B92 welcomes decision to dismiss minister over sexist remark

B92 welcomes decision to dismiss minister over sexist remark

We consider that this initiative of Prime Minister is significant message to all government representatives that journalists should be treated with respect in accordance with the significance of the job they perform.

It is also encouraging that this message is being sent from the top of government, which can be an indicator that the state shifted from declarative words of commitment for journalists’ rights to deeds. Journalists had to be protected from any form of pressure, underestimation, threats and assaults, so in this sense, this is a small but rather significant step for commencing fighting for more favorable environment for the work of journalists and generally for the freedom of expression.

We want to point out that it is significant that Serbian state and society clearly expressed its position on this kind of discrimination. In 21st century in Serbia, there shouldn't be room for any kind of disqualification of people according to their personal traits, such as gender, nationality, religious beliefs,political affiliation or similar.

This especially applies to the public statements of the public figures, who as holders of state and political positions have bigger responsibility compared to other citizens. Refraining from any kind of sexist statements is especially important in the country where since the start of 2015, 34 women got killed and where violence against women occurs on a daily basis.

We want to underline that Gasic's "incident“ happened in the course of marking "16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based/Violence“ that is being performed in more than 100 states by around 1,700 organizations. Due to this, the decision to propose minister’s replacement has symbolic meaning, as it sends a message that the state will deal with this aspect of violence “at the very source of it”, meaning that it will sanction every kind of discrimination.

We believe that this gesture on the part of Prime Minister represents only the beginning in state's endeavors to find and implement appropriate mechanisms that will allow the best way for sanctioning endangerment of citizens' human rights, guaranteed by the Constitution.