|
|
|
|
|
|
Critical Pro/Action
|
|
Within the Urgent Grants programme, Reconstruction Women’s Fund supports timely actions against dissemination of fear and insecurity in urgent situations of brutal violations of women’s human rights and safety of activists and situations of any kind of discrimination, unforeseen and requiring urgent response.
Action Prevent the Violence Before It’s Too Late! was initiated as an urgent response to the information that a Roma organization leader was planning to open a Safe House for Roma women survivors of violence. It was a disturbing news, since this man was a registered perpetrator of violence, whose wife several times contacted SOS Hotline in languages of national minorities led by Roma Center for Women and Children DAJE (Romski centar za žene i decu DAJE). The goal of DAJE activists was to collect all the information and documents and determine the legal steps required for obtaining the license for opening such an object. They also wanted to check who was/were the donor/s financing the Safe House project and what were their intentions concerning future cooperation with the organization. After the research, done in cooperation with a lawyer from the Autonomous Women’s Center (Autonomni ženski centar), they held a press conference and presented the acquired information. They succeeded in forbidding the work of this Safe House and thoroughly examined the Regulations on founding/opening shelters, demanded stricter control of such cases when necessary, as well as law provisions providing better safety in order to make sure such institutions could not be opened by people registered and convicted as perpetrators of domestic violence. Of course, throughout the process they did not reveal the identity of the man, since his wife cooperated with them all along and they did not want to expose her to risks. Their further intention is to provide equal accessibility and rights for Roma women in using measures and instruments for protection from violence, instead of being accommodated in separate, segregated safe houses for Roma women only.
Solidarity is Our Strength! Nedzibe Mitrovic was living in her house in Belgrade whole her life, since she was born in 1959, until, few years ago, she was illegally and violently expelled, along with her two children, with no alternative accommodation provided, directly to the street. They were evicted by the local government with the police assistance. A local investor scheduled the house for demolition – against the law. He wanted to build a „capital object“ at the location and decided to offer compensation to the other owners of nearby houses – everyone except Nedzibe. Nedzibe`s lawyer confirmed that she was offered compensation too in the beginning, but when the investor found out Nedzibe`s father was Albanian, he decided not to compensate her and told her „As Albanian, you should get back where you came from“. It turned out it was also the reason why local authorities disrespected the court’s decision to forbid the demolition of Nedzibe`s house. The profit meant more to them than her basic human rights, just because her nationality was „unfavorable“. Women in Black (Žene u crnom) and Helsinki Committee for Human Rights witnessed the situation and invited citizens and women’s and human rights organizations to the action of solidarity in yet another case of repression against citizens of Albanian nationality, this time by the local authorities and city council. Nedzibe was provided the temporary accommodation until the end of the trial that was supposed to resolve whether her house would be given back to her or justly compensated by the investor. Posting the information about this discrimination at several well visited blogs and mailing lists provoked numerous reactions of support to Nedzibe, as well as increasing pressure on the local authorities. Thanks to such responses, the local investor finally contacted Nedzibe, offering her just compensation and paying it right away.
The case of sexual harassment of a student of the Faculty of Political Sciences broke out in 2013 as a scandal, media „spectacle“ followed along with the political campaign against professors who, at the time, were unwanted at the Faculty; Belgrade University management was disturbed, but unwilling and not ready to deal with the facts. Women’s Studies Center (Centar za ženske studije), that uses premises at the Faculty of Political Sciences and has master and doctoral programmes at one of the departments of the Faculty, decided to take responsibility and take part in resolving the problem. In cooperation with other feminist groups, they formed the Working Group for the Protection from Sexual Harassment of the Faculty, consisting of representatives of Autonomous Women’s Center, based on their expertise in dealing with the violence against women, representatives of the Voice of Difference, a group very experienced in advocacy, especially in the field of sexual harassment (a member of the group, Marija Lukic, is a co-author of the Labour Act article on sexual harassment, as well as of the Voice of Difference publication from 2001 on the same subject), and of students and professors of the Faculty, including the Dean. Until then, sexual harassment was named only sporadically and fragmentary in the Faculty regulations, and the University itself had no mechanisms of protection and rules on proceeding and deciding in such cases. The goal was to make and adopt the Regulations for the Protection from Sexual Harrasment (Pravilnik za zaštitu od seksualnog uznemiravanja) for the Faculty of Political Sciences, that would precisely list the forbidden behaviors and define procedures of protection, i.e. sanctions, that would also work as a prevention of future conducts. After several meetings of the Working Group and additional talks and consultations, the Regulations were legally adopted in 2014 and are a precedent at all the Serbian universities that, therefore, should be promoted, advocated for and adopted at other faculties as well. For instance, according to the Regulations, if it is proven that a professor had sexually harassed a student, he could loose his job right away. Sexual harassment includes physical abuse, but also unwanted invitations, body language, unwanted sexual remarks and suggestions, and gender based mockery and derision.
|
|
|
|
When the Margin Opens New Horizons!
|
|
When we step into the reality, here, today, now, when we are present and speak out in our name and the names of others, when our voice is heard and when we are visible while speaking out about the system that keeps pushing us to invisibility because of our insurgence – then it is logical to choose the position on the margin, to choose the side of the oppressed and of the disobedient. We do disobey the system since we point to its mistakes, demanding better living and working conditions, dignity and justice we, as women, are entitled to. Reconstruction Women's Fund has been choosing grassroots position for years, wishing to bring the critics to the very centre in order to make the changes possible. But we are not doing it by ourselves – we are doing it together with our friends, allies, companions, fighters. Apart from financial investments, we also invest our knowledge and creativity, passion and dedication. Some of the actions we took and are taking part in during the first half of 2015 are:
Celebration of March 8 with the slogan DECENT WORK, NOT HUNGER!
