On 19 May 2020, Director General of Democracy, Ms Snežana Samardžić-Marković, participated in the UNESCO online conference entitled “Taking action to end domestic violence during pandemics”.

As part of a series of UNESCO international conferences entitled “Inclusion in the time of COVID-19: International webinar addressing racism, discrimination and exclusion”, it contributed to raising awareness on the phenomenon of domestic violence during pandemics and aimed at launching a dialogue among its partners to share good practices and innovative solutions that can protect the human rights of women and girls in particular. In this regard, Ms Snežana Samardžić-Marković highlighted the role of the Istanbul Convention and other legal instruments of the Council of Europe that are of help to the Organisation’s Member States in responding to domestic violence during the period of confinement.