Not even 30% of the necessary places in safe houses is available in Serbia!

Photo: Sanja Knežević, Journalists against Violence

Research done by “Atina” has shown that there are only 190 places in safe houses for victims of gender-based violence in Serbia, when there should be at least 670 (according to the EU standards). There are no expected standards in the Rulebook for this service, such as the mandatory support of a psychologist, but a hairdresser is, in fact, envisaged...

If the competent ministries and institutions in Serbia decided to finally, seriously and comprehensively, approach the suppression of gender-based violence, it would be enough for them to meet with specialized organizations that have decades of experience in work with women and children victims of violence, as well as to read all the research that has been carried out by those organizations so far. Numbers sometimes say nothing, but in this case they speak volumes.

In Serbia, there are only 190 places for victims of gender-based violence in 13 safe houses and one shelter, according to a research conducted by association ATINA. Per the EU standards, every country should have one place for the accommodation of victims of violence per 10,000 inhabitants[i]. If we bear in mind that Serbia now has around 6.7 million citizens, this means that we should have at least 670 safe places for women and children who have left the abuser.

Simple mathematics shows that the existing 190 places are only 28.3% of the necessary number. Not even a third of what is needed! This information alone is enough to understand why many women stay with the abuser for years, some until their own death. Because - where would they go?! If they had a place, many would leave...

Andrijana Radoičić Nedeljković, one of the authors of Atina's research "Functioning and work of safe houses for women victims of violence in Serbia - analysis of the current situation", spoke about the other consequences of the lack of about 72% of places in safe houses for the Fenomena website:

- Consequences are certainly a limited availability of this service, but also an undeniable impact on the quality of the service. It is necessary to say that even the number of 190 places is uncertain, as it also includes the capacities of safe houses that do not have a license. If we were to measure only the capacity of those who have a license, this number would be drastically lower. In addition, beneficiaries are faced with the fact that this service is, unfortunately, available to them for a short period of time, sometimes even shorter than expected. Also, the professionals who provide the service, due to constant pressures and fluctuation of beneficiaries, are not able to deal with the problems and challenges women face in a better and deeper way.  

Although 13 of the 14 institutions included in the research were founded by the state - only 5 have a license to work! Among them is the only one (in Belgrade) run by a non-governmental organization. Other safe houses have been in the licensing process for years, because they either do not have the necessary staff, or do not meet all the technical requirements.

- The greatest deficiency in standards is definitely the lack of specialized standards for the functioning of this service. Minimum standards (structural and functional) are prescribed, but they regulate the implementation of this service to such a limited extent that they do not even recognize its main specificities: the need to ensure the safety of women, to have all activities directed at the empowerment of women, the need to apply feminist principles of care, etc.

After the research, Atina prepared and submitted to the competent Ministry a draft rulebook that would define the quality of the service, that is, which would be used to specialize this service. Unfortunately, we have not yet received a response about the future of this document – said Andrijana Radoičić Nedeljković.

The way in which the Rulebook on closer conditions and standards for the provision of social protection services “tailors” the standards is also illustrated by the fact that psychological support for beneficiaries is neglected. Of course, there can be a psychologist among the professional staff in the safe house for victims of violence, but if there is none, the Rulebook does not foresee the possibility of hiring an external psychologist. On the other hand, the Rulebook foresees hiring of hairdressers and tailors as needed... Fortunately, in 82.6% of safe houses, the surveyed staff said that “beneficiaries have access to individual psychological counseling and psychotherapy thanks to the personal involvement of professionals who, by investing in their own education, acquired knowledge from the field of psychotherapy”.