The problem of domestic violence must be solved with a multi-sector approach and the cooperation of many institutions, but the most important thing is to work on raising the level of awareness in all societies. It is also necessary to strengthen institutional capacities for the prevention and fight against violence, is the summary of the position of Mubera Hodžić-Lemeš, manager of the Safe House in Sarajevo, in which the picture of the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia, recorded by the journalists of Oslobođenja, Danas, and Vijesti, is consolidated. and Večernji List.
Montenegro: Violence against children is a burning problem
In the past months, Montenegro was faced with an increase in peer violence and violence against children, and the increasingly frequent cases of physical and verbal abuse of students require an immediate response from the entire society and competent authorities. The president of the Association of Parents, Kristina Mihailović, told Vijesti that in the last six months, more and more parents have been reporting cases of violence to them, and they do so even when the police, prosecutor's office and school administrations take actions within their jurisdiction.
"The most common and typical thing is that children show problematic behavior already in lower grades, with elements of peer violence, but there are no educational measures in our regulations. Only when they reach higher grades, the problem becomes apparent, and educational measures do not produce results," Mihailović points out. .
She says that recently there have been more frequent cases of knives and weapons being brought into schools, that people who are not school students come to the premises of institutions and physically abuse children, but no one deals with these problems in an adequate and comprehensive way.
Mihailović believes that reactions are slow and that solving almost daily cases of violence is not a priority. He explains that at the session of the Council for the Rights of the Child a month ago, they agreed to send proposals from their scope of work within fifteen days.
The Parents Association proposed revising the system of educational measures, including work with children who commit violence, supervision and work with the family, the introduction of school police officers and video surveillance in all schools. Mihailović also points out that a new action plan for the prevention of violence is needed, given that the government's department has not been applying valid, but more up-to-date police and prosecution procedures for three years. She says that they expect an answer when the new session will be held.
Testimonies of parents indicate frequent violence among children and young people. When this happens, they turn to the classroom, the school administration, but also social work centers, the police and the Prosecutor's Office. However, they claim, even such reports are not a guarantee that the violence will stop and the perpetrators will be punished.
Of the 118 parents who responded to a Vijesti questionnaire last month about peer and violence in and out of school, 92 answered yes to the question of whether their child had been a victim of any type of peer violence. 81 parents reported violence, and those who didn't say that they didn't do it so that "the child wouldn't be in trouble", "they don't have anyone to go to", "they don't know who", "they expected the violence to stop". Three parents answered that they did not report the violence because they "took matters into their own hands/solved it themselves".
Violence is mostly reported to schools - 65 parents answered that they submitted the report to the school administration/classroom teacher/teacher. Four parents who filled in the Vijesti questionnaire approached the Police Directorate, and one requested protection for his child from the Prosecutor's Office. Eight parents complained to everyone - the school, the Police Department and the Prosecutor's Office.
Ten days ago, the Educational Union of Montenegro (PZCG) sent an initiative to the Government and the Ministry of Education requesting that the secrecy mark be removed from the report on the implementation of the Program for Suppression of Peer Violence and Vandalism in Educational Institutions.
This was announced by the PZCG and reminded that exactly 42 years ago, the Government of Montenegro, during the technical mandate, made a decision to declare secret a document which, in their opinion, is extremely important for the public.
They said that in the absence of security guards, students can easily bring weapons into schools.
"There is no mechanism to prevent peer violence, and schools' hands are tied: the only thing teachers can do is to give a lower grade of behavior which, as expected, has no effect on behavior correction," they added.
They asked whether Montenegrin politicians really want a "major accident in which a child or children will lose their lives" to happen, so that, as they say, they would start solving the problem.
And the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms warned this month that they have been continuously pointing out for years that violence against children is unacceptable and cannot be justified by anything.
"However, the frequency, severity of the manifestations and consequences that many children and young people face, and often the ineffectiveness of the measures that are taken, are worrying. About the need to work additionally and at all levels to strengthen tolerance, respect for diversity, a culture of dialogue and protection of discrimination, the alleged background of the incident from two days ago, when a young man was attacked for wearing the insignia of a football club, speaks for itself," the announcement reads.
The Police Administration previously told the News that in relation to different types of peer violence (physical, psychological, emotional, social), the police reacts and plays its role most often in the case of physical violence, when a specific event is qualified by the competent prosecutor's office as one of the criminal acts prescribed by the Criminal Code. by the Code.
"It is important to point out that peer violence, as a specific form of aggressive behavior, represents violence that refers exclusively to those cases in which one or more minors, physically or psychologically stronger, bully another without such behavior being provoked by anything," they explained from of the police.
They also say that when defining the term bullying, it is important to emphasize what is not peer violence.
"Bullying or peer violence does not refer to occasional conflicts between peers, to fights in which the balance of power is relatively equal, nor to those forms of student violence that end fatally (school shootings, mass murders), although many data indicate that such armed attacks were preceded by long-term exposure to bullying from peers," the police responded.
