Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia Maja Gojković opened the seminar of WPN organised in cooperation with the OSCE Mission to Serbia and UNDP. She invited all women MPs to become members of the Network in this convocation of the Assembly, so that they could work together on improving the position of women.
Ms. Gojković stated that the National Assembly recognised the need to strengthen gender equality, which is reflected in the work of WPN. In the three years of its existence, WPN worked on stronger networking of women, better cooperation with local self-governments, economic empowerment and combat against violence.
She reminded the participants that the National Assembly adopted numerous laws in the area of protection of women’s rights, stating that in the upcoming period the Assembly would work on improving the legal framework, especially concerning the elimination of gender-based violence.
Ms. Gojković said that Serbia was determined to engage in a comprehensive combat against gender-based violence by adopting new regulations and measures – primarily, a new law on prevention of domestic violence, which would send a clear message that the state shall not tolerate violence.
“By adopting this law and by amending the Criminal Code which will include new criminal offences and impose stricter penalties and sanctions, as well by implementing other planned measures, Serbia will create a comprehensive system of combat against violence. In that regard, I expect full support and commitment of WPN,” said Ms. Gojković.
The seminar also included discussions on following topics:
— gender sensitive Parliament and the role of Inter-parliamentary Union;
— history of women’s political activism in Serbia;
— current institutional and legal frameworks;
— work of WPN in the period from 2013 to 2016 with an overview of the most important results;
— planning of activities and work of WPN for 2016 and 2017;
— integrated response to violence against women;
— parliamentary work; and
— experiences of women leaders.