Minister Paunovic at U.N.: Serbia Significantly Advances Social Position, Protection of Women

Snezana Paunovic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

Serbian Minister for State Governance and Local Self-administration Snezana Paunovic has stated before the United Nations that, over the past two decades, Serbia had significantly advanced the social position and protection of women, but that it was still necessary to continue building inclusive and just systems in order for every women and girl to have equal access to justice, the Ministry announced in a media release on March 11.

Paunovic delivered her address during the general debate within the 70th session of the U.N.’s Commission on the Status of Women, held in New York, during which it was pointed out that access to justice was one of the key values of any democratic society that had to be available to all women and girls without exception, fear or obstacle. Paunovic stated that, in the past decades, Serbia had significantly advanced the institutional mechanisms for protecting the rights of women.

She went on to say that more than a third of current Serbian government ministers were women, that they held almost 50 percent of managerial positions in the country and represented more than half of the workforce in the public sector. She also emphasized that Serbia was continuously harmonizing with the EU acquis in the fields of anti-discrimination and equal opportunities, within the process of EU accession and via obligations from the Stabilization and Association Agreement, the statement reads.

Paunovic stated that, although laws were formally equal for all in many countries, practice often showed that equality on paper did not always mean real equality, recollecting that women and girls were still faced with numerous challenges, including family violence, economic dependence, discrimination at work and insufficient knowledge of their rights.