The Ministry of Justice has initiated an “Off violence” campaign aimed at raising awareness of domestic violence and the new legal measures against domestic violence. According to the statistics, over 300 women have died in Serbia in the past 10 years as a result of domestic violence, with over 30 having been killed since the beginning of 2016. These devastating numbers indicate a necessity for the engagement of all resources in the fight against domestic violence.

In line with the Serbian Government policy and in the anticipation of the new state measures against domestic violence, which include the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence, the Ministry of Justice has launched the “Off violence” campaign, with a clear message that domestic violence would not be tolerated. The plan to organise multiple events and use social media networks and the general media aims to raise all society members’ awareness of domestic violence, inform and educate various target groups on the subject, and to make the future legal measures known to both actual or potential victims and perpetrators of domestic violence.

Another main priority of the campaign is to familiarise the wider public with the meaning of “domestic violence” so to enable it to recognise signs of violence and adequately respond to them. Ministry of Justice has created a special website iskljucinasilje.rs, which should be one of the most important communication channels during the campaign. The creation of the website has been funded by the USAID Judicial Reform and Government Accountability Project, and the whole campaign has been supported by the World Bank. The partners on this project have been the Ministry of Interior and the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The content of the website has been made with the support from NGOs.