With Education Against Violence Toward Girls

Hello!

Since the last report, the Center for Girls has become part of the working group for the drafting of the Draft Law in the field of combating human trafficking in the Republic of Serbia, created a performance/play about the life of children who beg/work on the street, marked the „European Day of Combating Human Trafficking“ and „16 Days of Activism campaign“, and traveled to Bangkok to the AWID forum.

Working group in the field of combating human trafficking

By participating in the work of the group, the Center for Girls will make a direct contribution to the drafting of the draft law in the field of combating human trafficking in the Republic of Serbia, which aims to improve the Republic of Serbia's response to the problem of human trafficking and contribute to its suppression.

Children from the Daycare Center for the first time part of a performance/show

Activists of the Center for Girls first received training on dramaturgical work with children, various games, techniques and methods of creating a play. Then they had the opportunity to work directly with the users of the Children's Daycare Center, both independently and together with an expert, to design and rehearse the performance/show about the life of children who beg/work on the street.

This was the first time children who come to the Center met with theater, and it was especially interesting for them that in the performance/play they have the opportunity to act and thus tell their own life stories. The children were overjoyed to have the opportunity to see the theater and learn some basic things about it, as well as to feel what it's like to be on stage and act.

Children Daycare Center for street children

The doors of the Daycare Center were open to children who live and work on the streets. Service users could bathe and get clean clothes, eat, play, watch TV or study how to write, read, counte etc. On the occasion of the New Year, we gave gifts to the users of the Children Daycare Center and other children od the street. That gifts were collected and donated by several people from Belgrade for street children in Niš.

European Day against trafficing in human beings 2024

The Center for girls was part of the performance by which activists of the AT network marked October 18, the European Day Against Human Trafficking.

Citizens had the opportunity to hear what human trafficking is, what its forms are, how people most often get out of the human trafficking chain, how to protect themselves and to whom to report suspected human trafficking.

Several passers-by recorded and photographed the performance, and a few of them even stopped to read the messages on the banners.

Center for Girls at the 15th AWID forum in Bangkok

The Center for Girls from Niš was part of the 15th AWID Forum, held in Bangkok (Thailand), which was attended by 3,800 people from all over the world.

The first impression at the AWID forum was a sense of community and the beauty of diversity - a multitude of people from Africa, Asia, America, Europe, different colors, traditional costumes, languages, different sexualities and gender identities. In a moment, it seemed as if the whole world had stopped in one building.

During 4 days, the representative of the Center, Sara Plazinic Nikolic, had the opportunity to attend various panels, workshops, forum theaters, discussions and other activities on the topics of: violence against girls and women, rights of sex workers, invisible work of women in the household, LGBT+ rights, legalization of abortion, prevention of child marriage, problems of women in war zones, migrant women, climate change and its impact on indigenous women, feminist association against fascism, racism and colonialism, the role of the feminist movement in resisting dictatorial regimes, feminist activism in the digital world, funding of women's organizations, and others. It was also an opportunity to introduce the international feminist community to the problems and challenges faced by girls and women in Serbia.

"Women's cementary! performance in 6 cities in the country's east

Activists of the Center for Girls and activists of several organizations from Eastern Serbia performed "Women's Cemetery" in 6 cities - Majdanpek, Bor, Zajecar, Negotin, Knjazevac and Pozarevac.

Since the beginning of 2024, 17 femicides have been committed in Serbia, and it is necessary to work on raising public awareness of this problem.

On this occasion, we spoke with our fellow citizens and distributed pamphlets and leaflets with information on whom women in a situation of violence can contact, as well as the free telephone line of the Network of Women Against Violence, which is also staffed by consultants from the Center for Girls. Leaflets were also distributed with the point of violence and the terms fascism, racism, militarism, chauvinism, sexism and misogyny.

New fundraising campaign

We started a new fundraising campaign on the GlobalGiving platform. If you are interested in donating and supporting the Center for Girls in raising money to provide a SAFE SPACE FOR STREET CHILDREN, you can see our camaign on this link:https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/lets-give-safe-space-to-street-children/We have selected these few activities to share with you, and if you want to see what else we did in the previous period, visit our social networks.

https://www.facebook.com/CentarZaDevojke

https://www.tiktok.com/@centarzadevojke?_t=ZM-8std3CfSs34&_r=1

https://www.instagram.com/centarzadevojke?igsh=MTQ2NmhxcjNuYm9iZw==

Stay tuned in 2025!

