The first regional forum “Joint Fight Against Femicide” took place online on December 6, 2023, with over 60 participants on Zoom and nearly 400 viewers on Facebook. Organized as part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women campaign, the forum aimed to address the challenges in combating femicide and explore strategies for unified regional action. Discussions focused on the lack of standardized data collection on femicides, the need for a Femicide Watch in each country, and the importance of establishing a regional body to monitor femicides. The forum featured two panels with experts from Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, highlighting the urgent need for coordinated efforts, institutional accountability, and improved media reporting on gender-based violence.
During the forum, participants reached a crucial conclusion: regional cooperation and stronger connections between organizations are essential for exerting greater pressure on decision-makers and institutions. It was agreed that a unified approach should involve adopting an existing methodology for collecting and systematizing data on femicide, which would help in both analyzing individual cases and developing effective prevention strategies. A key recommendation was the establishment of a Femicide Watch in each country, along with the creation of a regional body to monitor and address femicide across the Western Balkans. Attendees also emphasized the importance of combining diverse strategies in the fight against femicide, including organizing simultaneous actions in multiple cities, broadening support from advocacy groups, and ensuring the safety and protection of female activists leading these efforts.
The second regional forum is scheduled to take place in Belgrade in 2024, with plans to organize annual forums in the Western Balkans thereafter
You can see the agenda of this forum at the following link.