Roma Women Network, Network Women Against Violence, Women in Black Serbian network and Trade Unions Women Sections organized the protest march, with the support of Reconstruction Women's Fund and other activists. We gathered a large number of people with the common aim: to point to the problems of labor and labor rights of women, unemployment, exploitation and derogation of the dignity of women. In the ruling system of patriarchy and capitalism, a person needs a lot of strength in order to deconstruct the positions of power and control. One needs to break down the social grindstones that fragmentize us, turning us into machines, robots, slaves. Within the neoliberal system, one has to be super human in order to survive, and that applies to women too. We have to be healthy, fit, able to work in order to be accepted. We are not allowed to be ill, old, exhausted, because in that case we will be treated as the waste of the society. Multitasking isn't the result of imposed roles, but of the system that forces us to it. Our demands have always been 8 hours of work, 8 hours of culture, 8 hours of rest. It is the only way for a society to have enough time and space to develop.
Today, it makes sense to celebrate this holiday and rebel against oppression. We fight for a more righteous life, for a life without fear of violence, of getting fired, for free health insurance and free education. We fight for introducing into school curriculums the subjects such as prevention of violence and sexual education. We believe that economy and politics are the subjects that should always be given enough space and appreciation in order to be able to act at all levels. From streets to institutions. We demand DECENT WORK, NOT HUNGER. You can see a short video produced by Women in Black.
Lesbian Spring – a four day women's event + LESBIAN MARCH!
This event gathered lesbians from the countryside, from the region and the world, in order to exchange the energy and strengthen each other, as well as to create the space for the exchange of knowledge and experience concerning their lesbian identity, political actions and lesbian culture!
We want to put an end to patriarchy and lesbophobia and to mark the two decades of lesbian movement in Serbia!
We are all aware that social circumstances in Serbia are extremely negative when it comes to lesbians – we are confronted with constant lesbophobia, being erased from the social and cultural milieu, exposed to risks if holding hands or otherwise showing affection in public spaces.
A group of grassroots lesbians, friends, activists from various groups from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Slovenia, wants to bring this lesbian spring to the full bloom! Lesbian spring is organized in cooperation with the informal group Vještice (Witches), and with the support of Reconstruction Women's Fund, Befem, Skuvarice, Autonomous Women's Center, photo studio Novi Dirizabl, People's Hostel, Labris – organization for lesbian human rights, Magacin – St. Kraljevica Marka, World March of Women.
Take a look at the photographs from the event
Women's Court – a feminist approach to justice, 7 – 10 of May 2015, SARAJEVO!
Women's Court – a feminist approach to justice is organized in order to publicly reveal the crimes committed against women, to stop the silence, oblivion and impunity of crimes, to prevent retroactive alterations of history, and to introduce a feminist approach to justice and record testimonies of crimes and violence against women in the states of former SFRY from 1990 to this day. In accordance with the feminist approach to justice, Women's Court provides a public space for free testimonies of women and possibility to make permanent records of the testimonies.
Women's Court does not determine criminal responsibility, but publicly denounces political and moral responsibility of offenders, producing recommendations and demands for the institutions at both national and international level.
Intention of the Women's Court is to strengthen support and solidarity networks in order to create a strong autonomous women's movement. Women's Court encourages the creation of a different – feminist concept of responsibility, care and security with the aim of building more righteous peace.
Organizational Board of the Women's court – A Feminist Approach to Justice // The Movement of Mothers of the Enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa, Cure Foundation (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Anima (Montenegro), Women's Studies Center, Centre for Women War Victims – ROSA (Croatia), Kosovo Women Network (Kosovo), Council for Gender Equality (Macedonia), Women's Lobby of Slovenia (Slovenia), Women's Studies Center, Women in Black (Serbia). More information
|
|
|
|
Annual Report for 2014!
|
|
The following two words crucially marked our experience in 2014: focus and freedom. Our insights have confirmed that the political clarity meant sustainability for women's groups. It is also obvious that the dedication of groups to their key programmes brings clarity, stability, advancement, strength. Our programmes dedicated to young women and girls are exciting, but we also identified some broader scopes we should keep developing, consisting of readers, volunteers, close partners, new interested audiences.
The whole annual report for 2014 can be found at our website:
http://www.rwfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/rek-god-izvestaj-sr-03-WEB.pdf
What's most important is to absolutely always keep inventing the new and, in a tolerant, productive and positive way, keep connecting the possible links. (Žarana Papić)
|
|
|
|
Links to the Future: We Do Not Want To Go Back, We Want a Free Space
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
