CoE’s GREVIO calls for action to protect women from violence in Serbia

GREVIO (Group of Experts on Action Against Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence) report covers developments between its January 2020 baseline evaluation report and July 2025, assessing the measures taken by the Serbian authorities to prevent violence against women and domestic violence, with a focus on victims, proposing the way forward to improve the situation.

“The authorities are notably called on to expand preventive measures, awareness-raising, training, specialist support services and to ensure a more trauma-informed response of law-enforcement authorities to all forms of violence against women, beyond domestic violence - including early and forced marriage, sexual violence and harassment, as well as the digital dimension of violence,” a press release said.

The report welcomed efforts to align laws and policy frameworks with Istanbul Convention standards but expressed concern that constitutional challenge has effectively suspended the implementation of the Law on Gender Equality which introduceds a definition of violence against women consistent with that of the Convention. It noted that this has also slowed down the adoption and implementation of policies to combat violence against women under the convention.

The report says that a significant step forward was taken with the adoption of a comprehensive Strategy for Preventing and Combating Gender-Based Violence against Women and Domestic Violence but warned that the strategy never became operational.

The report also warned that urgent action is needed in several areas and specified that preventative measures are needed to challenge stereotypical views on the roles of women and men in society and address all forms of violence against women, including its digital dimension, that awareness-raising efforts and systematic and mandatory training introduced under the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence do not extend to other forms of violence against women, that insufficient resources hinder the effective provision of both general and specialist support services as well as that the strict licensing requirements imposed on domestic violence shelters place additional burdens on these services and have resulted in some operating without official licences and that sexual violence referral centres are currently concentrated in Vojvodina, with none established in the rest of the country.

It said that insufficient attention is given to the safety of mothers and children in custody and visitation decisions with supervised visits rarely ordered for abusive parents and protection measures for mothers often not extended to their children.

According to GREVIO, there is low trust in the criminal justice system, in particular among Roma women and girls, with lenient penalties handed down by courts.