A coordinator of the SOS service of IZ KRUGA VOJVODINA, Ivana Zelic, talked at the forum The Importance of Family and Violence as a Negative Phenomenon, organized by the Professional Association of Police – Dr. Rodolphe Archibald Reiss and the Association of Victims of Violence HAJR. The forum took place on May 13, 2022. in the Assembly of the City of Novi Sad, honoring international Family Day.
The forum commenced with the address of the president of the Professional Association of the Police Dr. Rodolphe Archibald Reiss, Boban Pavlovic and the president of the HAJR association, Hajrija Ramadani.
The forum summarized the results of the hitherto work of the institutions (police, welfare center, prosecutions office) and the NGOs working in the field of protection against domestic violence. Forum members talked about the police treatment in cases of violence, activities of the Welfare Centre, the experiences of lawyers in representing women exposed to domestic violence and partnership, multisector cooperation of the police, the Welfare Centre and the prosecutions office in preventing violence, violence against Roma women and media reporting about violence against women.
Ivana Zelic talked about the position of women with disabilities in society, domestic violence and challenges faced in working with women with disabilities exposed to violence.
– Women with disabilities are at greater risk from domestic violence than women without disabilities. Women with disabilities most often suffer violence from their partners, members of their family and not so uncommonly from health workers, personal assistants and other service providers. Women with disabilities endure all forms of violence as women without disabilities and often suffer from isolation and neglect (they are denied water, food, drugs, aids, emotions and their interests are ignored). The most common issues in working with women with disabilities are not recognizing the violence by the woman with a disability herself, but also by the representatives of the institutions, unavailability of information and inaccessibility of support services – said Ivana Zelic.
Apart from the representative of the Organization IZ KRUGA VOJVODINA other speakers at the forum were: Aleksandar Stevanovic, a psychologist, College of Social Work, Belgrade; Angelina Bozin, Master of Social Work, Social Welfare Center, Novi Sad; Ljiljana Mihajlovic, Office for Roma Inclusion, Novi Sad; Ivana Romic, a lawyer from Becej; Daliborka Vojvodic Tomic, Police Administration in Novi Sad; Damir Kostovski, Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad; Dejana Cvetkovic, Women Journalists against violence against women from Vranje.
The forum moderator was the actor Slobodan Stefanovic.
Photo: Nenad Karlic
