New Standards for Shelters in Serbia for the First Time Provide Integrated Victim-Oriented Approach

To provide a victim-oriented approach in safe houses for women and girls victims of violence in Serbia, the non-governmental organization Atina, jointly with UN Women, developed a set of qualitative standards for sheltered accommodation for women who experienced violence, first of its kind in the country. The existing standards for shelters are part of general Rules on detailed conditions and standards for the provision of social protection services of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, and are focused more on (infra)structural elements, such as location, space, equipment, number of employees, etc. New standards contain principles of support for women and girls victims of violence, that entirely respond to victim’s needs, not only in terms of housing, but in terms of psychological help and support, children’s support, protection of personal data, inclusive approach… To sum up, they are focused towards improving the quality of victim’s life once she comes to the shelter.  The standards, that were created with the support of the regional programme on ending violence against women in the Western Balkans and Turkiye “Implementing Norms, Changing Minds”, are to be adopted by The Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs. Meanwhile, Andrijana Radoičić Nedeljković from Atina spoke to UN Women about the importance of these standards.

The development of standards was preceded by an assessment of the situation on the ground. What did this assessment show in terms of needs and challenges that beneficiaries of safe houses face as well as professionals working with them?

Challenges for women victims of violence are related to access to this service, as well as their safety. Access to shelters is more difficult for women with disabilities, and they are often unable to use them in full potential. The service is officially available to Romani women, migrant and refugee women, as well as LGBTQ+ women. In reality, they are most often denied its use, while those who do access the service are often denied basic rights. As for the employees, the biggest challenges come from the fact that they are not certain what to do, since there are no specialized standards for the implementation of this service, so the professionals are left to act on their own. Some of the challenges cited through the research are related to employee safety, lack of systemic and supervisory support, as well as burnout syndrome that can be associated with insufficient training of the personnel implementing the service. In new standards, we tried to respond to all of these challenges.

Shelters provide safe environment for women and girls victims of abuse, domestic violence and human trafficking, however there are no specialized standards specifically for victims of sexual violence. What is needed for adequate care and support to these women?

Women victims of sexual violence can be beneficiaries of safe houses, however, as they are most often referred to the service because of other forms of violence experienced by their partners, sexual violence remains “neglected”, i.e. this experience of violence is not given specific and necessary attention. The reason for this can be found in deep-rooted prejudice, but also in the recent legislative practice that did not recognize the possibility of rape and sexual violence in marriage. Even today, when the possibility of prosecuting this type of violence is legally available, the number of verdicts for this crime is very small. Research indicates that professionals who work on the implementation of the service are not sufficiently trained and prepared to work on trauma caused by sexual violence, so they often consciously choose not to cause more damage to the victim. As a result, women do not have the opportunity to speak about sexual violence and receive adequate support, both in terms of further processing and psychological support. Therefore, as it is stated in the standards, it is necessary to empower women professionals to deal with this issue through specialized trainings and education, but also to recognize the necessity of conducting psychological counseling and psychotherapy with women victims within shelters, since now it is done thanks to personal motivation of shelter employees.

Current standards are not envisaging support to children that come to the shelters with their mothers. How is this topic covered in this new document?                             

Children who witness violence are recognized as victims of violence according to international standards and interpretations. Unfortunately, in Serbia there is still a discussion about this issue. Contact with the other parent is often assessed through the right of the parent to see the child, rather than through the right of the child to be protected from violence. In this regard, standards specifically define the principles and activities in working with children - individual and group work, specific support for mothers in relation to parenting and strengthening the parental role. In working with children, the same principles should be applied as when working with women, of course in an age-appropriate manner - trust, confidentiality, participation of the child, providing emotional and psychological support to overcome the traumatic experience.

The document introduces new steps such as mutual supervision between employees and professionals working in shelters. Why is this important?

Existing standards of the Ministry of Labor do not envisage supervisory support for shelter employees, regardless of the constant exposure to trauma and stories of violence. The preamble of these standards envisages mutual supervision and interview as an indispensable part of the work in the shelter. This implies that employees organize themselves independently and provide mutual support in dealing with challenging situations, to prevent burnout syndrome and to provide support to young and less experienced professionals. On the other hand, the representatives of the safe houses stated, during the research, that evaluation and monitoring of the provision of the services is regularly done, only by the beneficiaries. However, it is unclear how the results of the monitoring affect the quality of it. Moreover, this doesn’t solve the question of employees’ dissatisfaction and lack of support. With these new standards, employees will have a chance for their needs to be defined and met, which will consequently improve the quality of the service provision and better fulfilment of the beneficiaries’ needs.

In addition to the quality standards, Rules on Procedure in Emergency Situations in Shelters for Women and Children, Survivors of Domestic Violence have been drafted, which are dealing with emergency situations. These rules shelters lacked in the Covid-19 outbreak, which happened to be a great challenge.  How will these rules improve the work of the shelters?

The shelters should be able to react and ensure the sustainability and availability of the service despite the emergency or other crisis situation, which was not the case during Covid-19 outbreak. The intention of these rules is to ensure the availability of the service and its quality. Besides this, the goal is to ensure that this service becomes recognized as a separate service in the social protection system, created entirely and fully on integrated victim-oriented approach. 

Written by Jovana Zdjelarević