The coordinator of the SOS service, Ivana Zelic, and the consultant on the SOS hotline, Miladinka Mijatovic, participated in a two days webinar on Preventing Violence against Women with Disabilities in Residential Institutions. The webinar was held on March 23 and 24, 2021, from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. via the Zoom aplication.
The webinar is organized by FemPlatz, within the project Accessibility of Services for Women with Disabilities Survivors of Violence in Residential Institutions, implemented in partnership with the MDRI – S, Initiative for the Rights of Persons with Mental Disabilities, with the support of the United Nations Fund for Violence against Women.
The topics of the webinar were the position of women with mental disabilities in residential and psychiatric institutions, specific forms of violence against them and existing protection mechanisms.
Ivana Zelic, on behalf of the Organization …IZ KRUGA – VOJVODINA, spoke about the sexual and reproductive rights and health of women with disabilities and support services for women who are in a situation of violence, principles in work and practical experiences.
– Women with disabilities in residential institutions survive various forms of violence, from verbal to physical, by other users and employees, to sexual violence and gross violations of reproductive rights. Any form of violence against women is unacceptable, including violence against women with disabilities in residential and psychiatric institutions, which are invisible in society, and are exposed to various forms of violence – says Ivana Zelic.
Dr. Kosana Beker from FemPlatz presented the forms and manifestations of violence against women with disabilities in social protection institutions, while Marijana Jovic spoke on behalf of the Women’s Peace Group about the position of women with disabilities in social protection institutions during the pandemic and ways of support.
Within this project, partner organizations focus on the prohibition and prevention of contraception without informed consent, the prohibition of forced abortion and the protection of the sexual and reproductive rights of women with mental disabilities. The primary beneficiaries are women with mental disabilities, who are in institutional accommodation or have a history of institutionalization, who are working on empowerment and information on prevention and mechanisms of protection against violence, self-advocacy and the creation of informal forms of self-help.
