Since Monday, media have been reporting on the attempted murder of a woman in New Belgrade. In a parking lot in front of a building, D.J. (age 25) fired several shots from a gun at his wife T.J. (age 25), in front of their baby and passers-by. The victim had left him some time before and reported him for violence. He was, at that time, issued an urgent restraining order, which he respected until its expiration in April. The victim’s fear for her life is confirmed to media by her friend, who said she had been exposed to violence before, but was afraid to report it.

The Women against Violence Network and the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia pointedly condemn the lack of appropriate reaction by the Ministry of Culture and Information and the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) to violence against women and children in reality programs that have been broadcast for years on TV Pink and TV Happy. We hereby request REM to issue its strictest measures against the reality programs “Parovi” (Engl: Couples) and Zadruga (Engl:Coop) with the aim of combatting violence against women and children in the media.

At the session of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, held on June 5, 2019 in Belgrade, Autonomous Women’s Center representative Tanja Ignjatovic participated in the session titled “Violence against women: progress and challenges in Serbia”.