Happy holidays,

Center for Girls team

You can just read what we did in last three months, you can just watch photos from that events or you can do both. Thank you in advance.

DAY CARE CENTER FOR CHILDREN

During this hellish summer, the Children's Day Center was a refuge for street children, where they colored and drew, played shops and markets, put together puzzles, watched cartoons, learned to write and read. It's best to look at the photos because they speak a thousand words.

"WOMEN'S CEMETERY" PERFORMANCE AND FORUMS ABOUT FEMICIDE IN 5 CITIES IN THE SOUTH OF SERBIA

In Serbia, around 30 women are killed annually. Since 2010, 450 of them have been killed by men. Activism through art, examining public attitudes, informing and encouraging citizens to take part in the fight to combat femicide are the actions we have taken. Street performances, forums, survey and campaign on femicide were realized in five cities in the south of Serbia: Pirot, Aleksinac, Leskovac, Dimitrovgrad and Niš. The result is that many citizens heard about the term femicide for the first time, that many of them who knew realized the gravity of the problem, expressed their desire to contribute to its solution. Their reactions were visible, when they approached us, asked if they could sign a petition, shared their experiences with institutions when reporting violence.

AMAZING, STRONG, FREE – THE 11TH ARTFEMINE FESTIVAL FINISHED

The Center for Girls successfully realized the 11th ArtFemine festival of feminist art and activism, titled "Amazing, Strong, Free". The indoor events were visited by over 60 people, and in total all the activities at the festival, including the street performance, were seen by over 2,000 of them. During 4 days, the festival hosted 14 important women from the artistic, scientific and activist scene.

We had an art exhibition called "Woman as a Rock", which included the works of the participants of the 9th Feminist Art Colony in Sicevo, as well as drawings by one female artist from Belgrade.

Also, we had the promotions of two books: "Imperfect" by Lidija V. psychologist, psychotherapist and activist and "Jefimija, the woman who won't" by Minja M. - 100heads. Conversation  with the author of „Imperfect“ was about how the patriarchal view of the concept of normality harms women, about the history of mental illnesses and their treatment in women, as well as about how misogyny and prejudice shaped the attitude of psychotherapy towards women and were used as an excuse for their institutionalization, and more.

The woman from the Egal, association  Anela C., presented her research on violence in lesbian partner relationships, how widespread violence is in lesbian relationships, and how the law sees this violence.

The activists of the Center for Girls performed the performance "Women's Cemetery" in the center of Niš and distributed pamphlets about violence and femicide to fellow citizens. In the evening, at the forum on violence against women, Marija V. the coordinator of program of Center for girls talked with three remarkable women: with Nevena P. president of the Women's Research Center, with Vida V. scientific associate and criminologist and with young woman, Dejana S. who is educator and activist, about the prevalence and different forms of violence against women, especially sexual violence, domestic violence and femicide.

There were talks about the mechanisms for protecting women from violence and how they function in reality, about the role of institutions and the environment in providing protection and support to women, about the prejudices that exist about violence, about activism and its importance, but also about why it is important to recognize femicide as special type of murder and have official statistics about it. After the serious topics, the evening continued in a more relaxed atmosphere, with the stand-up performance "You rock, Irena" by the female comedian Jagoda J, and then with the party "Amazing, strong, free" by DJ Alex.

We had 6 workshops on festival: making jewelry from recycled material -"Transformation" by Tanja C, a drama workshop - "From an idea to a drama realization" by actress Dragana J., and an art workshop  - "What does the collective we want to be a part of" looks like“ - by art artist Jelena P., comics workshop - "Heroes" by artist Jelena ., jewelry making workshops - "Expression trough jewelery" by Jana T. and collage making workshops - "Combinatorics of newspaper titles" by Marina R.

The festival took place in a positive, friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Hugs, ideas were exchanged, new acquaintances were made and discussions on important topics were started.

