrimination, in cooperation with civil society, implemented the National Study on the Social Problem of Sexual Abuse of Children in the RS with the aim of assessing the degree of sexual violence against children.
The "School without Violence" program included 274 schools (253 primary and 24 secondary schools), 17,000 teachers who passed training for prevention of violence and 229,000 students. An interactive website "School without Violence" was created, www.sbn.rs, which provides the necessary information in the field of violence prevention. The capacity was strengthened with 60 mentors for work in the field of prevention of violence on the topic of prevention of digital violence, gender-based violence - domestic and sexual violence, as well as 88 advisors for work on the MoESTD SOS telephone line for reporting violence in schools. 0800200201, free line with on-call duty every working day, from 7.30-15.30.
An instrument for assessing the safety of the school environment, gender-based and digital violence and the Safety Assessment Manual for the school environment has been developed in the framework of assessing the fulfilment of quality standards of educational institutions and strengthening the capacity of schools and educational advisers to monitor the security of the school environment.
In order to prevent and protect children from all forms of violence, several projects have been implemented:
"Prevention and Protection of Children against Violence in Sports" - conducted in the period 2013 - 2014 and within it the Model Protocol for the Protection of Children and Youth against Violence in Recreational and Sports Activities was developed. With the Astra Citizens' Association, in 2014 the MoI signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on the establishment of an effective system for the protection of missing children in the Republic of Serbia and a SOS line for missing children – 116000 – was established.
"Click Safe - Centre for Safe Internet Serbia" - started in 2014. In accordance with the project goal, procedures for reception and processing of harmful and unauthorized contents have been adopted and the internet portal Net Patrol has been activated, which is an electronic mechanism for filing applications for illegal or harmful content on the internet of the Safe Internet Centre. This portal is a member of the network of organizations "Inhope" - an international association of "hotlines" on the internet. During 2014 and 2015, 46 links were posted online on the Net Patrol website. Also, in 2015, the celebration of the Safe Internet Day was held in which 150 students from primary and secondary schools took part, and the main topic was the exchange of various explicit contents on social networks, as well as the phenomenon of sexually explicit footage (the so-called "selfie" and similar footage) and the responsibility of state institutions.
"Empowering children and young people with disabilities to react to abuse and neglect" - in 2014 and 2015, 10 seminars were held "Protection of children and young people with developmental disabilities against abuse and neglect." 42 police officers from the MoI with certificates for dealing with minors participated in training sessions. As one of the main results of the project, "Guide for Implementation of the Protocol for Protection of Children against Abuse and Neglect in Relation to Children and Young People with Developmental Disabilities" was prepared and then presented at the final international conference held in January 2016 in Belgrade, after which police departments in the Republic of Serbia were informed that the Guide could be downloaded from the website www.cpd.org.rs/reports and used in the immediate work.
IPA 2013 "Improving the Rights of the Child through Strengthening the Judiciary and Social Protection System in Serbia" - in the course of 2015 and 2016, a round table "Improving the Child Protection System against Violence" was organized, 15 information sessions were held to protect a minor as a victim and a witness in pre-investigative and criminal proceedings involving 170 police officers. The leaflet and poster "Protection of children victims and witnesses in criminal proceedings" were made, which were distributed to police departments and stations.
Within the "Program of UNICEF Office in Belgrade regarding the Improvement of Capacities for Combating Neglect, Violence, Abuse and Misuse of Children via the Internet" which commenced in 2015, the MoI was donated equipment for the needs of the Department for the Fight against High-Tech Crime, an analysis was made regarding the existing legal instruments for the protection of children against violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, and Basic Training of Police Officers to Combat Criminal Offenses in the Field of Sexual Abuse of Minors was conducted. Training was attended by 70 police officers with certificates for dealing with minors.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 11) POC indicated that there was no system in place to prevent and combat the living conditions and work of children on the street. POC asserted that the Law on Public Law and Order did not treat children involved in child begging, prostitution and other forms of exploitation as victims.