REACTION OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS SOS TELEPHONE BERANE, WOMEN'S RIGHTS CENTER, WOMEN’S SAFE HOUSE, SOS TELEPHONE PODGORICA, SOS TELEPHONE NIKSIC, SPECTRA AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTION

 

ON THE CASE OF VIOLENCE IN BERANE

 

                                    Basic State Prosecutor's Office Berane

                                    Sujkovic Amra, Deputy Chief

 

            Podgorica, November 1 2019

 

            Dear Ms Sujkovic,

 

            We are addressing you about the case of the beating of a single mother, Jelena Krstic, who lives and works in Berane, who was attacked and seriously injured in the workplace by Muhamed Ramusovic. Yesterday, SOS Telephone activists in Berane visited Jelena Krstic at Berane General Hospital and on behalf of NGOs dealing with the protection of the rights of women and children victims of violence, supported her and offered assistance. Based on the conversation of the SOS Telephone activist with the injured party and media photos, it is evident that Jelena is in bad condition because of the violence committed against her by Muhamed Ramusovic, for which she was kept in hospital and unable to care for her minor children and to do the work on which their livelihood depends. We have learned from several media outlets that they consider the defendant a person of interest. It is also alleged that the police filed a criminal complaint against Muhamed Ramusovic for the violent behavior, but that he was released after being heard at the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Berane. We think that it is in the public interest to obtain information as to why the duty prosecutor defined to release the defendant Ramusovic, who, through wanton violence, without any reason, injured the aggrieved party in to the extent that she needs hospital treatment. We also ask you to explain how you ensured Jelena Krstic's security and her continued protection against threats and intimidation.

Action of Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Berane is critical to the success of the entire proceeding, and in particular it is important to ensure timely and effective protection and respect for the rights of victims of violence, and therefore we require Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Berane to take all measures within its jurisdiction to this case is brought to justice and the victim protected.

 

                                                                                  

NGO SOS Telephone Berane

NGO Women’s Rights Center, Podgorica

NGO Women’s Safe House, Podgorica

NGO SOS Telephone Podgorica

NGO SOS Telephone Niksic

NGO Spectra, Podgorica

NGO Human Rights Action, Podgorica

NGO Women’s Rights Center organizes the “Smashing Patriarchy Day” in the courtyard of  the organization (Bokeška 20) on Friday, October 25, 2019, starting at 5 pm.

The event is intended to be an Open Day for the Women’s Rights Center, where visitors will have the opportunity to learn about the work of the organization, the types of support we provide and free services available to citizens, victims of gender-based discrimination and violence, as well as to view the exhibition of works created at the “Short Course of Cutting Patriarchy”. The music part of the program will be taken care of by Petar čurić and Alen Jaredić.

 

The “Short Course of Cutting Patriarchy” was held from October 4-9 and included an introductory theoretical lecture on engaged art based on examples of Dadaism and Bauhaus artwork, as well as features of socially responsible design and hands-on creative workshops where attendees made collages covering topics in the field of feminism. The workshops were led by Tanja Markuš, painter and Milica Šaranović, designer.

 

The event was organized within the project “Women’s Activist Hub – Empowering Civic Activism of Youth”, implemented with the support of the Fund for Active Citizenship, through the program “For a Stronger Voice of Civil Society Organizations”, and with the financial support of the US Embassy in Podgorica.

Is your organization working to address gender-based discrimination? Are you seeking to further women’s labour rights?

We are happy to announce new opportunities to collaborate as part of a regional coalition that seeks to address gender-based discrimination in the Western Balkans. We have opened a call for proposals in which we will provide funding for other organisations to collaborate with us on these efforts.

This initiative is funded by the European Union and co-funded by Swedish International Development Agency as part of a regional Action. The partners engaged in implementing this action are:

Kosovo Women’s Network, Reactor Research in Action/ Реактор истражување во акција from North Macedonia, Gender Alliance for Development Center (GADC) from Albania, Helsinki Citizens Assembly Banja Luka from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Women's Rights Centre from Montenegro, and the The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation from Sweden through its office in Serbia.

