UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 6) The following laws were also adopted, namely: Law on Social Housing, Law on Gender Equality ...

Para 7) In the past the following strategies were adopted, namely: National Strategy for Improving Position of Women and Promoting Gender Equality (2009) ...

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 4) AWC stated that Serbia had established legislative framework related to the prohibition of discrimination, gender equality and protection from gender-based violence. However, insufficient attention was paid to the implementation of this legal framework in practice. The Gender Equality Law, after two years of implementation, had no effect on the actual equality of men and women. There were no publicly available reports on the effects of the implementation of the law.

Para 15) AI noted a number of positive measures taken to tackle discrimination, including the adoption of an Anti-Discrimination Law in March 2009 and the establishment of the Office of Commissioner for the Protection of Equality in May 2010. At the same time, AI stated that in practice, vulnerable groups, including minority communities, continued to suffer from discrimination and faced difficulties exercising their rights.

National Report:
Para 60) RS is undergoing a reform in the juvenile legislation which is going in the direction of wider application and making diversion from traditional criminal proceedings. Also, a list of educational orders and their application by the prosecutor in the preliminary criminal investigation is being extended.

Para 61) A special role in the monitoring of application of criminal law protection of juvenile offenders has the Council for monitoring and improving work of criminal proceeding bodies and execution of criminal sanctions towards juveniles which were in 2009
established by the Ministry of Justice and Supreme Court.

Para 62) As part of the social protection system significant means were invested in the improvement of standards for the provision of services and for ensuring execution of a corrective measure of sending a person to an educational institution, but, simultaneously, significant reduction of capacities of these institutions considering that this measure is applied selectively and in justified and exceptional cases.

National Report Annex:
In December 2015, the Republic Public Prosecutor issued a mandatory instruction setting out the obligation to keep special records in the appellate, higher and basic public prosecutor's offices in relation to, inter alia, the criminal offense of domestic violence, and in which cases urgent action is required. Special records shall contain information on the perpetrator of the criminal offense, the injured party, the criminal offense, the undertaken actions and the rendered public prosecutor`s and court decisions, and for the criminal acts committed from hatred (Article 54a of CC) and the records on the motives for committing the criminal offense.
Public prosecutor's offices shall submit to the Republic Public Prosecutor's Office through the appellate public prosecutor's offices a quarterly report with data contained in special records, no later than the 15th day of the last month of the quarter for which the report is submitted. The appellate public prosecutor's offices shall submit summary quarterly reports to the Republic Public Prosecutor's Office no later than the 18th of the last month of the quarter for which the report is submitted.
In accordance with the mandatory instruction of the Republic Public Prosecutor, by decision of the public prosecutor of the First Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade as of 18 Feb. 2016, a Department for combating domestic violence was formed and a coordinator of the Department for cross-sectoral cooperation was appointed.
Deputy public prosecutors have regular monthly contacts and meetings with representatives of the CSW and the police with a view to working as efficiently as possible in order to prevent domestic violence, and contacts have also been established with the Victimological Society of Serbia, the Autonomous Women's Centre and other CSOs for better cooperation and joint action.
In the reporting period, the Association of Public Prosecutors and Deputy Public Prosecutors of the Republic of Serbia has a significant contribution in the implementation of training of public prosecutors and deputy prosecutors in the area of protection of victims of domestic violence. Numerous trainings were organized, numerous projects were implemented and publications were printed that helped to eliminate dilemmas in practice and improve the protection of victims of domestic violence. "Treatment of Domestic Violence Cases", at the end of the project, a publication titled "Treatment of Domestic Violence Cases" was issued, which contains recommendations regarding both normative improvement and practices of judicial authorities and police, cooperation of all actors including police and centres for social work (September 2014-March 2015); "Judiciary Initiative for Better Protection of Domestic Violence Victims" (June 2013-April 2014); "Partnership for the Protection of Human Rights - More Efficient Cooperation of Judiciary and Civil Society" (April 2013-April 2014).
Within the Program for Professional Development of Police Officers in the framework of compulsory education in 2016, a seminar was held on the topic "Police action in accordance with the special protocol on police action in cases of domestic and intimate partnership violence against women" attended by 1605 police officers.
By improving the normative and institutional framework in this area, preconditions for efficient implementation of the recommendation have been created and in the forthcoming period we will continue on its full implementation.

UN Compilation:
Para 56) The UN country team noted that girls and women in Serbia were still frequently exposed to gender-based violence, such as violence in family and partner relationships, sexual harassment and rape.
Para 57) The UN country team noted the adoption in 2016 of a law on the prevention of domestic violence, as well as amendments to provisions of the Criminal Code on rape and related non-consensual sex, stalking, sexual harassment, forced marriage and genital mutilation.
Para 58) CEDAW remained concerned about the increasing number of women murdered by their husbands, ex-husbands or partners and the significant disparity among the number of police interventions, the number of criminal charges filed and the number of persons convicted of domestic violence against women.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 8) POC stated that the protection of women against violence was not efficient enough.
Para 58) JS4 underscored the high number of women murdered in the context of domestic and intimate partner violence. It asserted that the State had no system for monitoring and analysing this phenomenon, a new National Strategy to prevent all forms of violence against women 2016-2020 had not been adopted, and a systematic approach to combatting stereotypes and discrimination of women, promotion of gender equality and elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls in the education system, had not been established.

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.