We, the women from the Balkans stand together in solidarity with all women victims of gender-based violence and ask our competent institutions to thoroughly and promptly investigate the case with the groups on the Telegram platform (such as: Balkan Room, Public Room, Gevgelija Hub, Serbian Room, Smokva, etc.), in order to sanction the perpetrators and to protect the victims from their further victimization.<\/p>\n
Exactly one year after the appearance of such a group on the Telegram Network in Macedonia, which is used for sexual harassment of girls and women by posting photos of them without their consent and in a pornographic context, as well as personal data about the victims, we witness new cases of this kind of abuse not only in this country, but on a regional level. Although the administrators and the creators of two of these groups have been arrested, we believe this is only the first step in accessing justice that we must provide to all victims of this type of crime. The institutional silence that we face sends a clear message that violence against women is tolerated, that is not punishable, that perpetrators are encouraged to continue their behaviour and that victims are left to remain intimidated, ashamed and muted. The abovementioned cases in Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia have shown that only a small number of perpetrators are prosecuted and that the those that are prosecuted are pursued for the crime of \u201cproduction and distribution of child pornography\u201d, which prevents the protection of the adult victims.<\/p>\n
Women from the former Yugoslavia countries, to whom we have provided free legal aid and other services for years, have experiences that testify to numerous shortcomings in the conduct of proceedings. Women have no trust in the police and consider reporting to be in vain, due to the practices of inaction, disbelief and relativization of the victims\u2019 experiences. Imposing misdemeanour sanctions and warnings on perpetrators instead of documented and reasoned criminal charges, as well as inadequate enforcement of prohibitions on approaching and contracting victims, results in continued and intensified violence, often followed by serious consequences for the victims\u2019 health, which in some cases can even cause death. <\/p>\n
Regarding the public prosecution offices, we constantly notice an untimely initiation of indictments, inefficient or negligent management of pre-investigation and investigative procedures that resulted in untimely or in no provision of relevant evidence, as well as failure to take measures against the perpetrators to prevent continued violence against the victims. All of these institutional oversights have become even more visible with the emergence of sexual violence and harassment of women in the digital sphere, which, although is massively occurring and is numbering thousands of female victims in the Balkans, does not receive an adequate institutional response or an appropriate public support. On the contrary, discrediting experiences, blaming, embarrassing and double victimizing are the dominant narratives that women face. It is obvious that the silent institutions are additionally encouraging the functioning and the maintenance of such groups in the digital space, while the girls continue to face danger for their personal safety and have a violated dignity and health. Unfortunately, the easiest way to humiliate a woman is to portray her in a sexual scenario, which only speaks about the insurmountable stigma that still marks female sexuality as shameful and indecent, and labels victims in this context not as victims, but as women who \u201csought this for themselves\u201d.<\/p>\n
Thus, the stolen photographs, combined with the misogynist, the sexist and the violent comments, and the treatment of women as objects without integrity, feelings, desires and traumas, speak of serious, deep-rooted misogyny values in our region that must be comprehensively and radically addressed. But, in order to begin solving the problem, we must first name it. This is not a problem of personal data abuse and it cannot be solved with such a limited approach. This is a problem of gender-based violence, with the purpose of humiliating, blackmailing, silencing and oppressing girls and women, and if it is not treated as such, the perpetrators will succeed in this goal. <\/p>\n
Today we are aware that there is a regional network of harassers, i.e. opening and administrating of Balkan groups whose aims is to humiliate and sexually harass women. Unfortunately, what we do not see is the possibility of networking, connecting and cooperating with the intent to clear these groups between the institutions and the system.<\/p>\n
This case is a chance for the institutions from all over the region to show that they stand for women\u2019s rights and protection against gender-based violence, not just declaratively, but in practice! Hence, we ask the Public Prosecutor\u2019s Offices in the region to immediately and thoroughly clear the cases with the Telegram groups that are acts of crime. We ask the Ministries of Interior Affairs to continuously undertake preventive activities and to put a stop to the existence of these groups. We must not allow to maintain a situation in which the victims are multiplying and the institutions are quiet and are failing to perform their given functions.<\/p>\n
Jointly and in solidarity!<\/p>\n
SIGNATURES<\/p>\n
We, the women from the Balkans stand together in solidarity with all women victims of gender-based violence and ask our competent institutions to thoroughly and promptly investigate the case with the groups on the Telegram platform (such as: Balkan Room, Public Room, Gevgelija Hub, Serbian Room, Smokva, etc.), in order to sanction the perpetrators and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n