For more information, visit: https://womensnetwork.org/kosovo-wom…/call-for-applications/

In the period from 4 to 9 October, Short School of Cutting Patriarchy was held in the premises of the Petrović Njegoš Foundation. The course consisted of an introductory theoretical lecture on  engaged art troughexamples of Dadaism and Bauhaus, and features of socially responsible design and creative workshops where attendants made collages on the topics from the field of feminism that they considered relevant. The workshops were led by Tanja Markus, painter and Milica Saranovic, designer.

The course was organized within the project “Women's Activist Hab – Empowering Young Women's Civic Activism”, which is implemented with the support of the Fund for Active Citizenship, through the program “For a stronger voice of civil society organizations”, and with the financial support of the US Embassy in Podgorica.

Photos from the workshops are available here.

Brussels, 4 Oct. 2019
Today, a new research report by a coalition of women’s rights organisations from the Western Balkans titled ‘Gender-based Discrimination and Labour in the Western Balkans’ was presented at an event in Brussels. Supported by the EU and Swedish International Development Cooperation, the study is part of a broader regional initiative aimed at addressing and tackling gender-based discrimination and improving women’s rights related to labour.
Some key findings of the report presented at the launch-event include:

· Gender-based discrimination is widespread, particularly regarding hiring, promotion, maternity leave and sexual harassment.
· While relevant international instruments have been ratified, the legal frameworks pertaining to discrimination are fragmented and often inconsistent across the region. Different standards of protection, procedures and sanctions applicable under various laws contribute to the confusion.
· Few institutions from the Western Balkans responsible for addressing labour-related gender-based discrimination maintain clear data about its prevalence.
· While relevant institutions seem generally knowledgeable about their responsibilities to address gender-based discrimination at work, few cases have been reported so institutions lack practical experience in treating such cases.
· People generally lack awareness on where gender-based discrimination can be reported.

During the event, Vaska Leshoska, Researcher from Reactor-Research in Action, also presented real, harrowing stories from women in the region, including a woman from Montenegro, who said: “I was supposed to replace a girl who was on maternity leave. They planned to fire her after. They told me that I was not allowed to get pregnant for two years.”

In addition, the research report entails a number of recommendations for institutions from the Western Balkans as well as for the EU on a variety of topics, including the adoption and implementation of reforms on gender-based discrimination, improved monitoring approaches, and continued support to women right’s organisations.

Genoveva Ruiz Calavera, Director for the Western Balkans at the European Commission underlined: “There is an urgent need for more action to tackle gender-based discrimination across the region and at all levels. The EU is working with governments, private sector representatives and civil society towards the necessary reforms and actions in this area, and will continue providing other support to foster gender equality and women’s empowerment in the region. Over the past years, our assistance has already delivered concrete results in important areas, such as the fight against gender-based violence and support to women’s rights organizations.”

Background:

The report was researched and written by a coalition of women’s rights organisations from the Western Balkans, including the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN), Reactor – Research in Action from North Macedonia, Gender Alliance for Development Centre from Albania, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Banja Luka from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Women’s Rights Centre from Montenegro, and the Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation from Sweden through its office in Serbia.

It includes a comparative analysis of relevant legal frameworks in the Western Balkans, findings on the prevalence and nature of labour-related gender-based discrimination and how institutions have treated such cases, as well as targeted recommendations.
Speakers at the launch event included: Colin Wolfe, Head of Unit for Western Balkans Regional Cooperation and Programmes, European Commission; Lisa Bjuggstam, Minister Counsellor and Deputy Head of Department for Foreign and Security Policy, Permanent Representation of Sweden to the EU; Gordon Purvis, Policy Officer – European Integration Negotiator European Commission, Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, Western Balkans, Montenegro; Christiane Westphal, Policy Officer – International Issues Unit, European Commission Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion; Nicole Farnsworth, Program Director, Lead Researcher, KWN; David Ryan, Co-author, KWN; and Vaska Leshoska, Researcher, Reactor-Research in Action.

The full report is available at: https://womensnetwork.org/publications/gender-based-discrimination-and-labour-in-the-western-balkans/

For further information, please contact:
Nicole Farnsworth, KWN Program Director and Lead Researcher at Nicole@womensnetwork.org.
Maja Raicevic, executive director, Women’s Rights Center Montenegro
majaraicevic.wrc@gmail.com

 

We invite the opponents of patriarchy interested in design to participate in the “Short course of Cutting Patriarchy” to be held in October 4-9, 2019. The course consists of 6 workshops, which will include an introductory theoretical lecture on the concept of socially engaged art on examples of Dadaism, Bauhaus and punk, and 3 workshops dedicated to practical creative work, as well as a final workshop where we will work on digitizing the created works.

