With Education Against Violence Toward Girls

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As in previous years, the summer activities of the Center for Girls revived feminist art and activism in Niš, and bring new energy. We organized the jubilee 10th ArtFemine Fesstival, the 9th Feminist Art Colony, organized a street action on abortion, participated in the workshop ,,Get started, move and apply“, became part of the Working Group for the development of a new planning document in the field of combating human trafficking, opened a Children Daycare Center and held training for volunteers of the Day Center for Children, and much more. You can read more details below.

Center for girls held 10th ArtFemine festival and celebrated 25 years of work

Over 60 people attended the 10th anniversary ArtFemine Festival of Feminist Art and Activism, organized by the Center for Girls on July 1-7, 2023.

On the first day of the festival, the art and psychology workshop "What She Says" by sculptor Tamara Z. was held. Ten participants of the workshop reflected on their emotions and their identity, and then each created conceptual jewelry inspired by the inner world of another participant. In the evening, the premiere of the film about the Center for Girls was shown in the Art55 Gallery and a publication about the organization's 25 years of existence and work was promoted. The film was shot by Boban R., and he and Tatjana N. worked tirelessly together to merge the recorded material into a whole. Tatjana N. and Sara P. spoke about the publication, and Jelena V., Jana T., Mina Z. and Milica Z. read their texts from the publication, which was graphically edited by Sanja S. The evening continued with the opening of the exhibition of works created at the 8th Feminist Art Colony, entitled "That Road We Walk". At the opening, artist and collaborator Sanja S. and artists who participated in last year's colony, Jelena P. and Tamara Z., spoke. They talked about what the Feminist Art Colony means for them and for the art scene in Serbia and how their participation in the colony affected their professional and personal development. The evening ended with socializing, hugs and an exchange of positive energy.

On the second day of the festival, the art and psychology workshop "Self-portrait to self-therapy" by Jovana . was held. Twelve participants had the opportunity to explore themselves, their emotions, needs and desires and to express themselves through the collage technique. The participants first thought about what they wanted to say with their works, then they created collages, and later they commented and explained their works. In the evening, a lecture on gender-sensitive language, "Why we got rid of gender", was held by Professor Svetlana T. The audience had the opportunity to hear more about the history of gender in the Serbian language and the history of the struggle to introduce gender-sensitive language into the norm, laws that prescribe the use of gender-sensitive language and anti-gender currents in the Serbian public and the scientific community, as well as why they are harmful to the science of language and the position of women in society. This was followed by the promotion of the book "Talking About Blocks" by writer Jelena N.R. The interview with the author was conducted by Sanja S. The audience had the opportunity to hear the recommendations of two of the author's friends, and then talk with the writer about the inspiration for the creation of the book, the structure of the work and the characters in the work, and what writing this book meant to her.

On the third day, the promotion of the digital platform Women's Museum was held, which is a project of the Union of Feminist Organizations (Re)connection and part of the international network of women's museums IAWM. The platform was presented by the philosopher Silvia D. The audience had the opportunity to learn about the concept of a women's museum, the way of collecting materials for a women's museum and the importance of such a platform for increasing the visibility of women in the history of science and art.

On the fourth day, the promotion of Biljana K. book, "Breast Circle" was held. The interview with the writer was conducted by Sara P. The audience had the opportunity to learn more about the author's inspiration for writing stories, to learn about the author's views on self-censorship and queer literature.

On the fifth day of the festival, the "Water on fire" workshop was planned, but due to bad weather conditions, it was postponed until the day after the end of the festival. This workshop was an opportunity for the participants to connect with nature and with their creative side. The participants got rid of stress with the help of their creativity. The workshop was led by Maja D, a psychologist and psychotherapist. She is a certified transactional analyst and practitioner of play therapy.

On the sixth day of the jubilee ArtFemine festival, a concert was held by the musician Anita Š. from Mostar. The citizens of Niš had the opportunity to get to know Anita's music, but also to hear some already well-known songs by other performers from the former Yugoslavia.

On the seventh day of the jubilee ArtFemine festival, the literary performance "Good morning, jazz girls" by Jasna J. was held. The citizens of Niš had the opportunity to get acquainted with Jasna's research and artistic work on contemporary and jazz music with an emphasis on gender and interactive strategies of improvisation in jazz. At the end of the literary performance, we had the opportunity to once again hear the musician Anita Š, who performed the previous evening. The evening continued with the performance-lecture "In the arms of the forgotten" by Maja M.

The festival passed with a lot of hugs, laughter, socializing and positive energy.

The ArtFemine festival was supported by OAK and the Trag Foundation and the Global Fund for Women.

The 9th Feminist Art Colony

The 9th Feminist Art Colony was successfully held in Sicevo. Eight artists participated in the colony: Tamara K. (Novi Sad), Jelena C. (Trstenik), Vanja B. (Cacak), Marija J. (Belgrade), Sanja S. (Belgrade), Marija M. (Belgrade), Anelija R. (Raška), Isidora M. (Belgrade).

Upon arrival in Niš, after the traditional photo shoot in front of the monument to Nadezda P., the artists settled in a hostel in Sicevo.

On the first day of the colony, the artists had the opportunity to get to know the Center for Girls, as well as each other. The artists watched a film about the Center for Girls and received materials for work at the colony, as well as a publication created on the occasion of the organization's 25 years of work. On the same day, a part of the play "I am an emotional being" was performed in front of the artists, which talks about violence against girls and women, human trafficking, women's human rights and the experiences of girls from all over the world.

On the second, third and fourth day of the colony, the female artists participated in a self-defense workshop led by Tatjana N. At the workshop, they learned five principles of self-defense, a communication formula, how to say no clearly and loudly and set boundaries, be assertive, recognize a violent situation, be aware of your surroundings, defend yourself from verbal and physical attack, run away and seek help. In addition, they learned three punches and five physical self-defense techniques. After the workshops, they had free time, which they could spend creating, socializing, exchanging experiences and resting in the natural surroundings of the Sicevo Gorge.

On the fifth day, female artists participated in a workshop on gender-sensitive language, held by Sara P. They learned why it is important to use gender-sensitive language when talking about themselves and other women, and how to use it. They had the opportunity to break down some of the preconceptions about gender-sensitive language and give their comments regarding its use and importance. Later in the day, there was a celebration of the colony's 9th birthday, as well as the birthday of one of the participants. We blew out the candle, made wishes and enjoyed the cake and the company.

On the sixth day, the colonies of female artists continued to create works of art using a wide variety of techniques - painting, graphics, drawing. In the evening, they had the opportunity to see the performance-lecture "In the arms of the forgotten", performed by actress Maja Mitic. The play talks about important women of the Balkans and the female roles played by Maja Mitic, about what they mean for her personal and our collective identity and development.

The Feminist Art Colony in Sicevo was created out of a desire to empower and promote young female artists, as well as with the intention to involve visual artists of the Serbian and regional scene more in current feminist topics, to connect with each other, to achieve cooperation and to give them space in where they can freely practice their art. This art colony was founded in 2015, on the 110th anniversary of the founding of the art colony in Sicevo, whose founder was the Serbian painter and humanitarian Nadezda P.

The feminist art colony was supported by OAK and Trag Foundation and the Global Fund for Women.

For legal and free abortion - Street action

Over 1,500 people saw the street action "For legal and free abortion", which was held by the activists of the Center for Girls, due to the news that the doctors at the Niš Clinical Center refused to perform an abortion on a female patient.

Abortion is an intervention that gives a woman the freedom to make her own decisions about her body, to choose when, if ever and how many children she will have. In Serbia, it is legal up to the 10th week of pregnancy, and the law determines that a woman who wishes to terminate a pregnancy at her personal request has the right to the above-mentioned medical intervention. Abortion must remain legal, free and available to every girl and woman.

Workshop ,,Get started, move and apply“

Activists of the Center for Girls and members of the Academic Theater of SKC Niš socialized and learned through the theater workshop "Get started, move and apply" with Olivera V. ., actress, director and director of the Belgrade theater Pan Teatar.

The workshop is part of this year's Nashville Jazz Theater Festival.

Working group for creation of a new planning document in the field of the fight against human trafficking

The Center for Girls became part of the Working Group for the development of a new planning document in the field of combating human trafficking, together with five other organizations from the country, which work to solve the problem of human trafficking.

The center for girls will be represented by Tatjana N. and her deputy Marija V. By participating in the work of the group, the Center for Girls will make a direct contribution to the development of a new planning document, which aims to improve the response of the Republic of Serbia to the problem of human trafficking and contribute to its suppression.

Center for Girls opens Children Daycare Center

The Center for Girls launches the Children Daycare Center, intended for children in Niš who live and/or work on the streets or live in poverty.

The services of the day center for children are already used by several Roma children.

The children's center is implemented as part of the project "Improved social cohesion in Niš and Southern Serbia through reducing the risk of human trafficking and increasing the resilience of street children", supported by the European Union, through the EU Pro Plus program.

Training for volunteers of Children’s Daycare Center was held

The Center for Girls held a training session for volunteers of the Children Daycare Center, where those present had the opportunity to learn about the way of working in the field and in the Children Daycare Center.

The training was led by Tatjana N. There were talks about communication, active listening, empathy, collecting information about the users and protecting the rights of the child and the user's identity.

The training was conducted within project "Improved Social Cohesion in Niš and South Serbia Through Reducing The risk of Human Trafficking and Increasing The Resilience of Street Children", supported by the European Union, through the EU Pro Plus programne.

That's it for now.

If you like what we do stay with us to see more!

See you in three months. ♥

P.S. 

If you want to support us we thank you in advance. :)

Links:

• 10th ArtFemine festival

From February 3 to June 2, we conducted several activities dedicated to education, raising awareness, preventing violence against women and girls, reacting to increase in femicides in Serbia, preventing human traffcking, taking care of the enviroment, and protection of women’s rights.

During this entire period, we contionued with the Empowering self-defense workshops in highschools and faculties. In total, 150 girls/women were empowered and learnt how to defend themselves from verbal, sexual and physical violence, trough 60 workshops.

February was dedicated to rising against violence and opression trough artistic expression. We performed Eve Ensler’s „Vagina’s Monologues“ on the ocassion of 25th anniversary of premiere of the play, we danced along the song „Break the Chain“ and raised for freedom of women and girls from all types of violence and opression, on the ocassion of the 10th anniversary of One Billion Rising action.

March started strong, with three-day training on the topic of working with children involved in the life on the street, and combating human trafficking, for the representatives of public institutions, where we had the opportunity to learn from the best – organisation The Land of Children (Zemlja djece) from Bosnia and Herzegovina, that successfully erradicated child trafficking in the form of forced begging in their city. We also marked International Women’s Day, as we held Women’s March together with other women’s organizations from other cities in South Serbia.

End of March and month of April were, unfortunately, marked by several devastating news. Therefore, ad hoc street actions with performance „Women’s Graveyard“ were performed. We had 9 femicides for only 9 weeks, and later 10th femicide, so we held two street actions with this performance. However, we found time to release the accumulated stress and spend some time in nature, at Bubanj Memorial Park, where we also had a cleaning action on the ocassion of The Earth Day.

In May, all Serbia went silent when 20 people, mostly children, lost their lives in one school-shooting in elementary school in Belgrade and one mass-shooting in area of cities Smederevo and Mladenovac, and 4 more women were killed in gender-based violence. Even though we were in shock, we decided that it is not the time to fall in despair and we decided to act – we went into the streets and, trough street action, demanded disarm, canceling media programs that promote violece and better institutional support for children, as well as better institutional response to violece and femicides. We marked the Remembrance Day for Women Victims of Violence with a street action and performanse „Women’s Graveyard“, for 18 women killed in just 19 weeks. In the second half of the month, we held meetings with representatives of city municipalities, in which we presented self-defense workshops we conducted in schools and faculties, as well as results of research we did with girls/women that attended workshops, in an atempt to give recommendations for increasing safety of women and girls in public spaces in Niš, as well as to deepen the cooperation with public institutions and city authorities.

June, we started with announcement for our 10th ArtFemine festival of feminist art and activism and 9th Feminist Art Colony.

The entire time we provided SOS phone services, as well as in-person talk and support for our users.

FEBRUARY

Vagina’s Monologues – 25th anniversary

In more than 150 countries in the world, on February 14, the performance "Vagina's Monologues" is traditionally read, which this year, the activists of the Center for Girls performed for the 14th time. Twenty-one activist of the Center for Girls participated in the performance, the youngest of whom is 14 and the oldest 49, and the performance was performed in front of about forty people on the stage of the Student Cultural Center.

Photo: Marta S. 

„Break the Chain“ dance – 10th anniversary of One Billion Rising action

Over 1,000 people saw the dance performed by the activists of the Center for Girls and members of the dance club Primavera and dance Club Illusion Dance Community to the song "Break The Chain" in Obrenoviceva Street in the center of Niš and, together with people all around the world, sent a message that violence against girls and women must stop.

The dance is performed every year on February 14, as part of the global campaign One Billion Rising, which was created in response to the statistics that say that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be raped or beaten in their lifetime, which means one billion women. At the time when the research was done, there were seven billion people living in the world, and with the current population of eight billion and rising, this number is even higher.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of this action, initiated by Yves Ensler, writer, feminist and author of "Vagina's Monologues". On that occasion, a video was recorded: https://fb.watch/iQn80ygePA/ .

Photo: Marta S.

Video: Boban R.

MARCH

Tree-day training on working with children involved in life on the street and combating human trafficking

At the three-day training on combating human trafficking and working with children who live/work on the street or live in poverty, the participants had the opportunity to hear representatives of the organization Zemlja djece (The Land of Children), Mirsada Bajramovic and Medina Gracic, and professors from the Criminalistics police academy in Belgrade, Milan Zarkovic.

There was talk about the role of Daycare centers in identifying and combating human trafficking, especially forced begging, cooperation between institutions and the civil sector, the referral mechanism for preventing and combating the exploitation of children, the way of functioning and the role of the mobile identification team (MIT), as well as the practices that are resulting from the long-term work of the organization Zemlja djece (The Land of Children). The training was attended by 41 person – representatives of: Basic and Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Niš, Criminal Court, Center for Social Work, Home for Children and Youth "Duško Radovic", Children's Shelter, Elementary School "Vuk Karadzic", Gymnasium "Stevan Sremac", Law and business schools, economic schools and fashion and beauty schools, as well as activists of the Center for Girls.

Tatjana Nikolic from the Center for Girls and Mirsada Bajramovic from the Land of Children made statements for Belle Amie and N1 television, and were also guests on Niška television.

We are grateful to the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia for providing the hall and hospitality.

The training was organized by the Center for Girls as part of the project "Improved social cohesion in Niš and South Serbia through reducing the risk of human trafficking and increasing the resilience of street children", supported by the European Union, through the EU Pro Plus program.

We plan to implement the gained knowledge in our future work with children living/working on the street or living in poverty, trough work of Daycare center for Children.

Photos by Teodora M.

Women’s March

Sixty activists, women and citizens participated in the Women's March, which was held in Niš on the occasion of the upcoming International Women's Day. Seven member organizations of the Women Against Violence network: Association of Roma women Nada, Women for Peace, Association of Roma Women Bujanovac, Association of Roma Women Osvit, Independent Women's Center, SOS Vlasotince and Center for Girls walked the streets of Niš today.

We demand that femicide be recognized as a separate crime; Stop violence against girls/women; Rape is a crime without reason; it's never her fault! The responsibility lies with the abuser; Roma women for a society without gender-based violence; One billion rise for freedom; In solidarity with the women of Afghanistan, Iran, Syria and Ukraine; We demand that abortion remain legal; Legal abortion must be a woman's right; You have the right to live without discrimination; We demand that women's work be paid; For economically independent women; Women's human rights; We trust you; We're listening to you; We respect your decisions; Sexual violence against girls and women cannot go unpunished; The only important thing is that you are well, because you are not alone; More feminists in decision-making places to make women's suffrage heard; Stop killing women, because a woman gave birth to you, were the messages sent from the banners carried by the participants. Eight participants bore the names of girls, women and women killed since the beginning of the year.

Over 3000 people saw the march, stopped, took pictures and filmed. The march started with a dance to the song "Break the Chain", performed by activists of the Center for Girls and members of the Primavera Dance Club, and later the participants went for a walk through the central streets of Niš. Tatjana Nikolic from the Center for Girls and Ana Sacipovic from the Association of Roma Women Osvit gave statements to the media.

The march was supported by OAK and the Trag Foundation and the Global Fund for Women.

Photos by: Marija V., Nina M. and Boban R. 

„Women’s Graveyard“– 9th femicide in only 9 weeks in Serbia

Over 700 people saw the performance "Women's Graveyard", performed by the activists of the Center for Girls on a rainy day, on the occasion of 9 femicides since the beginning of the year. Many passers-by stopped, commented, photographed and recorded the performance, some of them wanted to share their experience with violence or the experience of a woman close to them, and one fellow citizen stood with us the whole time.

Since the beginning of 2023, in 9 weeks, 9 girls and women have been killed by their current/former husbands/partners, stepfathers, stepchildren…

FEMICIDE is the killing of a woman just because she is a woman. It is motivated by hatred of women, a feeling of superiority and a desire to control her life, and the killers are most often their closest, current/former husband/partner, son, brother, father, stepfather, or some other male person.

We demanded that FEMICIDE be recognized as a separate crime.

Photographed by Maria V.

