Ratification of the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, which Serbia was among the first countries to do, laid the foundations for good legal regulation and an efficient system for protecting women from violence, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Brankica Janković, pointed out at the opening of the conference “Empowered women change our communities” organized on the occasion of the International Women’s Day.

The Commissioner pointed out that gender stereotypes and prejudices are still extremely strong and that it is women who are much more likely to face discrimination, most often in the labor market and in relation to motherhood. However, it is our obligation to ensure that women win the fight for equality in all segments. A good example is the change that has taken place in the field of women’s participation in political life. Janković stated that Serbia has 40% of women in the Parliament, and the analysis of the Commissioner on the representation of women at the local level shows that there are 23 women in the position of mayor today, which is more than double compared to 2017, when the analysis was done for the first time.

Speaking at the opening of the conference, Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić welcomed Serbia’s activities in implementing the Istanbul Convention, which provided a good legal framework needed to prevent domestic violence, protect victims and prosecute perpetrators.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikola Selaković, said that Serbia belongs to the countries in which gender equality is not only a utopian concept, but a dominant value fact and an achievable social goal.

Serbia is at the very top in the process of normative frameworks in the protection of women, and the state’s response to violence against women is unequivocal, said Justice Minister Maja Popović.

Representatives of the Council of Europe GREVIO Committee, state authorities, local self-governments and NGOs spoke about the results of the ten-year implementation of the Istanbul Convention and the participation of women in politics at the local level within two panel discussions “From obligation to responsibility – a decade of the Istanbul Convention” and “Gender equality is born at the local level”.