One in Four Women in Belgrade Was Victim of Violence

17 November 2005

One in four women in Belgrade, at some point of her life, was a victim of
violence by men she was in relationship with or married to, a recent research
showed.

The research was conducted by centar for WHO (World Health Organization), on a sample of 1.500 women in 11 Belgrade municipalities. 51 percent of them were a higher school or university graduates, while 45 percent were high school graduates.

Presenting the study in Belgrade, Autonomni zenski centar coordinator Stanislava Otasevic said that women surveyed reported the physical violence in most cases, while only 6% said they were exposed to sexual violence.

She said that alarm sign is the fact that 78% of surveyed woman never asked for help from any institution, and that only 12 percent called police for help.

Only 10% asked for medical help, 6 to 9 percent turned over to social workers, and 2% went to seek help from NGO's.

27 percent never told anybody about the violence they were exposed, and those who did, most often talk to their friends, not family.

Research also showed that most of surveyed women returned to live with violent man, mostly because of children, partners pleads and not being able to "stay in place they ran to".

Serbia was the only European country included in WHO research, which also included South America, Asia and Africa countries.