Recognizing the concept and status of victim essential for achieving justice

Recognizing the concept and status of victim essential for achieving justice

At a meeting held with the coordinator for gender-based violence with the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade and with the representatives of this institution’s newly-formed Service for Support and Assistance to Victims, members of the Advocacy Group of women with the experience of violence gathered around the Atina organization stressed the need to recognize the concept and the status of victim in all legal regulations. They underlined the importance of ensuring that all those who have experienced physical, sexual, psychological and other forms of violence participate in criminal proceedings in accordance with the standards, with full respect for their dignity and integrity and with no secondary victimization whatsoever.

The Advocacy Group gathered around the Atina organization met at a working meeting with the representatives of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade. The meeting was attended by deputy public prosecutors, coordinator for gender-based violence with the Belgrade Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office Mrs Gorjana Mirčić Čaluković, and representatives of the Service for Support and Assistance to Victims and Witnesses of Gender-based Violence Crimes. Lidija Đorđević of the Atina organization stressed that this year marks the tenth anniversary of the Memorandum on understanding and mutual cooperation in the field of prevention of human trafficking and improvement of human trafficking victims’ rights, signed between the Republic Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Atina organization, as well as that the organization urges the prosecutor’s office and the judiciary to insist on and actively protect and improve the position of victims in criminal proceedings, especially in those with elements of gender-based violence.

In an effort to open the space for their continuous participation in wider social and political life, three years ago Atina supported the founding of the Advocacy Group comprising women and girls with experience of violence. The group aims to address problems, advocate for changes and provide support in improving the protection system for victims of gender-based violence. As such, the group is recognized by international and domestic actors in the fight against gender-based violence, as a social factor in achieving a common goal - improving the position of women and children who have experienced gender-based violence.

The Advocacy Group members also presented their previous work, the activities that have been carried out, as well as plans for future action. Among the most important are certainly the Recommendations for improving the position of women and girls with experience of gender-based violence in Serbia. Representatives of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office presented the work of the Service for Support and Assistance to Victims and Witnesses of Gender-based Violence Crimes, which is one of the pioneering enterprises at the level of the prosecutor’s office in Serbia aimed at providing with information and access to rights all persons with experience of gender-based violence participating in criminal proceedings.

 

Meetings of the Advocacy Group and representatives of relevant institutions are organized as part of the project titled “Enhancement of girls and women’s power to resist gender-based violence in Serbia,” in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration and with the support of the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration.