With Education Against Violence Toward Girls

In the last 3 months, our SOS phone rang so many times. 19 different women contacted us asking for help because they are in a situation of violence. In addition to support in the form of conversations, we provided psychological and legal assistance to some of them. You can see what else we did in the fight against violence during the pandemic that hit the whole world in the text below.

A state of emergency is not an excuse for violence

At the beginning of the state of emergency in Serbia, we launched a campaign called "A state of emergency is not an excuse for violence." In addition to our SOS telephone, the posts also promoted the telephones of the organizations we cooperate with and whose work we can stand behind: Pešcanik - Kruševac, Iz Kruga - Vojvodina, EGAL - Belgrade, which we continue in the further course of the campaign.  You can see the whole campaign on our FB and Instagram page.

Design of posts: Sanja K.

The emotional creature spoke on International Women's Day

In Niš, 10 activists told the life stories of girls and women who are changing history by changing established rules and traditions. We are very proud of them and on our longstanding contribution to empowering girls to speak publicly about violence.

At the very end, we joined female friends from Croatia with the performance Patriarch Rape! and we sent support to female fighters Latin American women.

Carrying the message “Silence does not protect us” we were together and with our friends from Banja Luka.

We thank our friends from Le Zbor and Oštra Nula for inviting us to join the action.

Photo by: Aleksandra N.

Remembrance Day for Women Victims of Violence

On the occasion of the Day of Remembrance of women victims of violence in Nis, activists of the Center for Girl carried out a street performance "Women's Cemetery," in the crowded Obrenoviceva Street in Niš. During the one-hour performance, passers-by could hear 315 names and surnames of women killed in the last 10 years in domestic and partner violence. The activists of the Center for Girls were joined during the performance by two women, a representative of the organization "Iz Kruga" and a fellow citizen. Today's action caused a lot of comments and was seen by over 1000 people. Interested fellow citizens could take the "Wheel of Violence" with them.

Audio recording: Mariana P.

Photo by: Sanja K, Ivana M.

"Women's Cemetery" Performance, June 2, 2020

During the hour that the performance lasted, passers-by could see the names and surnames of 3 women who were killed in the last 15 days in Serbia in domestic and partner violence, as well as messages about violence against women and femicide. Femicide is the murder of a woman by a man, motivated by hatred, feelings of superiority, ownership over women, and their bodies. Women are most often killed in their homes by their partners, and this is preceded by long-term violence. We distributed pamphlets about violence against girls to our fellow female citizens, as well as the wheel of violence. Many of them commented and photographed the performance, which was seen by more than 1,500 people.

Photo by: Marija V.

Let's be responsible for ourselves and take care of our health

May is the Month of Women's Health, which we have been celebrating for the eighth year in a row. Due to coronavirus measures this year, instead of workshops, we recorded conversations with four women about women's health and ways of caring during this period of quarantine and general concern. They were interviewed and recorded by Silvija M. You can find that interviews on our FB and Instagram page.

As every year on the occasion of May 28 – the International Day for Women's Health and Reproductive Rights, Obrenoviceva Street was full of women's activism today. With another street action where they held a banner and distributed promotional material, Center for Girls' activists pointed out the importance of taking care of ourselves and our health. More than 500 leaflets on the topic of cervical cancer were distributed to passers-by.

Be responsible for yourself and take care of your health because that is the most important thing.

Photographers: Sanja K. and Marija V.

Stay tuned because we can do more together!

Hello!

From last reporting we did a few things to educate girls and young women about violence against women. In our work we also included relevant institutions. Check it out our the newest report.

Together against sexual harassment

Once again we had a street action to support Marija from Brus who is suffered sexual harassment from her former boss. Court proceedings are being conducted against him. He was mayor of Brus while he sexual harassed her. We wanted to call for the accountability of the institution, but also for citizens not to remain silent.

Our messages was: It depends on the society's condemnation whether the feeling of the shame it will cross from a victim to abuser.

Let's say NO to violence together.

Conference about violence against women

In December we had a conference on a topic about violence against women. Over 50 people attended the conference.

The most important factors in the prevention of violence during the conference who stood out:

- when it comes to LGBTI persons, it is cooperation with institutions, but also that the response of institutions must be clearer and more direct;

- that it is necessary to delegate the competences of NGOs that have proven themselves in their work in order to advance the lives of their citizens, especially women as particularly vulnerable categories;

- emphasis should be put on prevention so that as few women as possible are in a situation of violence;

- domestic violence is not a private matter, but it must in no way depend on the will of the victim, so the state is obliged to find other evidence, to take other measures to prove that the violence was committed, and not to expect it only from the victim;

- That there is a need for constant education of both the employees of the institutions and the citizens on how to recognize violence; - and we need to deal more with the prevention of violence, not its consequences, because it is the path to reducing violence.

NGOs and institutions sat together at another our conference to talk violence against women. The conference was also attended by elementary, middle and high schools.

Campaign: Recognize and respond to violence against women

Are the media so important in the fight against violence? - you ask. They are, because thanks to them we find out how many women and girls are killed during the year by husbands, boyfriends, fathers, ex-partners or husband. Often, however, reporting is poor or inadequate.

The failures happen for various reasons, ignorance, ill-informed, patriarchal society in which violence is romanticized. In order to educate citizens, the public, we launched a media campaign Recognize and Respond!

You can see the video with that posts of campaign on the link below.

Vagina's monologues empower girls and women

This February 14, the Center for girls again empowered girls and women by performing Vagina's monologues in the environment that is considered patriarchal and these topics are taboo topics. We have enabled our female fellow citizens in Niš to hear confessions about the most intimate experiences of other women and girls from all over the world. We touched them with these stories and encouraged to think about themselves and their relationship with their inner being. This piece is still topical because many girls and women still feel guilt and shame when it comes to their own body or sexuality.

On February 14, 2020, activists from the Center for Girls performed Vagina's monologues for the 12th time.There were 19 girls and women aged 11-63 on the scene, 9 of them performing for the first time. Thank Labeerint for gave us space this year again.

We thank Jill Wilkowski with which we began to perform them in 2011.

Stay tuned for more!

Links:

• Campaign: Recognize and respond to violence against women