The Protector of Citizens, on his own initiative, and based on media information that a father killed his minor child in Vršac and then committed suicide, launched a control investigation into the legality and regularity of work of the Provincial Secretariat for Social Policy, Demography and Gender Equality and the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia.

The Protector of Citizens requested the Provincial Secretariat to perform supervision over the professional work of the Centre for Social Work Vršac in this case within 15 days and to submit to him a report on the supervision performed and documentation on the handling of this case.

Due to media allegations that the mother of the murdered child repeatedly reported the child's father for domestic violence, the Protector of Citizens requested the MoI of Serbia to inform him within the same period about the actions of the competent police department in the specific case, especially about the activities of the police officers in this case.

The Protector of Citizens also requested from the MoI a statement on whether the police officers acted in accordance with the obligations prescribed by the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and the General and Special Protocol for the Protection of Women from Violence in Family and in Intimate Partner Relations.

The Deputy Protector of Citizens for Gender Equality, Jelena Stojanović, stated this evening that the elderly persons in the Republic of Serbia belong to the most vulnerable category of the population and called on them to actively participate in exercising all the rights that belong to them.

"Elderly persons, especially elderly women in the countryside, have difficulties in accessing the health, social and other services in the community. They are often exposed to abuse and violence in the economic, social and physical sense, and for this reason I invite them to actively participate in the exercise and protection of their rights when they feel that they have been violated", said Stojanović at the opening of the photo exhibition "The Beauty of Aging 2".

At the opening of the exhibition organized by the association "Amity – Strength of Friendship" on the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons, Stojanović called on all elderly persons to contact the Protector of Citizens if they are exposed to any kind of abuse or if they cannot fulfil their rights before the competent authorities.

The Deputy Protector of Citizens added that the most common problems faced by the elderly are poverty and violence, as well as neglect within the family, including disposal of property without their consent and difficulties in exercising the right to help and care of another person.