Measures for prevention of domestic violence and for protection of victims in Serbia’s legal system with special reference to emergency measures

Abstract

Over the last two decades, combating domestic violence has been one of our country’s main goals. Serbia is one of the 12 countries that have ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Prevention and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention) before its entry into force on August 1, 2014, and as of June 1, 2017 the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence (LPDV) has been used in Serbia, which was adopted with the aim of regulating in a general and uniform manner the organization and conduct of state authorities and institutions, thereby enabling the effective prevention of domestic violence and the prompt, timely and effective protection and support for victims of domestic violence. Prescribing emergency measures has radically changed the way the victims of domestic violence are protected. In this paper, we will explore and try to answer several questions: what measures are available to state institutions to prevent violence and protect victims; whether the competent authorities and institutions apply these measures and to what extent; whether it was necessary to introduce urgent measures into our legal system and, finally, whether the activities to combat domestic violence so far produce results, that is, whether this negative social phenomenon is sufficiently suppressed.