If it is a minor form of harassment or disruption of the regular situation in the school environment, the school, according to the Police Directorate, undertakes appropriate activities within its jurisdiction (referrals to pedagogues or psychologists, informing parents, warnings).
"The responsibility of parents is prescribed in the misdemeanor and criminal legislation and refers to neglect, educational neglect and lack of care in raising and raising children, which in specific situations is evaluated, the decision is made and the punishment is imposed by the competent court", concludes the response of the Police Administration.
BiH: There is no one to help the victims
A few days ago, the Sarajevo Court handed down one of the biggest sentences for domestic violence: the bully, Eldin Hodžić, was sentenced to 35 years in prison. In July of last year, Hodžić brutally killed his wife Alma Kadić, whom he had abused for years, with a gun. In the police and centers for social work, there are numerous reports that she filed against her husband, which is why the Municipal Court in Sarajevo imposed measures prohibiting him from approaching, following and contacting his wife twice.
He was also fined. Despite this, he continued to persecute and abuse Alma. Until he killed her.
As in numerous other cases of murders that tragically end in domestic violence, in this case too, the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina failed. society. He scheduled a police system that was well aware of the situation of the unfortunate woman who called the police station and begged for help.
The other link in the protection mechanism - the judiciary - was also scheduled.
It's too late for Alma, but maybe not yet for some other women. Shall we help them? Will we recognize domestic violence, threats and abuse in time? Will we find the strength to face the increasing amount of violence that has engulfed our system? It is high time that we understand that domestic violence is not a private and individual matter, but a general problem and obligation of society.
"We are all responsible and the whole society has failed. Violence is felt and can be recognized. We are all witnesses of violence and turn a blind eye to it. And when we are all sufficiently aware, then we will recognize and report, and ask for help. The protection system exists and should start it, but the system cannot be started without a report. It is not only a question of what the institutions have done, but also when and how the report reaches the institutions. We can always see what could have been done better, but in general we have to work on raising citizens' awareness." believes Mubera Hodžić-Lemeš, manager of the Safe House in Sarajevo, which is run by the Local Democracy Foundation.
She states that they were not involved in Alma's case, but that a detailed analysis of this and every other case can determine who specifically made the mistake.
"A multi-sector approach and cooperation of a larger number of institutions is needed, but the most important thing is to work on raising the level of awareness of all citizens about this problem. It is necessary to strengthen the institutional capacities for the prevention and fight against violence. We will do this by improving the mutual cooperation of all institutions and in this the new law on protection against domestic violence, which we are waiting for to be adopted by the representatives of both houses of the FBiH Parliament, helped us the most. The new law will be the biggest prevention and will help a lot because it increases the scope of protection for victims of violence. This will reduce violence and to tighten the penal policy," emphasizes Hodžić-Lemeš.
Serbia: Pink laws, black statistics
Serbia is one of the few countries that can boast that the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence provided for intersectoral cooperation between the prosecution, the police and centers for social work, in order to protect the victims in the most effective way possible. Serbia is also a country where 11 women have been killed since the beginning of this year alone, including a two-year-old girl and a minor (16).
Between good wishes on paper and reality, hardly a week goes by without a woman dying in domestic violence. In most cases, there are no previous reports by the victim against the abuser who committed femicide, but there are also examples where the victims were in contact with the institutions and it did not help them to save their bare lives.
The lawyer of the Autonomous Women's Center, Vanja Macanović, explains that according to the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence, all reported cases of violence must be discussed at the meetings of the so-called coordination and cooperation groups, which are formed at the prosecutor's offices.
The members of this group are the prosecutor, deputy prosecutor, representatives of the police and the center for social work. In theory, they should meet at least twice a month, and before each meeting they should gather all the information they have from their sector in order to look at every aspect of the case.
In addition to newly reported cases, the groups should also review old cases to see if the previously agreed victim support plan is producing the desired results.
The murders of the past months show that this is not always the case. At the beginning of March, in the center of Pirot, a former partner killed a 47-year-old woman. The victim previously reported the abuser on several occasions.
"The system failed. The murder of a woman in Pirot could have been prevented, as could the murder of a two-year-old girl from Vršac last year, who was killed by her father, and for whom there was expert opinion that he needed psychiatric treatment, but that the information never reached the coordination group," says Macanović.
She says that the protection system is well conceived, but that problems arise in its implementation.
"There is a serious movement of professionals who oppose the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and who have not actually read it, nor do they apply it the way they should. We, unfortunately, still have the attitude of some prosecutors that domestic violence is a minor crime. We have those who do not hold coordination group meetings twice a month and those who do it pro forma," says Macanović.
She points out that groups that do their work conscientiously show how "miracles can be done" in terms of protecting victims.
Groups are normally obliged to send a report on their work to the Republic Prosecutor's Office. The problem is that, as Macanović says, in the prosecution itself, there is no one who would analyze the data and point out the problems.
Data from the Center show that in recent years, between one third and one quarter of murdered women reported the abuser to the authorities at some point before the murder.
