Organization providing support to women with disabilities …IZ KRUGA – VOJVODINA, in cooperation with the UN Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women) funded by European Commission, has started the implementation of a project on advancing the system of service provision to women with disabilities and women experiencing violence.
The project aim is for institutions and other general and specialized service providers to women victims of all forms of violence to develop their capacities for implementation of the standards incorporated in the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and Istanbul Convention re. treatment of women with disabilities experiencing any kind of violence, especially sexual violence.
Besides partial statistics, Serbia and Vojvodina have no systematic analyses on domestic and partnership violence faced by women with disabilities. This project will collect data on the number of women with disabilities experiencing gender based violence, as well as their experience with support services in healthcare, welfare and security. The action research will be implemented in cooperation with organizations of persons with disabilities and women’s organizations providing support to women experiencing violence in municipalities and towns where there are Centers for Victims of Sexual Violence: Novi Sad, Subotica, Sremska Mitrovica, Vršac, Zrenjanin, Kikinda and Sombor.
The research will indicate to what extent are the services of healthcare, welfare, the police and judiciary accessible to women with disabilities and pinpoint the leading obstacles encountered by women with disabilities when approaching protection services. At the same time, best practice recommendations for changing the existing procedures and approaches will be sent to relevant ministries and provincial secretariats in order to improve the legal and strategic framework. Five municipalities will be selected for further mentorship in order to implement best practices in providing specialized services to women with disabilities. The project will result in a publication including situational analysis, overview of results and recommendations, good practice and conclusions.
This text is published with the support of the European Union. Attitudes expressed in it are the sole responsibility of the Ending Violence against Women in Western Balkans and Turkey: Applying Norms, Changing Consciousness Program and do not represent the position of EU.
