Launch of the 16 Days campaign 2017

Your Excellencies, dear partners, colleagues and representatives of the media,

You just saw a video with striking data from our latest study on violence against women. Now it’s time to look each other in the eye and face facts.

We have to say - loud and clear, that we live in a society where every second woman has been a victim of violence. The perpetrators, usually men, are those who are supposed to be closest to us – our husbands, partners, boyfriends, even brothers and fathers.  

The family home, a bolthole of safety, is, for so many women in Montenegro, a place of suffering.  Hearing victims’ stories - I find very disturbing… If it is hard for me to speak about these issues, I can only imagine how difficult it is for victims to speak up.

If no one calls it a crime, it is perceived as a family affair and family, neighbours, friends and passers-by think it is none of their business -  the suffering continues. Sadly, looking the other way, minimising the importance of an incident is still the prevailing attitude even among the professionals charged to protect the victim.

But a trap of silence, is created by society and all under the banner of “the sanctity of the family”:

• these are private issues, no one should interfere with,
• the family should be kept together, even if women and children are suffering in that very family.

Against this negative background, I choose instead to believe in the decency of human beings. I think we can break the chain of silence and alter attitudes. In order to do this, we need first to understand the underlying causes of violence.  And this is how it feels to walk in “women’s shoes” to mention just a few issues, beyond violence:   

• The national sex ratio at birth favours boys over girls revealing discriminatory practice of sex selective abortions.
• On average, women work nearly four hours longer than men every day, given their caring roles in the family
• Women own less than 8 percent of land and property, and less than 10 percent of businesses. Without financial independence the options women have to leave violent relationships are much reduced. 

As you entered the room, you heard the tunes of the song that we showcase together tonight. The song is called “Moja Mare”, but it is not just about one Mare. It is also about Ana, Azra, Milica, Emina, Jelena, Sanja,…. Whichever name you mention, you wouldn’t be mistaken, because this song is about every other woman in Montenegro.

I am so happy that we partnered with Who See in producing this work.  Not only is  their hip hop music able to reach out to the youth.  It is the young generation – yours and my daughters & sons -  that have the power to break the ‘Chain of Violence”. Young people can leave behind negative practices that have been passed from generation to generation and they can create a new reality – where your mothers, sisters, girlfriends and future daughters will not live in fear.

I’m pretty sure that the powerful story of ‘Moja Mare” will touch your hearts and make you think. For the time for complacency is gone. It belongs to another era.

I invite you all to join United Nations and Who See in breaking the silence on violence against women.

Thank you.