"In all other cases, neither the victims, nor those who knew that the victim was suffering violence, reported the violence, although in most of those cases it was possible to find out from the media that relatives, friends and neighbors knew that the victim was experiencing violence," says Macanović.
Jelena Riznić from the Women's Solidarity group explains that the data on women killed in domestic violence show that, on the one hand, the coordination groups do not always do their job properly, and on the other hand, that the victims themselves do not trust the institutions, which is why they do not report the violence.
She points out that the protection system is set up in such a way that the actions of individual actors, from the police to the prosecutor's office, are conditioned by an individual assessment which, again, is based on individual values, which is why it can happen that the police tell the victim to return to the abuser and "forget what happened." ".
"Humane treatment of the victim is more a matter of incident than rule. I reported the violence, but I'm not sure I would ever do it again. Absolutely every step in contact with the institutions was very humiliating for me and very retraumatizing. This does not mean that we should reject institutions. This means that we have to work on strengthening them and setting up control mechanisms that will hold accountable those who do not respect the laws," Riznić told Danas.
In addition to insufficient trust in institutions, Riznić also states that the reasons for not reporting violence are cultural.
"Victims are always afraid and condemned by the inner circle if they report violence," emphasizes our interlocutor and adds: "But I believe that if the institutions were to change, if the penal policy were to be more serious, it would also affect the change of values and norms in society".
Croatia: Disputed court proceedings are fatal for the victim
Although the Istanbul Convention entered into force in Croatia in October 2018, it has not yet been fully implemented. Advances in the system of protecting women from violence, which mostly comes from within the family, exist, but they are insufficient.
The fact is that the Istanbul Convention sets legally binding standards for preventing violence against women. However, the existing weaknesses within the system of protection against violence against women and domestic violence primarily relate to difficulties in prosecuting such crimes, too low punishments for perpetrators, as well as insufficient interdepartmental cooperation. And it is also necessary to raise the level of awareness, experts who work with victims of violence point out, given that they hear and see first-hand the problems that victims face.
Psychologists who work with victims of violence who leave the abuser with their children and go to safe houses throughout Croatia point out that the biggest weakness for women is the slowness of the judiciary, because from their escape from the abuser to resolving the entire situation in court, from divorce to reporting a misdemeanor or criminal act of violence, sometimes a year or more passes, and so many women can stay in the safe house.
Until the resolution of legal processes, which the spouse often delays, he is not able to continue with a normal life; from preparing for the labor market, looking for a job, housing, and then childcare.
"For women who suffer domestic violence, who are unemployed and still live in the house of the abuser and his parents, the system, by delaying the procedure, makes life even more difficult and makes it almost impossible to get out of the vicious circle of violence and financial dependence on the abuser," the safe houses explain.
Experts believe that these problems, as well as the fact that society still views violence as someone else's problem, should be solved by adequate education of all participants, especially within the judiciary, but also of future generations as part of civic upbringing and education, where it is easiest to break gender stereotypes and learn about gender equality and the unacceptability of violence.
Activists for women's rights in Croatia believe that the Istanbul Convention is not adequately implemented in Croatia. They pointed this out at the round table in the Croatian Parliament, where it was said that the system is inadequate because the judges do not know what gender-based violence is. They were particularly critical of court procedures that impose symbolic sentences for domestic violence.
At the round table, it was highlighted as another big problem that women have a hard time deciding to report a violent partner because they fear that they will not be believed. If they do decide to report it, they often do so years after the divorce, and then they are often faced with doubts as to whether the violence happened at all. Psychological violence against women is also often not recognized, according to activists.
"Looking at the occurrence of violence against women, we can conclude that the number of criminal acts of violence between close people has almost tripled in the last seven years. At the same time, 79 percent of the victims are women, which points to the gender-based nature of this type of violence. On the other hand, the number of misdemeanors acts of violent behavior in the family, as a milder form of violence, has almost halved in recent years. What is truly additional worrying is that most violence against women is continuously committed by their closest relatives, spouses, partners or ex-partners, while a large number of women die just after that decides to end the abusive relationship. The above points to the conclusion that I have been warning about for years, which is that our system of combating violence against women and in the family in the long term actually deters victims of violence from reporting milder forms of violence until the situation escalates and passes into the sphere criminal legislation, and then violence is no longer tolerated or hidden because the consequences are usually tragic," says Višnja Ljubić, ombudsman for gender equality.
He also says that it is devastating information for everyone that last year 13 women lost their lives in this way.
"It is of crucial importance to establish an effective policy for the suppression of gender-based violence, first of all at the level of prevention through the mechanisms of professional and long-term psychotherapy work with families at risk of conflict situations and the occurrence of violence, as well as work with perpetrators with the aim of their resocialization, while at the repressive level level, it is necessary to tighten the judicial policy of punishing gender-based violence, with appropriate training of judges and state attorneys and strengthening of inter-institutional cooperation of competent bodies", believes Ljubić, who also welcomes changes to the Criminal Code that lead to increased penalties for violent offenders.
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