Gender based violence and hate crime are types of violence which are dominantly rooted and hardest to combat, said Commissioner for Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic at the opening of international conference “New and old forms of victimization: Challenges for victimology theory and practice”, organized by Victimology Society of Serbia.

Commissioner stated that the roots of discrimination lie in gender stereotypes and prejudices about the nature and role of women and men in society, and unfortunately, on conscious or unconscious level, those prejudices affect people who work in the social and health protection system and other services with whom perpetrators and victims are getting in contact with. Ignorance, power, education and conformism are among causes of these prejudices. She stressed that men have important role in preventing and suppressing of violence against women and therefore equal and non-violent male roles should be promoted, as well as the fact that only partner relationship builds better community. In the same time, it is necessary to start more legal forms of protection which envisage new forms of digital violence, to improve networking and multi-sectorial cooperation of institutions, establish services for timely reporting of violence, together with helping services for victims who suffered violence, concluded Jankovic.

At the opening of conference also spoke Prof. Dr Slobodan Savic, president of Victimology Society of Serbia, Prof. Dr Zoran Pavlovic, Provincial Protector of Citizens – Ombudsman,  Prof. Dr Robert Peacock, president of World Society of Victimology and Prof. Dr Vesna Nikolic-Ristanovic,  director of Victimology Society of Serbia.