The conference "How to protect the family from domestic violence" was organised on 10 December for marking the International Human Rights Day by the Ombudsperson’s Institution, NGO Civic Alliance, Council of Europe and the EU Delegation to Montenegro with the supported by the action “Improving procedural rights in the judicial proceedings in Montenegro”.

The Head of Operations of the Council of Europe Programme Office in Podgorica, Evgenia Giakoumopoulou, stressed that domestic violence should not be treated as a private issue and a matter of one family only; rather, it concerns the society as a whole. “For an adequate systemic response, it is necessary to apply effective sanctions. In Montenegro, it is often the case that domestic violence is reduced to the level of misdemeanour responsibility, where sanctions are lower”, she said.

The Council of Europe Head of Operations pointed to the necessity to raise public awareness on the unacceptability of such occurrences, and the importance of reporting violence. On that note, she reminded of the campaign “Tell the whole story” launched by the action “Improved procedural safeguards in judicial proceedings in Montenegro” with the aim of inviting the victims of domestic violence to seek the qualified legal aid to which they are entitled regardless of their financial situation.

This conference was a part of the overall programme to mark Human Rights Day, which included a series of activities over the course of last week (Online game “Human Rights on the palm of your hand”; TV debate; Open door day of the Information and Documentation Centre; interactive lectures at the Faculty of Law and Faculty of Political Science; humanitarian soccer game).

This event was organised within the action "Improved procedural safeguards in judicial proceedings in Montenegro", that is a part of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”.