Equality Commissioner: Profound Changes to Value System Needed

Brankica Jankovic (Beta/GIZ)

Brankica Jankovic, the state commissioner for equality, said on May 4 that it should be left to the authorities to explain what happened during the Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School shooting, which took the lives of eight students and one security guard, but underlined that the country’s value system needs to undergo profound changes.

“More than once, I’ve drawn attention to this warped, perverse value system, whose repercussions we continue to endure and which we witnessed yesterday at its most painful worst,” Jankovic told the RTS public service, adding that such developments “aren’t that surprising.”

The commissioner stated that the attack should force everyone to re-evaluate themselves and the system as a whole – from institutions, schools and the media, to their households and families. “So that we can put together the puzzle of [this event] and somehow process it and discuss it. So that this [uproar] does not last just a few days, but rather that we continue talking about [what happened] for a long time to come and find a way to do everything in our power so that this does not happen again,” Jankovic said.

She expressed her hope that the wounded would recover and that the people of Serbia would find a way to heal from the tragedy. “[I hope] that we will find a way to recover from this tragedy, that we will find a way for our children to overcome this trauma. To that end I believe it is very good that teams of psychologists, psychiatrists [and] doctors have gotten involved. I think we all need help,” the commissioner concluded.