APRIL

10th femicide in Serbia – Performance „Women’s Graveyard“

Since the beginning of 2023, 10 girls and women in Serbia were murdered in a family-partner relationship context (i.e. killed by their current/former husbands/partners, fathers, sons, brothers...).

On April 6, 13 activists of the Center for Girls in Niš participated in the performance "Women's Cemetery", which talks about femicide.

Photo: Marija V.

Empowering Self-defence workshops continuing in highschools and faculties, trough project SAFE

The Center for Girls implemented Empowering Self-Defense workshops in four more high schools in Niš and at three faculties: "Bora Stankovic" Gymnasium, School of Commerce, School of Fashion and Beauty, School of Economics and at the faculties: Faculty of Occupational Safety, Faculty of Electronics, Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Philosophy. Through 60 workshops, 250 girls/women learned how to defend themselves against verbal and physical attacks.

The participants had the opportunity to learn communication techniques, boundary setting, attitude, three types of strikes and five physical self-defense techniques. The method itself was made for women.

Empowering self-defense workshops are implemented in 10 high schools and 4 faculties in Niš within the Center for Girls' project SAFE - Empowering girls and women to feel safer in public places in Niš, supported by UN Women.

Photographed by: Marta S.

Earth Day 2023

Eighteen activists of the Center for Girls and citizens celebrated Earth Day with socializing in nature and a clean-up action at the Bubanj memorial park.

The action was held as part of the global campaign One Billion Rising which theme this year is Rising for Freedom.

Photo by: Marija V.

MAY

We demanded disarm

Over 1,500 people saw the street action that the activists of the Center for Girls held in the center of Nis, on the occasion of the shooting at the "Vladislav Ribnikar" Elementary School in Vracar, in which eight children and one man were killed, as well as on the occasion of 14 femicides since the beginning of this year.

We demanded disarmament, a ban on showing violence in the media and the employment of psychologists in schools who want to work with children and not just with paperwork, as well as to stop femicide (the killing of women and girls just because they are women, by those close to them male persons).

Photo: Marija V.

Remembrance Day for Women Victims of Violence 2023 – Street performance

Over 2,500 people saw the performance "Women's Graveyard" which, on the occasion of yesterday's Remembrance Day for Women Victims of Violence, was performed by 17 Center for Girls' activists in Obrenoviceva Street, in the center of Niš. The participants wore the names of girls/women killed since the beginning of this year, and the names of over 400 girls/women killed from 2010 to today were heard from the speakers.

We requested:

-Establishment of a working team that will analyze cases of violence against girls/women;

-Formation of central records on violence against girls/women and femicide;

-Public hearing on failures of institutions in dealing with cases of reported violence.

We would like to thank N1 television, Belle Amie television, the Niške vesti portal and the Anatolia agency for reporting on our street action.

Photo: Emilia I. M.

Meetings with representatives of city municipalities

Representatives of the Center for Girls met with representatives of the City municipalies of Pantelej, Crveni Krst and Mediana, and on that occasion presented empowering self-defense workshops that Center for Girls conducted in 10 high schools and 4 faculties in Niš, and presented the results of research on the safety of girls and women in public places in Niš, as well as recommendations for measures to increase security, formed on the basis of research.

Representatives of the municipalites, through a constructive dialogue, expressed their views on the problem of safety of girls/women in public spaces in Niš, and proposed measures that we can take together to make Niš a safer place for all its citizens.

Meetings with representatives of city municipalities are implemented within the project SAFE: Empowering girls and women to feel safer in public places in Niš. The project was supported by UN Women. #bezbednesvuda #safeeverywhere

Photo: Marta S.

International Day of Action for Women’s Health and Reproductive Rights

Activists of the Center for Girls marked the International Day of Action for Women's Health and Reproductive Rights by distributing informative leaflets on the prevention of cervical cancer, in Obrenoviceva Street and in front of the Delta shopping center.

More than 300 citizens received information about screening, early detection and treatment of cervical cancer, from which, every day, 1 woman dies and 4 get ill from, in Serbia. We reminded them about the availability of the HPV vaccine and the importance of regular gynecological examinations.

Photo: Nela S. and Sara P.

CONCLUSION

In four month period, we rised againt all forms of violence and discrimination against women and children, trough dance, art, theatre, education and action. We demanded better response to rising violence and hatred. We continued conducting our well-known activities, but we also opened some new chapters in our future work. 

You can see how activities went on the photos and video links below.

All videos are filmed and edited by Boban R.

Links:

• 25 years of Vagina's Monologues and 10 of One Billion Rising
• Women's March in Nis - International Women's Day