The Initiative of Women with Disabilities Advocating for their Rights, on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, warns that women with disabilities in Serbia still face serious challenges, multiple and systematic violations of human rights, particularly in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights, protection from gender-based violence, and discrimination. Notwithstanding the existence of a formal legal framework, everyday praxis discloses that women with disabilities are, to a large extent, invisible to the institutions and support systems.
Women with disabilities face numerous obstacles in exercising their right to health care — from inaccessible health institutions, lack of accessible information, communication barriers, to non-respect of the right to autonomy, privacy, and informed consent. In practice, forced medical procedures, denial of information about contraception and reproductive health, as well as the paternalistic attitude of health workers who view women with disabilities as incapable of independent decision-making, are still present.
Of particular concern is the significant exposure of women with disabilities to gender-based violence, including intimate partner, family, sexual, and institutional violence. Many endure abuse for years without the means to report it or obtain adequate and accessible support. Protective services are frequently physically inaccessible, lack sign language interpreters, and are often unprepared to assist women with diverse disabilities
Discrimination against women with disabilities is present both in the health system and in the systems of social protection, justice, and the police. They are often excluded from the decision-making process that affects their lives, while their reports of violence and rights violations are often relativized, ignored, or not responded to in a timely and effective manner.
Initiative invite the competent institutions of the Republic of Serbia – Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, Ministry of Justice, as well as all health and social institutions – to urgently take concrete and measurable steps in order to:
- ensure full accessibility of health and social services;
- guarantee the right to informed consent and autonomous decision-making of women with disabilities;
- improve protection against all forms of gender-based violence;
- ensure the availability of accessible information and communication;
- carry out systematic education of health workers, police, judiciary, and social services.
Initiative also demand that women with disabilities and their representative organizations be actively involved in the creation and implementation of public policies, strategies, and laws that concern their rights and lives.
The rights of women with disabilities are human rights. Their protection must not be a matter of an individual’s goodwill, but a legal and institutional obligation of the state.
***
The Initiative of Women with Disabilities Advocating for their Rights arose from the work of IZ KRUGA VOJVODINA and the Office in Serbia of UNFPA aimed at improving the sexual and reproductive health and rights and protection from gender-based violence of women with disabilities. The Initiative brings together women with disabilities active in local communities throughout Serbia in women’s and disabled people’s organizations who have completed educational programs IZ KRUGA VOJVODINA and then realized information sessions for health workers on dealing with women with disabilities, mapped obstacles in accessing institutions and protection services, and motivated decision makers to get involved in solving the problems of women with disabilities. The Initiative of Women with Disabilities Advocating for their Rights was established on December 18, 2020, for mutual support, knowledge and experience exchange, and joint action aimed at improving their rights at the local, district, state, and regional levels. Over the course of five years, through education and advocacy, the Initiative of Women with Disabilities Advocating for Their Rights has contributed to hundreds of women with disabilities gaining the capacity to independently advocate for their rights and become agents of change in their local communities. The Initiative of Women with Disabilities Advocating for their Rights gathers over a hundred women with various disabilities from every district in Serbia. On December 3, 2025, it becomes active on Instagram and Facebook.
