Lack of Money Hampers Campaign Against Domestic Violence

Vojvodina has launched a wide-ranging campaign against domestic violence, which for generations has been a taboo theme in society and gone under-reported.

But while experts approve of the thrust of the campaign, they say poor funding means it will be difficult for the 45 local authorities to meet the goal of setting up coordinated teams to tackle the problem.

The project “Life without Violence” was officially launched by the province’s ombudsman, Petar Teofilovic, in September.

It urges local authorities to set up networks linking local police and judicial officials, social services, schools and health centres.

These are charged with working together to detect cases of domestic violence and to fast-track appropriate punishments.

The networks were asked to set up local databases containing names of potential victims and perpetrators.

This project is the fruit of the Family Act, which came into law in Serbia in July. For the first time this singled out domestic violence as a separate criminal offence.

Under the new law, offenders may be removed from their families, while the courts are obliged to hand down prompt decisions that take effect immediately.

While the changes sound positive, critics of the campaign insist there are many loopholes and weaknesses in the strategy.

They point first to the lack of central funding for the campaign, lack of staff, the mild penalties prescribed for offenders and the continuing problem of a society that sees family violence as a taboo theme.

Family violence is one of the great hidden ills in Serbian society. According to a survey conducted by the Serbian Victimologist Society, almost one third of women have been exposed to physical violence, and much of it is believed to be family-related.

Instances of family violence are rarely reported, and when they are, they are lumped together with other criminal offences.

But most observers believe the problem has grown since the 1990s as a result of the wars waged in former Yugoslavia, an influx of refugees, the disappearance of traditional jobs in an era of economic transition and the related phenomena of alcoholism and drug addiction.

According to the Secretariat of Internal Affairs in Novi Sad, 2002, 2003 and the first quarter of 2004 saw 2,591 reported incidents in Vojvodina involving family violence.

But social workers suspect this is the tip of the iceberg, as so much of this violence goes unreported.

Many experts have warned that the success of the Life without Violence campaign, especially the formation of local teams, depends on the amount of money invested.

The municipalities have to carry the burden of the campaign, as they are to finance and set up the local teams.

No special, central provision has been made for the cost of setting up the groups of social workers, judges, police officers and others, supposedly available 24 hours a day.

Some say it will not take more than a few thousand euro per municipality. But for some local authorities, even this amount is beyond their reach.

The province's ombudsman, Teofilovic, who launched the campaign, says he hopes the municipalities will manage to set aside the funds to set up the teams.

But Jagoda Vjestica, the deputy ombudsman, admitted some municipalities were undoubtedly reluctant to take on the obligation owing to lack of funds.

“I think our Life without Violence may stall if there is no backing from the local governments,” added Danica Todorov, another deputy ombudsman.

“If competent institutions do not receive the funds needed to work at night as well as day, when most incidents of family violence take place, everything will stay as it is now.”

Twelve of the 45 local authorities have so far signed memos on setting up the networks.

Ana Farkas, head of social services in Kovacica, in central Banat, said her municipality had signed the memo and she hoped any financial obstacles could be overcome by using volunteers.

However, Kovacica’s mayor, Krisan Miroslav, said he had heard nothing about the Life without Violence project. He also wondered why the ombudsman had launched the project before securing the funds it needed.

The number and quality of personnel involved will be crucial to ensuring the campaign’s success.

In Vojvodina, as in other parts of Serbia, there is a culture of red tape and too few full-time qualified staff work in social services.

In Kanjiza, with around 27,000 inhabitants, the social services centre has more than 2,000 clients but only one part-time psychologist. No one can expect this single professional to provide adequate cover. Opovo, with 11,000 residents, has only one full-time social worker.

Given this scarcity of trained personnel, it is hard to see how the local authorities can set up mobile teams of professionals, providing a 24-hour service.

Another big problem is the lack of “safe houses” for victims of family violence. There is only one such house in the whole of Vojvodina, in Novi Sad, and it is for children alone.

One for women victims of family violence is under construction near Novi Sad.

Experts also cite the mild punishments imposed for family violence as another limitation on the potential success of the campaign.

In theory the law prescribes harsh punishments for offenders. Penalties range from fines to three years' imprisonment, while cases involving the death of family members can incur sentences of ten years.

But judges rarely impose them. “Although there are prison sentences for this type of offence,” said Zoran Pavlovic, “most courts usually hand down suspended sentences for family violence. It’s not a proper punishment.”

Serbia’s justice minister, Zoran Stojkovic, is also critical of the undue leniency of the courts. “On the face of it our legislation is strict when it comes to sentences… but in practice Serbia is on a par with countries imposing the mildest penalties,” he said.

Observers say little has been done in the field of victim protection in the course of criminal proceedings.

Pavlovic, for example, refers to the problem of so-called secondary victimisation, when “the victim has to go through the whole case again and again before various institutions and consequently relives a terrifying ordeal”.

He added, “This is why most cases of domestic violence cases remain unreported.”

Family violence is widely seen as a private problem. It remains a taboo area and few victims report crimes of incest or rape to the police for fear of revenge and the stigma that it brings.

In Sombor, a town of about 100,000, a successful campaign against domestic violence has been going on for two years. The local team consists of a police officer, a social worker and a psychologist. They had 2,350 euro to start the project.

Before the unit was set up, Sombor social services handled only 15 incidents of family-based violence a year. In 2004, it dealt with 524 cases, involving 1,939 individuals, 600 of whom were children.

In other words, around 2 per cent of the local population was exposed to reported domestic violence in 20004 in Sombor, an increase of around 33 times compared to previous years.

“This does not mean that Sombor suffers from the highest incidence of domestic violence [in Serbia],” said Silvija Kranjc, head of the town’s social services.

“This [figure] is the result of the joint efforts of the social centre and the police to register and act on such incidents.”

Kranjc added, “We are available 24 hours a day and can be at the crime scene within half an hour of a report to the police. We can respond immediately, and so we can protect victims.”

Milan Glumac, Sombor’s police chief, said the network of cooperation had made the procedure smoother and more effective.

Before, he added, after an incident of family violence was reported to the police, a social worker would only visit the family one or two days later.

The delays were the result of cumbersome administration and paperwork, but by the time the social worker arrived the atmosphere in the family had often completely changed.

Both the Sombor police and social services believe their model of cooperation can be applied to other municipalities.

But whether the success of this large and relatively dynamic town can be applied elsewhere is debatable.

In many other smaller, poorer, authorities, a dramatic change in attitudes and the level of funding will be needed.

Vojvodina may have to wait a bit longer before seeing real progress in the field of family violence.

Zaklina Zoldos is editor of the Hungarian-language daily Magyar Szó in Novi Sad.