The workshops will be led by Tanja Markus, painter and Milica Saranovic, designer.

No prior experience is required to participate in the workshops.

Due to the limited number of places, we ask you to send a short motivation letter t to women.mne@gmail.com by September 25, 2019. You can ask for more information by email women.mne@gmail.com or by phone  020 664 193 from 9am to 4pm.

Within the framework of the project “Balkans Act NOW! – BAN III”, funded by European Union, implemented by Women’s rights center (Montenegro), ASTRA – Anti trafficking action (Serbia), Center for legal civic initiatives (Albania), International forum of solidarity – EMMAUS (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Open Gate La Strada (North Macedonia) and Netherlands Helsinki Committee we are announcing The results of the call for submitting the proposals of the project under the sub-grant scheme.

The project Journalists against human trafficking has fulfilled the conditions of the contest. The entrant of project is The society of professional journalists of Montenegro (DPNCG). A 5000 euro amount  has been allocated for the implementation of project activities.

The overall objective of the project is to contribute to enhancing participatory democracies and the EU integration processes in Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina by strengthening civil society impact on human trafficking victim’s outcomes as well as CSO’s capacity and capability to effectively dialogue with governments producing lasting change.

The main objective of the sub-grant scheme is the contribution of the civil society organizations for monitoring and data collection for use of legal frame reporting and politics in the field of human trafficking with focus on protection and defence of rights of women’s victims of  human trafficking.

 In the framework of the project ““Balkans Act Now! – BAN III”,” financed by the European Union and implemented by the Women's Rights Center (WRC) in Montenegro in partnership with the ASTRA-Anti Trafficking Action, Serbia, Center for Legal Initiatives (CLCI) in Albania, International Forum of Solidarity – EMMAUS, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Association for Action Against Violence and Trafficking in Human Beings – Open Gate La Strada, Northern Macedonia and Netherlands Helsinki Committee, Netherlands, a Call for Proposals under the Sub-Granting Scheme is launched.

The overall objective of this EU project funded under Consolidating Regional Thematic Networks of Civil Society Organizations, Reference EuropeAid/154870/DH/ACT/Multy is: To contribute to enhancing participatory democracies and the EU integration process in Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina by strengthening civil society impact on human trafficking victim’s outcomes as well as CSO’ s capacity and capability to effectively dialogue with governments producing lasting change.

The key objective of sub-granting scheme is to contribute to monitoring capacity of CSOs to monitor and collect data for reporting on implementation of the legal framework and policies regarding trafficking in human beings, with focus on the rights of women victims of THB.

The full Guidelines for Applicants are available HERE.

The overall amount made available under this Call for Proposals is EUR 10 000 (ten thousand).

Women's Rights Center aims to award 2 (two) projects, which must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts of grants: minimum amount: EUR 5000 (five thousand) and maximum amount: EUR 5000 (five thousand).

Deadline for requesting any clarifications from the Contracting Authority is 15^th July 2019. women.mne@gmail.com

Deadline for submission of the application: July 31, 2019, 16:00h

Notification of award will be in the first week of September, 2019.

The application package and related information can be found HERE.

Women's Rights Center and UnderhillFest have been implementing successfully the program In Focus 4 years in a row. Program deals with topics concerning women's rights. This year, we opened the program with the film #RBG, directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West. 

85-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been a judge of the Supreme Court in America for quarter of a century, and is a second woman in history of that country on that position. “The Notorious RBG”, as her young fans call her, based on the famous murdered rapper Notorious B.I.G, changed the face of the American judiciary with her advocacy for gender equality, and she’s considered to be the leading voice of the Court’s liberal wing, which is enough to gain the status of a living superhero for the progressive part of American population.

After the film, executive director of Human Rights Action, Tea Gorjanc Prelevic talked with Emilija Durutovic, first women appointed as a judge of the Supremen Court in Montenegro.