These are some of the guest comments:

• The organization of the events is impeccable as always and it was a real pleasure for me.
• I had a good time with the pannel, the atmosphere was relaxed, not like a stiff academic environment. In the eyes of those present, I saw the interest and desire to learn some new information.
• The girls at the workshop were wonderful and it was a real pleasure to watch how creativity takes over and how, at least for a short time, we share a space in which something is calculated differently and in which we are safe and our own.
• One of the guests at the festival shared her impressions in a blog post.
• And here's what the audience had to say:
• I was given the opportunity to meet some new women, learn a lot from them and completely relax. I hope that such a powerful festival will be held next year as well, and I would be very happy to repeat this experience.
• It was phenomenal at the workshop. I was a little afraid of how it would be with unknown women, but I was relieved when I saw how relaxed they all were. This definitely helped me step out of my comfort zone a bit.
• The festival reminded me of the strength of togetherness and the importance of fighting for equality in all aspects of life.

STREET ACTION FOR THE GENDER EQUALITY LAW

We had two street action the occasion of the decision of the Constitutional Court to initiate the procedure of examining the constitutionality of the Gender Equality Law and to suspend its application while the procedure is ongoing. First action was in front of the Basic Court in Nis and another was held in Obrenoviceva Street in the center of Nis. On second action we placed special emphasis on the responsibility of the Ombudsman in this shameful procedure.

The Gender Equality Law implies equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities, equal participation and balanced representation of women and men in all areas of social life.

Many fellow citizens, both passers-by and travelling by their vehicles and public transport, had the opportunity to read the following messages:

Gender-sensitive language is important because it enables the visibility of women in all areas of life and work.

If you can say woman hairdresser, you can say woman politician and minister.

If you can say maid, you can say woman surgen and playwrighter.

If you can say woman pedicure, you can say woman pediatrician.

If you can say maid, you can say woman diplomat.

If you can say seamstress, you can say councilwoman.

If you can say woman teacher, you can say woman lawyer and councilor.

The Gender Equality Law ensures equal rights and opportunities for both women and men.

If there were more women than men in some work area, this law would allow men to have a minimum of 40%.

The Constitutional Court wants to return us to the Middle Ages.

On first action some of the fellow citizens approached to ask what it was about, but unfortunately, there were also negative comments, curses and honking from the car. On second action, some of the passers-by came to ask what it was all about. This time the comments were positive and very supportive.

10TH FEMINIST ART COLONY

The 10th Feminist Art Colony was successfully held in Sicevo. Ten female artists participated from Croatia (Zadar and Rijeka) and Serbia (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Obrenovac, Babušnica, Niš).

The program of the Feminist Art Colony included one performance and two plays, an introduction workshop, empowering self-defense workshops and a gender-sensitive language workshop. All these activities were performed/led by women.

On introductory workshop the artists had the opportunity to learn about the history of the Center for Girls and the Feminist Art Colony and the activist and artistic program of the Center for Girls, and we about their creativity, the topics they deal with and the inspiration that inspires them

The artists had the opportunity to attend the Empowering Self-Defense workshops trought which they learned the communication formula, 5 principles of self-defense, 5 grips and 3 strikes for physical self-defense; they learned how to be more assertive and say "NO" loudly, to recognize potential danger, to be aware of their surroundings, they learned how to get out of a violent situation, run away and defend themselves physically.

On workshop on gender-sensitive language, they exchanged their views and experiences, broke some prejudices and learned more about why it is important to use gender-sensitive language, how it increases the visibility of women in public life, as well as what is the situation in Serbia with the Law on Gender Equality, which prescribes the use of gender sensitive language. In the evening, in the colony.

On the seventh day of the colony, the artists finished their works and left three of their best works each to the Center for Girls.

"OTHER PEOPLE'S SHOES" - Center for Girls was part of performance at Nišville Jazz Theater Festival

Three activists of the Center for Girls, were part of the theater performance "Other People's Shoes: An Aria for the Empathy" by the British theater director, which talks about migrants.

Actors from the Puppet Theater and dancers from the Teatro Dance Studio participated too, and musicians from Niš, took part in the performance as well. The performance was performed as part of the first night of the Nišville Jazz Theater festival, and by the decision of the expert jury, it was awarded the prize for the best used music in the play.

We gained valuable experience, wonderful memories and sent important messages to our fellow citizens.

Thanks for reading and following your work.