Ivana Zelic and Marijana Canak in front of the Organization … IZ KRUGA – VOJVODINA participated in the nineteenth WAVE conference held in Budapest from 30 October to 1 November 2017.
The conference entitled From backlash to effective response: step up together for the protection of women and girls from all forms of violence brought together 230 participants from around the world. Speakers from our area included Aleksandra Nestorov (Autonomous Women’s Center, Belgrade), Valentina Andrasek (Autonomous Women’s House, Zagreb), Senka Sekulic Rebac and Kristina Mihaljevic (Women’s Room – Center for Sexual Rights, Zagreb), Dubravka Simonovic (Special Reporter on Violence over women from Zagreb).
The conference was officially opened by Terry Reintke of the European Parliament, who spoke via video on sexual violence and the importance of women’s voices against male violence.
On the first day of the conference, three sessions were held. The session, entitled Controlling Women ‘s Bodies, Minds, and Lives – Roots and Manifestations of Violence Against Women, and How to Respond to It, addressed the topics of online violence and technological resources to control women’ s fatigue and body, the impact of pornography on the sexual development of young people, and women ‘s reproductive rights. The session Intersectional Forms of Violence and Its Historical Roots presented the complex forms of multiple discrimination and violence (eg. gender interlacing, minority ethnicity and disability). The third session was dedicated to the effective support and protection of children in the context of partner violence.
On the second day of the conference, all open topics were deepened through workshop work, with the formulation of recommendations and guidelines for further work on preventing violence against women.
