The Representative of the Delegation of the EU in Serbia, Yolanda San Hose, stated today that Serbia has made many steps in the fight against discrimination in order to achieve European standards but has also pointed out that the implementation of the laws is more important then just their passing in Parliament and that Serbia can count on EU’s support. San Hose, at the closing of the Conference of the Coalition for Equality – Headway, said that Serbia has passed a Anti-discrimination strategy, as well as the Action plan for it’s implementation, and the Criminal Code has been changed in order to include hate crimes as a criminal offense. In her words, the capacities of the police and the judiciary for processing cases involving discrimination need to be further reinforced.
The Union is ready to help the judiciary improve it’s capacity for the fight against discrimination, said San Hose and also noted that IPA funds will be made available to support the Office for Human and Minority rights and the Office of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality.
Milan Antonijevic from the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM) said that a coalition has been formed with the aim to undertake regional action aimed at furthering the state of human rights in Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo. Antonijevic explained that the coalition concerns itself with the rights of the LGBT population, the strengthening of women’s role in political and public life and monitoring trials involving discrimination. The coalition is made up of YUCOM, the Civic Education Center, Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo, Network of Boards for Human Rights CHRIS, Gay Strait Alliance, LGBT Forum Progress, Belgrade Center for Human Rights and the Initiative for Human Rights Kosovo. Antonijevic used the opportunity to congratulate the Balkan Investigative Reporter’s Network (BIRN) on the “Jug Grizelj” award, remarking that it had been placed in the right hands.
Kosana Beker from the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality’s office said that the discrimination against LGBT persons is very clear but that there is no clear stance on the prominence of gender based discrimination. Beker stated as an example the mechanism for the warning of the public that the Commissioner used on several occasions, which is how the media report on male politicians and how they report on their female counterparts. When it comes to female politicians, the media reports on their looks, clothes and whether they have time to cook lunch or not. She points out and adds that another form of discrimination is reporting about women in office in the masculine gender.
Gordana Comic, VP of the Serbian Parliament and a member of the Women Parliamentary Network, points out that there can be no democratic society in Serbia without the democratization of political parties and that this can’t be achieved without a change in women’s roles within those parties. “Women Parliamentary Network was formed around a cause, in order to leave all personal and ideological disputes between us aside because there is something more important and that is the health of women,” says Comic.
“I don’t care if she votes for the progressive party, even though I can’t understand it, but her health is important to me. Violence against women- because it doesn’t matter whether you are beaten by a progressive or a democrat. The economic independence of women– that’s our concern; that a woman and her children shouldn’t depend on a man, whether he is a socialist, progressive or a democrat,” explains Comic.
“We have achieved results,” she says and points to an example in which the members of the Network agreed on amendments and have voted against the will of their parties. One such amendment has been passed while eleven were refused, said Comic. She also said that the Women Parliamentary Network made connections with the women in Prishtina but that the first “underground” contacts were established in 2006.
“We’ve concluded that there are no differences between us; our problems and troubles are identical,” said Comic and added that she supports the efforts of the Headway Coalition.
Jasna Plavsic from the Government of Serbia’s Office for human and minority rights said that their data indicates there has been an increase in the number of women in office in the period from 2010 to 2013. Out of 2.399 judges in the judiciary, there were 1.703 women judges in 2010, while in 2013 that number has increased to 2.015 out of 2.869 judges in the judiciary being female. There has been an increase in the number of women in head offices in the security sector from 14% in 2010 to 21% in 2013. Plavsic also said the participation of women in diplomacy has also increased and that while there were 10 female ambassadors and four women general consuls in 2010, there were eleven women ambassadors and five women general consuls in 2013.
In the attachment you can find a complete report from the conference.
