The Autonomous Women’s Center submitted comments and proposals to the Ministry for Family Care and Demography regarding the Draft Law on Amendments to the Family Law. It was noted that efforts to align the amendments with the Istanbul Convention and the EU Directive 2024/1385 on combating violence against women and domestic violence are not fully harmonised. This is particularly evident in relation to recognising children who witness domestic violence as victims, as well as in the implementation of Article 31 of the Istanbul Convention, highlighted in the recommendations of both GREVIO reports for Serbia (2020 and 2025).

Efforts to harmonise the Family Law are also not aligned with existing provisions of the Criminal Code and the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence. The timing of these amendments appears premature, as it is not yet clear how the above mentioned laws—currently under assessment by the European Commission—will be amended.

We consider that compliance with the Law on Personal Data Protection has not been ensured in a systematic and horizontal manner throughout the draft law. Several provisions foresee the processing of highly sensitive personal data. This is particularly problematic in Article 197, newly introduced paragraphs 5 and 6, where the purpose of data processing is not specified, nor are the types of data, categories of data subjects, data controllers and joint controllers, the range of authorities and officials with access to the data, data retention and deletion periods, mechanisms for exercising data subject rights (access, rectification, restriction of processing), or the technical and organisational safeguards.

Particular concern and opposition were expressed regarding:

• the introduction of new protection measures against domestic violence in Article 198 , which in substance are not  measures aimed at protection of victims, but preventive support measures for perpetrators;
• amendments not in line with the Istanbul Convention, particularly in Articles 31 (custody, visitation rights and safety) and 56 (protective measures);
• the amendment to Article 21 of the Family Law, which allows minors over the age of 16 who have a child and have acquired full legal capacity before reaching adulthood to enter into marriage;
• amendments to Article 42, which effectively grant impunity to parents who engage a surrogate mother abroad, despite being aware that this constitutes the criminal offence of trafficking in human beings (babies) and violates Article 35 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Autonomous Women’s Center also challenged the manner in which members of the Working Group were appointed, noting that representatives of civil society organisations ranked at the bottom of the list were included, while there were no family law judges. Objections were also raised regarding the way the public consultation was conducted, in particular the fact that the first roundtable (in Belgrade) was held on the same day the consultation officially began, without prior information on the time and location, and without allowing sufficient time to review the Working Group’s proposals. AWC recalled that the Reform Agenda explicitly states that the adoption of legislative packages should take place “following transparent and inclusive consultations.”

Individual proposals for amendments to the Family Law submitted by the AWC can be found HERE.