The BaBe Association Be Active. Be Emancipated. held a National Training for experts from the fields of justice, police, health, social welfare, education and civil society organizations as part of the European project "VIVIEN - Educational Network for Victims of Violence. Educational project for improving support for women victims of violence."
The "VIVIEN" project is financed by the European Union's Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme, and its implementation was financially supported by the City of Zagreb and the Office for Cooperation with NGOs of the Government of the Republic of Croatia. The aim of this project is to prevent and combat violence against women through education and networking of experts from the aforementioned areas. The project is being implemented in four European Union countries, and the project leader is the Italian association Giolli Cooperativa Sociale, which has gathered partners from Italy, Croatia, Finland and Bulgaria. Partners in the "VIVIEN" project are BaBe Budi aktivna. Budi emancipiran., Centro Antiviolenza di Parma (ACAV), University of Parma (UNIPR), SATAKUNNAN University (SAMK), Narodno chitalishte Sveti Sveti Kiril I Metodij 1924 and Eyes on 4 Paws. In this project, over the entire implementation period, more than 500 experts from different countries and at least 150 people in management positions in bodies and institutions operating in the aforementioned areas will undergo training.
The national training was held at the rural estate Acin Salaš in Tordinci, with the great support of the Vukovar-Srijem County, which was expressed, among other things, in the introductory speeches of the Deputy County Prefect, Đorđe Ćurčić, and the Head of the Administrative Department for Social Welfare, Darko Dimić. In addition to them, the training was enriched with their knowledge by lecturers Ljubica Matijević Vrsaljko, the first Croatian Ombudsperson for Children and a respected lawyer, and Saša Užarević, Director of the Županja Social Welfare Center. Some of the topics of the lectures were: experts together against violence against women, protection of victims through the provisions of the Social Welfare Act, swearing and other vulgarities - a way of behaving that is not morally accepted and/or a means of violating a person's dignity that represents psychological violence, and neglect of the elderly as a form of violence. After each lecture, open discussions were held during which experts exchanged knowledge and experiences and jointly resolved numerous doubts.
The National Training was attended by more than 30 experts from the justice system, police, health, social welfare, education and civil society organizations, who recognized the need for additional education on the topic of preventing and combating violence against women. At the same time, during the training, the experts had the opportunity to meet in person and openly discuss obstacles and ways to improve the system of support for women victims of violence.
Violence against women, especially domestic violence, is one of the crucial problems of Croatian society. Statistical data from the Ministry of the Interior show that of the total number of women killed in the last few years, the majority were killed by people close to them, and 50% women were killed by intimate partners, mostly during the woman's efforts to end the relationship with her partner. At the same time, the same statistical data indicate a large increase in violence against women during the epidemic caused by the COVID-19 virus, by as much as 50%. In the century of the promotion and rule of human rights, we must not allow such behavior to shape our social norms and we must systematically deal with the suppression of violence against women and education about its harmfulness. Systematic prevention and suppression of violence are only possible through multi-sectoral education and networking of relevant experts with the aim of their efficient and synchronized action and mutual support of all relevant stakeholders.
