OSCE Mission to Montenegro initiates campaign on “16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence”
The OSCE Mission to Montenegro, in partnership with the Human and Minority Rights Ministry, launched on 25 November 2016 the campaign "16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence". The campaign was introduced in Podgorica at a conference gathering the main partners in the fight against gender based violence.
Montenegro also joined the OSCE’s regional campaign “Bringing Security Home”, which focuses on good practices for combating violence against women in the OSCE region. The Mission supported an awareness raising campaign titled “Count me in” through which 16 men share their messages about gender based violence. The campaign will be aired on Montenegrin media until 10 December.
“I am particularly proud that we have partners from different fields joining the campaign, showing that Montenegro addresses this issue in a systematic way,” said Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, Janina Hrebičkova. “Behind every step forward there are people who commit themselves, and today I see representatives from the national institutions, civil sector and the international community. We should all be proud of the hard work done so far, in fighting gender based violence and we must continue to follow the same path.”
Leon Gjokaj, General Director of the Directorate for Human and Minority Rights of Montenegro, said: “Gender based violence is an obstacle to achieving equality, development and peace. In over 75% of cases, children are witnessing the family violence, and in 50% cases they are the victims. From the total number of children who witness family violence, 60% of boys become violent offenders, and 50% of girls become victims.”
Aivo Orav, Head of the European Union Delegation, said that gender equality is one of the basic principles on which the European Union was built. ”The Delegation stays strongly committed to the fight against gender based violence.”
The UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for Montenegro, Fiona McCluney emphasized that patriarchal attitudes and traditional patterns of behaviour that are discriminatory and fuelled by gender stereotypes are still widespread. “Some positive changes have however been made.”
The discussion highlighted that there is still place for improvement of the existing mechanisms as well as of co-operation between the national institutions, civil sector and international organizations.