OSCE trains over 650 police cadets in Serbia on responding to violence against women and girls

From 8 to 12 September 2025, in Sremska Kamenica (Serbia), the OSCE Transnational Threats Department/Strategic Police Matters Unit (TNTD/SPMU) organized a series of basic training courses on gender-responsive policing for violence against women and girls, in co-operation with the Basic Police Training Centre under the Ministry of the Interior of Serbia and the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

Over the course of one week, ten training sessions reached 656 police cadets, equipping future law enforcement professionals with the knowledge and skills to respond effectively to cases of gender-based violence. The training emphasized a victim-centred and trauma-informed approach, highlighting the responsibilities of police to act with professionalism, empathy and respect for victims’ rights.

Based on the OSCE state-of-the-art curriculum on gender-responsive policing and delivered by national experts from law enforcement, the prosecution, social services, and civil society sector, the training addressed the root causes of gender-based violence, coercive control, and common myths and misconceptions. Sessions also covered the neurobiology of trauma, legal and institutional frameworks, risk assessment, victim safety and protection, and the importance of interagency co-operation.

To complement classroom sessions, the training course featured the theatre performance of “Lullaby Goodbye”, which dramatizes the real-life experience of a victim of online gender-based violence, raising awareness of this increasingly prevalent form of abuse.

The initiative was implemented as part of the OSCE efforts to promote gender-responsive policing and within the TNTD/SPMU project, “Enhancing Criminal Justice Capacities for Combating Gender-based Violence in South-Eastern Europe”, with the financial support from Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Norway.