Last year, 28 women were killed in Serbia, five more than in 2022, said Safe House coordinator Vesna Stanojević, adding that many women in Serbia suffer violence.
“Among these 28 we have two girls,” she added.
The safe house can accommodate 30 women, but currently there are more women with children, and they stay for longer than six months.
They leave the safe house only when they gain confidence and feel that they are safe. Unfortunately, some return to the abuser.
“Last year, nine percent of women returned to the abuser. This year, I think, unfortunately, there will be more women who returned to the abuser. We had some very seriously vulnerable women who were really real victims of violence, blue and completely disfigured, but unfortunately he he begins to promise that he will never do it again, and after a few months she declares that she is returning to him, because she trusts him,” Stanojević stated, reports RTS.
One of the reasons for returning is that they have no place to live and no income.
“What is a problem for me is that all these years we have not had a case of women from a safe house receiving social housing that is normally given to categories of the vulnerable population, women who are victims of violence in Serbia are not on the first or second list, and there discrimination is obvious” , said Stanojević, Fena news agency writes.
